Chapter 4

The house felt suffocating, heavy with the presence of intruders who wanted to erase us.

I went upstairs to grab Danny's shoes, my mind racing.

I needed to leave before the van arrived.

Once Tom's men had Danny, I would lose my only leverage.

A high-pitched, agonizing scream tore through the air.

It came from the backyard.

And it wasn't human.

"Whiskers!" Danny screamed, bolting past me toward the back door.

I sprinted after him, my heart pounding in my throat.

In the backyard, under the sprawling old oak tree, Kyle was standing over our cat.

He had a sharpened stick in his hand.

The cat was pinned to the ground, writhing in pain, blood matting its orange fur.

Kyle was poking it, again and again, watching the animal suffer with a detached, almost scientific curiosity.

"Stop it!" Danny shrieked, throwing himself at the older boy.

Kyle didn't even flinch.

He backhanded Danny, sending my five-year-old son sprawling into the dirt.

"Get off me, weakling," Kyle spat. "It's just a dumb animal. It needs to learn to be tough."

I saw red.

I didn't think; I reacted.

I launched myself across the yard.

I shoved Kyle hard, knocking him away from the cat.

He fell onto the grass, looking shocked.

"Don't you ever touch my son," I snarled, scooping the bleeding cat into one arm and pulling Danny up with the other.

Crystal was suddenly there, screaming like a banshee.

"She hit him! Tom! She hit my baby!"

Tom burst out of the back door, his face purple with rage.

He didn't look at the tortured animal.

He didn't look at Danny's bleeding lip.

He looked at Kyle, who was now sobbing theatrically on the ground.

Tom marched over to us.

"You crossed the line, Sarah."

He raised his hand.

I didn't flinch.

I stared him down.

"Do it," I dared him. "Hit me. Leave a mark. Make it easier for the Commission to see what kind of animal you are."

He hesitated.

The mention of the Commission made him pause.

Instead of hitting me, he grabbed Danny by the collar of his shirt and shoved him hard toward the house.

Danny stumbled and hit his shoulder against the brick wall.

He cried out in pain.

I had my phone in my hand, shielded behind the cat's body.

The camera was rolling.

I had it all.

The tortured animal.

The assault on a child.

"Get inside," Tom roared. "The van is here."

I heard the gravel crunching in the driveway.

The transport.

"No," I said.

I grabbed Danny's hand.

"We are leaving."

"You aren't going anywhere," Tom said, stepping in my path.

"If you stop me," I said, my voice dropping to a lethal whisper, "I will scream so loud the neighbors three streets over will call the cops. Do you want police at a Capo's house, Tom? With unauthorized cash in the safe and a mistress in the kitchen?"

He froze.

Police were bad for business.

It was the one thing the Don hated more than a rat: unnecessary heat.

"Get out," he spat. "Go cool off. But if you aren't back by dinner, I'm cutting you off. You won't have a dime."

"Keep your money," I said.

I hustled Danny to my old sedan.

We didn't go to a hotel.

We drove straight to a clinic in the neutral zone, a place run by a doctor who asked no questions but kept immaculate records.

I needed a paper trail.

I needed proof of the bruising on Danny's shoulder.

I needed the vet report for the cat.

As the doctor examined Danny, I compiled everything.

The video.

The medical report.

The bank statements I had accessed on my phone-Tom was lazy with his passwords, using Crystal's birthday.

I looked at Danny sitting on the exam table, clutching a lollipop.

"Are we going on an adventure, Mommy?" he asked.

"Yes, baby," I said, smoothing his hair. "We are going to see the King."

I buckled him into the car.

I set the GPS for the one place Tom was terrified to go.

The Don's Estate.