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I enter the room, close the motel room door behind me, and proceed to stare at the two wailing females waiting patiently and wait for the wailing to stop.
It doesn’t.
This is what Leo has left me with?
Maria drops down on the edge of the bed and pulls her daughter into her arms. I don’t think Victoria has the vaguest idea of what has happened; she’s merely responding to her mother’s distress.
I reach down and lift Victoria up off her mother’s lap, ignoring the pang in my chest when the tiny girl wraps her arms around me.
“It’s okay, stellina. Mamma just got some sad news.” I brush the wisps of hair back from Victoria’s forehead and make my way to the closet on the other side of the room.
With my free hand, I open the closet door and start pulling clothes off the hangers, dropping them down on the chair by the bed.
When the closet is empty, I tuck Victoria tighter against my side, crouch down on the opposite side of the bed, and retrieve the suitcases from beneath it.
“Was it… did you…” She forces out more words, but they seem to increase the rate at which the tears are pouring down her cheeks.
I shake my head, ignoring the pang in my chest. “It wasn’t me.”
Though it should have been.
Then, attempting a gesture I’m not entirely certain is the right one for offering comfort, I place my hand on her shoulder. “You need to leave. Now.”
Fucking women is my specialty; comforting them is most certainly not, but somehow it seems to be working because Maria leans her forehead against my arm and starts to take slow, shaky breaths.
“Would you like to go on an adventure, stellina?” I ask Victoria as Maria forces her thin body up off the bed and starts throwing their belongings into the suitcases.
“Sì zio Nico,” Victoria replies, but her voice is already sluggish from the pull of sleep.
“Bene,” I lower her to the bed. “You go to sleep for just a little bit while I talk to your mamma, va bene?”
She nods as her eyes drift closed.
I wait a moment, then signal for Maria to join me in the bathroom—the only area in the small motel room aside from the closet with a door.
Once inside, I close the door and hand Maria the envelope. “It has everything you’ll need, from new birth certificates and passports to your airplane tickets, new bank accounts, and cash,” I explain quickly. There isn’t much time.
Maria shakes her head as fresh tears well up in her eyes. “I have a plan. I can’t just—"
“Sì, che puoi. In fact, this is the only thing you can do, Maria—for Victoria. And most important of all, no one can know, capito? You don’t tell anyone you’re leaving. You don’t give your real names or any details about your life to anyone. Ever. Your new life is in that envelope, and the only way you and Victoria stay alive is if you do exactly what I say.”
She nods, clutching the envelope to her chest, but there’s something in her eyes, something she’s holding back.
“What is it?” I ask as that prickling sensation ghosts across the back of my neck.
A fresh sob wracks her chest. “It’s too late,” she whispers, her voice trembling.
Fuck.
“What do you mean it’s too late?”
“Someone already knows. I mean, not everything. But some things,” she says, her words coming out in a rush. “But she won’t tell anyone. She can’t. I trust her.”
I scoff. “There are very few things people can’t do when properly motivated, Maria.”
The sobs come faster, their volume increasing. It won’t be long before she’s teetering on the verge of all-out wailing again.
Double fuck.
