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Corrado let out a deep sigh as his cell phone started ringing. He pulled it from his pocket, shaking his head when he saw it was his brother-in-law. Speak of the devil . . . “Yes?”
“We have a bit of a predicament with the girl,” Vincent said, pausing before adding, “again.”
Frustrated, Corrado rubbed his hand down his face. She had turned out to be more of a problem than he originally thought she would be. “I’ll be there as soon as possible. Tomorrow, maybe, or the next day. Keep her out of trouble until then.”
He hung up, turning back to his lawyer. “Get them to throw out the recordings. There’s too many for me to go through.”
Mr. Borza shook his head. “It won’t be easy.”
“I didn’t say it would be,” Corrado replied. “But do it anyway.”
* * *
Drops of rain trickled from the overcast sky, just enough moisture to annoy Vincent. He sat behind the wheel of his car, listening to the rubber of his wipers scraping against the mostly dry windshield. Wincing, he turned them off, only to turn them right back on again. Back and forth he went—on and off, on and off, until he finally said the hell with it and turned them off for good.
His car idled in a vacant section of the park in Charlotte, tucked in along some trees that led to a jogging path. Even with his headlights off, Vincent could see the rugged dirt trail weaving past, disappearing into a dark section of woods.
Perfect place to hide a body, he thought.
After a few minutes, a bright glow turned the corner nearby, a car slowly driving straight toward him. He cringed as the headlights shone right through his windshield, blinding him temporarily until they turned off. Vincent blinked a few times, trying to clear the sudden colored splotches from his vision, as the car came to a stop a few feet in front of him.
Vincent didn’t hesitate, anger and frustration fueling the adrenaline rushing through his veins. He climbed out of the driver’s seat, the evidence bag containing Haven’s notebook gripped tightly in his hand. His feet carried him briskly toward the other vehicle as the door opened, a man stepping out. The guy started to speak, a single syllable barely escaping his lips before Vincent was upon him, shoving him back against his car. He thrust the notebook against his chest so hard he nearly knocked the wind from the man. “You have some nerve, Agent Cerone.”
“Ah, Vincent, I don’t think—”
“Doctor,” he spat, cutting him off immediately. “I’ve told you before—it’s Doctor DeMarco.”
“Vincent,” he said again. There was no humor in his eyes, no yielding in his expression. “I don’t think assaulting a government official is in your best interest.”
“Oh, now you want to play by the rules?” Vincent asked. “You never seemed very concerned about that before.”
“Nonsense.” Agent Cerone pushed Vincent’s hands away, shoving the notebook into his chest in return. “Let us act like real men, shall we? Use our words and not our hands? Or is that too difficult for the likes of you?”
Vincent glared at him in the darkness as he took a step back, putting necessary space between them. “Leave my family alone.”
“Family?” Agent Cerone let out a bitter laugh. “Strange choice of word given the circumstances, isn’t it?”
“She’s a part of my family—always has been and always will be,” Vincent said. “Just because you can’t comprehend that, because you can’t get it through your thick skull that we actually care about her, doesn’t mean we’re wrong.”
Agent Cerone scoffed. “The fact that you actually think you’re right—that you think this situation is okay—astounds me.”
“Don’t talk about things you know nothing about.”
“Oh, I know plenty. I read the journal, remember?”
“You invaded her privacy! You stole her thoughts!”
“So?” he replied. “It doesn’t make any of it less true.”
“Maybe,” Vincent countered, “but tell me something, Agent Cerone. Do you have any deep, dark secrets that you’d do anything to keep the world from finding out? Even kill to keep it from being exposed?”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No,” Vincent said. “I’m just trying to make you understand.”
“Understand what?”
“That you have to leave her alone,” Vincent said, taking a step forward again, getting right in the special agent’s face. “You won’t get her. You can’t have her.”
