THE SILENT BOSS AND THE MOTHER'S CHOICE

The silence in the SUV was deafening, save for the hum of the tires against the asphalt and Noah’s quiet sniffles.

I stared at the bloody silk scarf on the floorboard.

R.M. — Rossi’s initials.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, my voice deadly calm.

Grace pressed a clean cloth from the diaper bag against her bleeding shoulder, wincing. "I found it in Vanessa’s closet yesterday when I was putting away laundry. It was hidden inside a shoebox."

My mind raced. Rossi. My most trusted man. The man currently "holding" Vanessa at the warehouse. The man I had sent to secure my mother’s house.

"Rossi is working for Bellini," I realized, the betrayal hitting me like a physical blow. "He’s the one who leaked our route. He’s the one who told Bellini about the custody petition."

"He’s been playing both sides," Grace said, her breathing shallow. "Bellini has the political power, but Rossi has the muscle. If you go down for Claire’s murder and lose custody, Rossi steps up to run the syndicate."

I slammed my fist against the steering wheel. I had been entirely blind.

"We can't go to your father's compound," I said, swerving onto a hidden dirt road that cut through the dense mangroves. "Rossi knows about it. He knows everything."

"Where do we go?" Grace asked, her voice tight with pain.

I thought of the one place Rossi would never look. The one place that didn't belong to the mafia, didn't belong to Bellini, and didn't exist on any syndicate ledger.

"Claire's family cabin," I said. "In the Everglades. It’s been abandoned for a decade."

Twenty minutes later, we pulled the damaged SUV deep into the thick brush behind a dilapidated wooden cabin sitting on stilts above the swamp water.

I carried Noah inside, while Grace followed slowly, clutching her bleeding shoulder.

The cabin smelled of damp wood and old memories. I set Noah down on a dusty couch and immediately went to Grace.

"Let me see it," I ordered.

I gently peeled the fabric of her dress away. The bullet had grazed the fleshy part of her upper shoulder. It wasn't deep, but it was bleeding heavily.

I grabbed a first aid kit I kept in the SUV, cleaned the wound with alcohol, and bandaged it tightly.

Grace didn't flinch. She just watched me, her dark eyes wide and vulnerable.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You took a bullet for my son," I said, my voice thick. "I owe you everything."

Noah toddled over, clutching his gray stuffed elephant. He looked up at Grace, his lower lip trembling.

"Mama Grace got an owie?" he asked softly.

Grace smiled, a tired, beautiful smile, and reached out with her good arm to pull him into a hug. "Just a little owie, sweetie. I'm okay."

I watched them together, and the realization hit me with the force of a freight train.

I didn't just need Grace because she was good with Noah. I didn't just need her because she had leverage on Bellini.

I loved her.

But before I could say a word, the sound of crunching gravel outside shattered the quiet.

I drew my weapon and moved to the window.

A black luxury sedan had pulled into the clearing.

It wasn't Rossi. It wasn't Bellini's men.

The driver's door opened, and my mother, Margaret, stepped out into the mud.

She looked terrified, clutching her expensive handbag.

"Victor!" she called out into the darkness. "I know you're in there!"

I opened the cabin door, keeping my gun leveled. "Are you alone?"

"Yes!" my mother cried. "Rossi's men left my house. I followed the GPS tracker I put on Noah’s car seat last year."

I cursed under my breath. "Get inside."

My mother hurried up the wooden steps. When she saw Grace bleeding and Noah crying, her face crumbled.

"I didn't know," my mother sobbed, sinking into a dusty chair. "Victor, I swear to God, I didn't know Bellini killed Claire. I just wanted you to marry a society girl. I thought Vanessa would bring peace."

"You brought a snake into my house," I said coldly.

"I know," she wept. "And I came to fix it."

She opened her handbag.

She pulled out a heavy, suppressed pistol.

And then she pulled out a manila envelope.

"I went to Bellini's clinic before coming here," my mother said, her hands shaking. "I used my board clearance. I stole the original, un-doctored autopsy report. Claire didn't die of heart failure. She was given a lethal dose of potassium chloride."

I stared at the envelope. Proof.

"But that's not all," my mother said, looking at Grace. "Vanessa is with Rossi. They are coming here. Rossi tracked my car."

"You led them to us?" I roared.

"I led them into a trap," my mother said, her eyes suddenly hardening with a ruthless resolve I hadn't seen since my father was alive.

She looked at me. "Take Grace and Noah out the back door. Take the swamp skiff. Go."

"What are you going to do?" I demanded.