Chương 2
The next night the frame was facedown again.
Sophia never touched it after that.
The SUV descended into a hospital garage. A security gate lifted before they reached it. No siren announced their arrival. Two nurses waited beside a wheelchair near a service elevator, both wearing dark jackets over scrubs.
“I can walk,” Sophia said.
“No,” Julian said.
The taller nurse opened the rear door. “Ms. Alvarez?”
Sophia stiffened at the use of her real name.
Julian noticed. “No one outside this team has it.”
“That’s what Marcus said too.”
The nurse looked from one to the other and decided not to ask. She helped Julian move Sophia into the wheelchair. When the footrest touched her damaged shoe, Sophia flinched.
“Possible fractures?” the nurse asked.
“Ribs,” Julian said. “Facial trauma. She lost consciousness at least once.”
Sophia turned toward him. “How do you know?”
“You asked me the same question three times on Orchard Street.”
“I did not.”
Julian took hold of the wheelchair handles. “You did.”
The nurse guided them through the elevator doors. One bodyguard remained with the SUV. The other followed at a distance, umbrella gone, coat unbuttoned so he could reach whatever he carried underneath.
On the private floor, Julian stopped outside the examination room.
Sophia gripped the chair arm. “You’re leaving?”
“I’ll be outside.”
“Why?”
“Because the doctor will need to remove your clothes.”
She almost laughed, though the motion would have hurt too much. It seemed absurd that modesty had survived the evening.
“Don’t let anyone call the police.”
Julian’s gaze rested on her bruised face. “That choice belongs to you.”
“Not to the hospital?”
“They will encourage you to report an assault. If they believe a minor is in immediate danger, they may have other obligations. Your sister is already being moved.”
“You keep saying that.”
His phone rang.
Thomas’s name appeared on the screen. Julian answered and placed the call on speaker without being asked.
“We have Elena,” Thomas said. “She’s uninjured. Angry, but uninjured.”
Sophia’s fingers went slack around the chair arm.
“Let me talk to her.”
There was movement on the other end, a car door closing, then Elena’s voice, sharp and breathless.
“Sophie?”
Sophia closed her good eye.
“Hey, baby.”
“Where are you? These men came into Aunt Rosa’s building and said—who are they? There are three cars. Aunt Rosa nearly hit one with a lamp.”
Despite the pain, Sophia’s mouth moved around the beginning of a smile. “That sounds like her.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
Julian looked away.
Elena heard the lie. “You sound weird.”
“I fell.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“That thing where you tell me something stupid because you think I’m six.”
Sophia’s chin trembled. She covered it by pressing the handkerchief to her lip.
“You need to go with them,” she said. “Just for tonight.”
“Who are they?”
“People helping me.”
“That is not an answer.”
A male voice in the background told someone to take the Grand Central Parkway. Elena swore under her breath.
“Laney,” Sophia said.
Only Sophia used that name. Elena went quiet.
“Keep your phone off. Do exactly what the man named Thomas says. Don’t call Maya. Don’t post anything. Don’t send a location to anybody.”
“I already sent Maya a pin when those guys showed up.”
Thomas’s voice returned, closer to the phone. “We removed the message from Elena’s device.”
“That doesn’t remove it from Maya’s,” Sophia said.
“No.”
“Then go get her phone.”
A pause followed. Thomas did not dismiss the request, but Sophia heard the calculation in his silence.
“Maya is sixteen,” Elena said. “You can’t send mobsters to her apartment.”
“Don’t call them that.”
“What should I call the armed strangers who put me in an armored car?”
Julian leaned slightly toward the phone. “Ms. Alvarez, this is Julian Reeves.”
Elena went silent.
Even at seventeen, she knew the name.
Julian continued. “Thomas will send two women from my security office to speak with Maya and her parents. No one will enter their home without permission. No one will take the phone. They will explain that sharing the location may place Maya at risk and ask her to delete it.”
Elena recovered enough to say, “You have women in your security office?”
“Yes.”
“That’s your answer?”
“It is the relevant part.”
Sophia heard the smallest change in Elena’s breathing. Fear had not left, but curiosity had interrupted it.
“I want to see my sister.”
“You will,” Julian said. “After a doctor examines her.”
“Put Sophie back on.”
Sophia took the phone with both hands. “I love you.”
“Stop saying it like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re going somewhere.”
Sophia pressed her thumb against the edge of the case. Julian’s phone was black, unmarked, heavier than hers. She could see her reflection in the dark part of the screen, one brown eye looking enormous beside the swollen one.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
“Promise.”
Sophia looked at Julian.
He offered nothing—not comfort, not permission, not even a polite lie.
“I promise I’ll see you soon.”
Elena did not point out the difference. “Okay.”
Thomas came back on. “We’ll arrive in twenty-two minutes.”
“Call me when you’re inside,” Sophia said.
“I will.”
The connection ended.
A doctor entered the corridor, middle-aged, silver-haired, tying the belt of a disposable gown behind her. “Ms. Alvarez, I’m Dr. Shah. I’m going to examine you now.”
Sophia handed Julian his phone.
“What happens after?”
“That depends on what she finds.”
“I mean to Marcus.”
Dr. Shah glanced at Julian, recognition passing behind her professional expression.
Julian slid the phone into his pocket. “Nothing happens until your sister is secure.”
Sophia searched his face. “You said you were removing him.”
“I am.”
“You make it sound like changing a stain.”
Julian’s eyes moved briefly to the blood on her blouse. “Some stains require removing the floor beneath them.”
May you like
Dr. Shah opened the door wider. “That sounded impressive, Mr. Reeves. It will not help her breathe.”
Julian inclined his head and stepped aside.
