My father shut the door behind him, grabbing the chair in the corner and turning it around, sitting with his arms propped on the backrest.
“You sure have grown, Noah. It’s…incredible how much of your mother I see in you.”
All the fear and pressure I’d felt when he was near had returned after six years.
“The night they arrested me,” he said, staring me straight in the eye, “I lost absolutely everything…and it was all your fault. What I still can’t figure out is how a little girl managed to do that to me. Not even your mother could stop me when I took my frustrations out on her… But with you, it was always different. You were my little girl. I loved you. I promised myself I’d never hurt you. You weren’t like your mother. You were a fighter. You’d make sure your voice was heard.”
“What do you want?” I asked, trying to control the sobs rising in my throat.
“What every man in this world wants most, Noah,” he responded with a horrible smile on his lips. “You took everything I had…your mother, my home, my freedom… I want money, the same money that’s supporting my family right now. I thought it would be hard to find you all, but the only thing it took was looking that bastard up on the internet, and there you were, all standing there like a happy family. When I got here, I figured out your new brother didn’t run with the highest class of people. I was following him, and I saw him and Ronnie get into a fight in a bar. After that, all I had to do was tell the kid my plan and he was in.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My father was crazy. Prison had damaged him.
“I’m going to get everything I can out of that scumbag who stole my wife, not to mention that little shit who’s been feeling you up all week.”
So he had been following me… I’d thought it was my imagination, but now I knew I was right. They’d been planning this for some time, and my father had tortured me with those letters, knowing he scared me more than anything in the world.
I looked at the face of the man who had given me life but nothing more. I hated him, I hated him with every fiber of my being… If I ever had loved him, that love had vanished the moment he’d laid hands on me.
“William Leister’s a thousand times the man you are. You’re worthless, You think you’re special because you can beat up a woman? I hate you! And you’re so stupid, I’ll bet the only thing you’ll get out of this is another trip to jail, where you should spend the rest of your miserable life.”
I didn’t even stop to breathe. I didn’t care what he did to me. For a moment, he just sat there and listened, and his face showed a succession of feelings that finally ended in rage.
He got up and slapped me across the face. It stung, but I wasn’t going to let him know that. I never thought he’d touch me again, but even now that six years had passed and I’d gone to another country, he’d found me and was punishing me again.
The second blow came right afterward, splitting my lip. I could feel the blood drain down my chin.
“Don’t open your damn mouth again,” he said, turning around and walking out. My nerves were frayed, and now, the tears started to flow.
* * *
I don’t know how much time passed, but the physical and mental exhaustion of the previous few hours made me fall asleep. Then I was shaken awake and something was stuck to my ear.
“Talk,” my father said in a rage.
There was only one person I would have given everything to be with just then. I’d dreamed of him, and the mere thought that he might be listening made me want to cry until I had no strength left. I needed him. I wanted him to save me, to break through that door and wrap me in his strong arms. I wanted him, him and no one else.
“Nicholas,” I whispered. A second later, they took the phone away and left me alone.
46
Nick
I was desperate. I couldn’t take the pressure a minute more. That fear burning me inside was so intense that I wanted to tear my own heart out to keep it from aching. There had to be something I could do; we couldn’t just let that bastard take the money and maybe not even give us Noah back. Surely there was something I wasn’t thinking of, some detail, but I couldn’t imagine what. Dawn was an hour away, and I didn’t know if I could hold out without going to look for her in town myself. My house was full of people, and not one of them seemed to know what to do next. Some said my father should go hand over the money on his own with the police following close behind. But what if Noah’s bastard father caught on and decided to do something to her? He was sick in the head; he’d crossed a continent just to kidnap his daughter and ask for a ransom. There was probably nothing he wasn’t capable of.
I got up from the chair in my father’s office and went upstairs. I needed to be close to something Noah had touched, smell her clothes, be in her room. I was so scared, I would have given my own life to know she was all right.
When I opened the door, I saw her mother. Her eyes were swollen from so much crying, and she was hugging one of the sweatshirts Noah had put on a million times. It had the Dodgers’ logo on it. I didn’t know why the hell she had it, she wasn’t even from here, but that was just Noah: strange, perfect. And dammit, I loved her. If anything happened to her, I wasn’t sure how I could go on living.
Raffaella looked over from the window where she was standing, and for a second, her eyes lit up.
“I know what you’ve been hiding from me,” she said without any feeling whatsoever. I stopped, unsure how to reply. “I don’t know what your feelings for her are, Nicholas, but Noah is my life. She’s suffered a lot. She doesn’t deserve what’s happening.” She brought a hand to her mouth to silence her sobs. “It’s been years since I’ve seen her as happy as she’s been these past few days. And now…all I know is you had something to do with that, and I want to thank you for it.”
I shook my head, sitting on the foot of the bed in despair. I couldn’t hear those words, I couldn’t, not knowing it had all been my fault… I had taken her to the races; it was my fault she’d met Ronnie, but what I couldn’t understand was how her father and that asshole had gotten together and plotted to kidnap the love of my life.
“Noah was always very mature, ever since she was a little girl. She saw things a person should never see, and she never backed down from anybody. With you, she seemed like a different person.”
Emotions began flooding over me. Fear, sorrow, desolation. I’d never felt so miserable in my whole life. My eyes grew moist, and all I could do was let the tears flow down my cheeks.
Raffaella helped me up and wrapped her arms around me. Her hug felt strong—the hug of a mother. Raffaella might have made mistakes in the past, but she loved her daughter and would never abandon her. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had a family.
She let me go, still holding Noah’s sweatshirt, and stepped back.
I made a promise to her.
“I swear to you I won’t let anything happen to her. I’m going to find her.” I said this as calmly as I could.
She nodded as I turned around and walked to my room.
Where are you, Noah?
I paced back and forth while my thoughts assailed me. Not until I saw the miniature car Noah had given me for my birthday did it hit me. I grabbed it and looked at the note.
I’m sorry about your car, for real. Someday, I’ll buy you a new one. Happy birthday. Noah.
Buy me a new one… Technically, the car was still mine. It was registered in my name; I still had the title.
When that hit me, I couldn’t believe it. I turned and ran down to my father’s office. He was in his chair talking to the police and his security chief, Steve.
I couldn’t help feeling excited. If I was right, we were going to be able to find out where Noah was.
“Dad,” I said as I went in. He and Steve turned to me. They looked tired after a sleepless night, but both where alert and tense, ready for whatever had to happen.