Not loud sobs. Quiet ones. Controlled.
“My dad died last year,” she said. “Car accident.”
Victor felt something tighten in his chest.
“And my mom… they took her. Three days ago.”
“Who?”
“The men with the white van. One had a snake tattoo. One had gold teeth.”
Victor knew exactly who she meant.
The Kozlov brothers.
Chapter 4: The Price of Silence
“They said my dad owed them money,” Lily continued. “Twenty thousand dollars.”
Victor nearly laughed.
Twenty thousand was nothing to him.
But Lily held up her phone.
“Mom showed them our bank account,” she said. “We had forty-three dollars.”
Her voice cracked. “They said if she didn’t pay… they’d take me instead.”
Victor went cold.
“Where have you been staying?”
“Our apartment,” Lily said. “I know how to make peanut butter sandwiches.”
Three days.
A child alone.
Waiting.
Chapter 5: The Deal
“Why me?” Victor asked quietly. “Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Mrs. Nguyen from the corner store,” Lily said. “She said you’re the only one they’re scared of.”
Victor exhaled slowly.
“You know this is dangerous,” he said. “People could get hurt.”
Lily looked up at him.
“Will you get hurt?”
No one had asked him that in years.
“I’ll be fine,” he said.