Chapter 15 - The Missing Passport
The passport belonged to Leo.
Arturo had a duplicate issued years earlier for family travel. Adrian had taken it along with fifty thousand dollars in cash.
Ricardo went quiet in a way I had learned to fear.
“Lock every exit.”
Victor nodded.
Torres called airports and transit police.
I went upstairs.
Leo was not in his room.
My stomach dropped.
“Leo?”
No answer.
The bathroom was empty.
The closet door stood open.
Then I heard a faint scrape near the service stairs.
I ran.
A man in a maintenance uniform was carrying Leo down the back hallway.
Leo saw me and screamed, “Clara!”
The man ran.
I chased him into the laundry room and slammed the emergency bar on the exit before he reached it.
He turned and pulled a knife.
I froze.
Not because I was brave.
Because I was terrified enough to become calm.
“Put him down,” I said.
He pressed the blade closer to Leo’s coat.
Then Victor crashed through the side door and tackled him.
Leo ran to me.
The man was not Adrian.
He was a contract employee from one of Marco’s clubs.
Torres found a burner phone in his pocket.
One unsent text filled the screen.
I HAVE THE BOY. WHERE DO I BRING HIM?
The draft recipient was saved under one name.
May you like
The man carrying Leo had counted on one thing: adults hesitate when a child is involved. I did hesitate. For half a second, every terrible possibility flashed through my head. Then I remembered what I had told Leo the first night—we could sit until his chest stopped hurting. Panic wanted speed. Survival sometimes needed stillness. I kept my voice steady until Victor found the opening.
ADRIAN.
