Chapter 16 - The Boy With the Blue Rabbit
The room went silent when Dante said Leo's name.
Rico turned.
“What do you mean, missing?”
Dante's hand tightened around the phone.
“He was with Mrs. Bellini. A man arrived claiming to be part of the new security detail.”
Rico's expression changed.
“Who authorized him?”
“Nobody.”
Elena grabbed Rico's arm.
“No.”
Dante continued.
“He showed a badge. Said there was a threat. Mrs. Bellini called me to verify his identity, but before I could answer, he took Leo out through the kitchen door.”
Rico's face became terrifyingly calm.
“How long ago?”
“Eight minutes.”
“Vehicle?”
“Dark blue van. No visible plates.”
Elena began shaking.
“Rico, please.”
He held her.
“Look at me.”
She shook her head.
“Not Leo. Please, not Leo.”
Rico pressed his forehead against hers.
“We're getting him back.”
Then he turned to the detective.
“My son has been abducted.”
The next hour passed in fragments.
Police radios.
Calls.
Security footage.
Vehicles leaving the waterfront.
Elena crying in the back of an ambulance while a paramedic checked her blood pressure.
Rico refusing to sit.
And me standing beside a vending machine, trying not to fall apart.
I kept seeing Leo's face.
His tiny fingers.
His stuffed rabbit.
His sleepy voice asking whether Daddy needed milk.
Then I remembered something.
“Dante!”
He turned.
“What?”
“Leo's rabbit.”
Dante frowned.
“What about it?”
“Did he take it?”
Dante made a call.
Mrs. Bellini answered.
He listened.
Then nodded.
“Yes. The rabbit is gone.”
I took a breath.
“Rico carried it into the mansion last night.”
Rico looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Did you give it back to Leo?”
He nodded.
“Of course.”
“Was it always the same rabbit?”
Elena suddenly looked up.
“Yes.”
Her voice shook.
“I bought two when he was born. One for the nursery and one for travel.”
My heart beat faster.
“Did you ever sew anything inside it?”
She stared at me.
“No.”
I looked at Rico.
“What about Elena's evidence?”
He frowned.
“The hard drive was in the safe.”
“And the other drive disappeared.”
Elena covered her mouth.
“Wait.”
We all turned.
She looked at Rico.
“When Leo was a baby, I stitched a little fabric tag inside the rabbit's left ear.”
“Why?”
“So we could tell his two rabbits apart.”
I frowned.
“And?”
Elena's eyes widened.
“The travel rabbit had a tiny GPS tag inside its collar. We used it when we traveled because Leo constantly lost it.”
Dante straightened.
“Is the account still active?”
“I don't know.”
“Can you access it?”
Elena held out her hand.
“Give me your phone.”
She entered an email address.
A password.
The application loaded.
Then a small map appeared.
A blinking blue dot.
I stopped breathing.
Elena looked up.
“That's him.”
Dante leaned forward.
“Where?”
“An old warehouse near the Brooklyn waterfront.”
Rico looked at the detective.
“We have a location.”
The police response began immediately.
But before the vehicles could leave, Rico's phone rang.
Vincent.
He answered.
“Where is my son?”
Vincent chuckled.
“Alive.”
Rico closed his eyes.
“If you've hurt him—”
“Don't threaten me, nephew.”
“What do you want?”
“Your signature.”
“On what?”
“Full transfer of the remaining trust management rights.”
Rico stared at the phone.
“You're not getting control of Leo.”
“Then you won't get him back.”
Elena began sobbing.
I covered my mouth.
Rico took a slow breath.
“If I sign, you release him?”
“Of course.”
Rico's expression changed.
He no longer looked like a man on the edge of losing control.
He looked like a father making a terrible calculation.
“Send the documents to my attorney.”
Vincent laughed.
“That's my boy.”
The call ended.
Rico turned toward Margaret.
“Prepare whatever he wants.”
She looked at him.
“Rico—”
“Prepare it.”
Elena grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing?”
He looked at her.
“Getting our son back.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“You know signing may not guarantee his release.”
“I know.”
“Then why—”
“Because I need him to believe I'll do it.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Then she understood.
Rico wasn't planning to bargain away his son.
He was buying time.
And for the first time since the nightmare began, the people around him were working together instead of waiting for orders.
Police.
Attorneys.
Investigators.
Elena.
Dante.
And me.
I looked at the blue dot.
It had stopped moving.
Somewhere inside that warehouse was a three-year-old boy who had already lost his mother once.
I whispered, “Hold on, Leo.”
Then the dot moved.
Not toward the street.
Toward the river.
Elena screamed.
“He's moving!”
Dante looked at the screen.
“Toward the loading docks.”
Rico reached for his coat.
And I realized with horror that Vincent was planning to take Leo onto a boat.
If that vessel left the harbor, finding him would become much harder.
Rico looked at the detective.
“We have to stop him before he reaches the water.”
The detective spoke into his radio.
“Marine units, move into position.”
Then Elena's phone lit up.
May you like
The tracker had disconnected.
And for the first time that night, Leo disappeared from the map.
