Chapter 2 - “Two and a half years ago, Clara and the boy were leaving a neighborhood store. There was a drive-by. The shooters were after a dealer nearby.”
Vincent already knew what came next.
“The boy was hit?”
Dominic nodded.
“He died there.”
Vincent said nothing.
“Her marriage collapsed afterward. She spent months in psychiatric care. When she came out, she disappeared from normal employment records. Mostly cash work. Assisted living. Terminal patients. Disabled clients.”
People who were hurting.
People she could still save.
Vincent closed the folder.
Suddenly everything about Clara made sense.
Her exhaustion.
Her fearlessness.
The way she never lied to Matteo about pain.
The way she had held him through the night.
You couldn’t intimidate someone with loss after loss had already taken everything.
“Do you want her gone?” Dominic asked.
Vincent looked up sharply.
“No.”
“She concealed serious psychiatric history.”
“She buried her child.”
“Other families could use it.”
Vincent’s voice dropped.
“She stays.”
Dominic waited.
May you like
Vincent tapped the folder once.
“And nobody tells her we know.”
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