Chapter 8 - Closing the Net
They found Isabella five days later. Not because Lorenzo’s men swept the city, but because a volunteer at a church shelter saw a police bulletin distributed privately to trusted organizations describing a woman of approximate age, possible scar, and a large black dog.
The volunteer called. Rachel went first, then Mason. Lorenzo waited in the car outside—the longest fourteen minutes of his life.
Rachel returned, opened the door, and said, “She’s there.”
He forgot how to breathe. “Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Is she—”
“She’s thin. Dehydrated. Has healing injuries. Alert. She asked for you.”
That was all. Lorenzo got out, then stopped. His hands were shaking. Mason looked at him. “Go.”
He did.
Isabella sat in a small church office wrapped in a gray blanket. Bruno lay at her feet. For one second, Lorenzo could not move. She looked nothing like the woman he buried: short hair, hollow cheeks, scar near her temple, bruises fading yellow along one wrist. But her eyes were the same—green, sharp, alive.
Bruno saw Lorenzo first. The dog stood, whined, then ran. Lorenzo dropped to his knees before he could think. Bruno hit him in the chest with eighty pounds of muscle and grief. Lorenzo buried both hands in the dog’s fur, then looked up.
Isabella was crying. He stood, slowly, as if one fast movement might make her disappear.
“Isabella.”
She covered her mouth. He crossed the room, then stopped one step away. He did not touch her. Not yet.
That surprised her. “Can I?” she asked.
Two words. She nodded.
Lorenzo pulled her into his arms, and whatever remained of the man who had held himself together for two months collapsed. He cried into her hair, not quietly, not elegantly, he shook. Isabella held him just as tightly.
“I’m sorry.”
He pulled back. “No.”
“I couldn’t call.”
“No.”
“They said—”
“I know.”
“I thought Vincent had someone inside your security.”
“He did.”
“I didn’t know if your phone was safe.”
“I know.”
“I saw Emma and Sophia.”
“I know.”
“I ran.”
“I know.”
May you like
She touched his face. “You buried me.”
His eyes closed.
