Chapter 5 - Shadows in the City
The next two weeks felt like a dream.
The drafty windows of our house were replaced with insulated glass. A new furnace roared in the basement, filling our home with gentle, continuous heat. The pantry was never empty, and for the first time in my life, Mom came home at 5:00 PM, smiling, rested, and wearing clean, comfortable clothes.
Noah gained weight, his cheeks turning rosy and healthy.
Every Tuesday afternoon, a sleek black sedan would stop by. Lorenzo didn't send muscle to check on us; he came himself. He would sit on our porch, drinking tea with Mom, playing block games with Noah, and checking my school homework.
He became the uncle I never had—a steady, towering shield over our tiny family.
But in Detroit, power creates enemies.
Lorenzo’s rival was a ruthless criminal named Viktor Vance, who controlled the illegal docks on the east side. Viktor had been searching for a weakness in Lorenzo’s armor for years. Lorenzo had no wife, no children, and no obvious vulnerabilities—until Viktor’s informants noticed Lorenzo’s personal security detail spending hours outside a humble house in working-class Detroit.
One freezing Thursday afternoon, I was walking home from middle school, carrying my backpack.
As I turned down our street, a beat-up silver van pulled out from an alleyway, blocking the sidewalk.
The side door slid open with a violent shriek.
Two men in ski masks jumped out, grabbing my arms and yanking me off my feet before I could even scream.
"Got the kid!" one of them shouted.
"Let me go!" I kicked and hit, but the man shoved me into the back of the van, slamming the doors shut as the vehicle sped away into the icy afternoon.
My heart pounded with sheer terror.
One of the masked men picked up a cell phone, dialing a number on speaker.
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"Boss," the man said. "We got the Carter girl. Lorenzo’s little favorite."
Viktor Vance’s cold voice rasped through the speaker: "Good. Bring her to the abandoned auto plant on 8th Street. Then call Lorenzo. Let's see how much his new 'family' is worth to him."
