Chapter 5 - The Birthday Nobody Planned

Lorenzo did not tell Mia what he had learned. Not yet.

Instead, he ordered a cake.

The bakery owner brought up a small chocolate one with eight candles. Mia stared at it as if it might be a trick.

“You remembered?”

“You told me.”

“Most people forget.”

“I'm not most people.”

She studied him. “That's what my dad said about you.”

For a few minutes, the apartment felt almost ordinary. Mia blew out the candles, then asked if she could save the wish for later. Lorenzo told her wishes didn't work that way.

“Maybe yours don't,” she said. “Mine does.”

Before he could ask what she wished for, the lights flickered. The two guards outside stopped answering their radios.

Lorenzo put out the candles and moved Mia behind the kitchen counter.

“Quiet.”

A soft scrape came from the stairwell. Then the bakery's front bell rang downstairs.

“Closed,” the owner called.

A man's voice answered, “Delivery for Mr. Cattaneo.”

Lorenzo checked the security feed on his phone. The image showed a delivery driver wearing a cap. The driver's face was turned away from the camera, but his left hand rested on the counter.

A thin scar crossed the thumb.

The same scar as the man who had brought Lorenzo coffee that morning.

“Stay here,” Lorenzo told Mia.

“No.”

“This isn't a debate.”

“Then stop asking me to stay.”

He looked at her, and for the first time he understood that fear did not make her obedient. It made her pay attention.

The apartment door shuddered. A second later, the lock snapped.

Lorenzo fired into the hallway wall, forcing the intruder back. He grabbed Mia and pushed through the rear exit into the bakery kitchen. The owner was gone. A tray of fresh rolls lay scattered across the floor.

They escaped through the alley and reached a parked car. Lorenzo started the engine.

Mia looked back at the bakery window.

“There's someone upstairs,” she said.

A small hand appeared behind the glass.

Then the window went dark.

Lorenzo recognized the hand.

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It belonged to one of his guards.

And the guard had been supposed to protect them.