Chapter 2 - The Safe House
We didn't go to my quiet little cottage. Agent Miller drove us to a secure federal safe house on the outskirts of the city. Once Leo was asleep in a heavily guarded bedroom, holding a teddy bear an agent had given him, I sat in the living room with my daughter.
Sarah was shaking, a mug of untouched tea in her hands. "You knit, Mom. You volunteer at the animal shelter. Mark's family thought you were just... a sweet old lady. Who are you?"
I sighed, letting the facade of the last five years fall away. "I was the Deputy Director of the US Marshals Service, Special Operations Group. I spent thirty years hunting down the worst organized crime syndicates in the country. When your father died, I retired. I wanted a quiet life. I wanted to just be a grandmother."
"Mark... Mark has been hurting me," Sarah sobbed, the dam finally breaking. She rolled up her sleeve, revealing a mosaic of yellow and purple bruises. "His father runs the dockworkers' union. They're rich, Mom. They're connected. Mark said if I ever left, his dad's lawyers would take Leo away from me, and the local judges would sign whatever they asked for."
My blood boiled, but my voice remained perfectly steady. "They relied on the shadows, Sarah. But they just dragged my family into the light. Richard Stone may run the local docks, but I spent three decades dismantling cartels. They have no idea what war they just started."
My burner phone buzzed. It was Miller.
May you like
"Sylvia," Miller said. "Richard and Mark made bail. The Stone family lawyer pulled a judge out of bed. They’re furious, and they’re demanding full custody of Leo. They’ve already filed an emergency ex parte motion claiming you and Sarah kidnapped the boy."
"Let them try," I said softly, the ice in my veins freezing over. "Initiate Protocol Vanguard. We are going to strip them of everything."
