I didn’t know what to do.

I simply didn’t know what to do.

That night I stayed up in my apartment, in shock. I didn’t even know how to react to Sara. She was my closest friend, but I knew that some part of me blamed her for allowing Macy to be taken away. But however true that might be, I knew that it wasn’t Sara’s fault, wasn’t Sebastien’s, either. He stood guard all night while we sat on the sofa together, and I frantically wondered what to do.

“I’m gonna help you, sweetheart,” said Sara, and I believed her. But as the hours dragged on, I realized I was exhausted, stressed and tired.

“Macy,” I said, as if to no one. “Where are you?”

I burst into tears, and that night I cried myself to sleep in Sara’s arms.

In the morning, I woke up. I checked the clock: it was just after seven. I cursed myself for sleeping while my own daughter was out there somewhere, in the hands of that creep. I wanted to hope that Luca wouldn’t harm her, that he’d be true to his word and keep her safe for the next twenty-four hours.

But I didn’t really know. And time was running out. By the time the evening rolled around, neither of us would have any choice. And Macy would be out of time.

“You’re awake,” said Sara, and she passed me a cup of coffee. I gratefully accepted it and drank. I’d averaged about three or four hours a night for the past couple of days, and I was feeling rough to say the least.

“What are we going to do?” I said.

“I don’t know,” said Sara. “But I do know someone who can help.”

“I’m not calling Alex,” I said.

“Nor am I!” she said. “I’m calling someone who can help us. I’m calling someone who knows more about this Luca Desilva bastard than anyone else in the whole world.”

“Yeah?” I said.

“And he’s coming over in about an hour,” said Sara, smiling.

But both of us knew things looked awful, all the same.

***

An hour later, Zeke appeared armed with a laptop at Sara’s front door.

“How are y’all doing?” he said, and gripped me in his arms for the biggest hug I’d ever had. It almost reduced me to tears again, but I took a deep breath.

“What are you gonna do with that?” I said, looking at the laptop he had under his arm.

“Luca’s dirty laundry,” said Zeke.

He loaded it up while Sara and I paced around him, as Zeke logged into the laptop.

“I didn’t touch this when Alex got charged with fraud,” he said, “it would have been too risky. But desperate times, huh?” He caught my eye, then looked away. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. “Just tell me what you know.”

“Luca used to get me to do about half of his business for him,” said Zeke. “It was all kinds of things—basically anything he couldn’t be bothered to do himself. I never minded that much and Alex pays me such a decent salary it wasn’t like I felt I could say no when I had time on my hands. But one day, while I was doing a bunch of tax forms for him, I found this.”

He clicked on a form, and up popped a couple of addresses.

“What are those?” I said.

“Industrial properties,” said Zeke. “Luca was running a couple of sidelines in warehousing and exporting stuff. Mostly luxury goods like cashmere sweaters, cigars, that kind of thing. I don’t think it ever made him a lot of money. He wanted me to fudge it a little so he didn’t have to pay a bunch of taxes on the stuff he bought. I didn’t mind that—hey, everyone’s looking for a good racket if they can find one. But I did need to know all the addresses he used for his businesses. That way I could write off some of his cash as expenses. And here’s the document he gave me.”

“Look,” said Sara. “There’s two of them in New York?”

“Right,” said Zeke. “One’s up near College Point. A little close to us, right? But the other’s in Red Hook, down in Brooklyn.”

“Lola,” said Sara, “if this guy’s hiding somewhere, I bet you it’s at one of those two places, huh?”

I breathed, looking at the addresses. This was it. Luca wouldn’t be at his apartment.

“Zeke,” I said. “How easy would it be for the cops to find these?”

“Tough,” said Zeke. “Even though they legally belong to him, they’re owned by subsidiary companies which are ringfenced by Alex’s business. They wouldn’t be looking for either of these warehouses.”

“We need to go,” I said.

“No!” said Sara. “Lola! It’s dangerous, huh? You’re not thinking straight.”

“You were there when he said what he said,” I warned her. “If we go to the cops, he’s going to hurt Macy. Besides, he wants money, right? I’ll bet he’s got nothing left.”

“You’re betting right,” said Zeke. “While you and Alex were away, they put out an APB on Luca. All his cash and everything’s been frozen. At this point, he probably just wants to get out of the country. A solo kidnapping’s pretty desperate.”

“Okay,” I said. “Here’s what we do. He’s expecting to call and tell us. So you guys go to the one in Queens and I’ll go to the one in Red Hook. When we get there, we’ll call the cops and let them know. But if we just call the cops to both addresses I bet Luca’s going to know. Zeke, does he have a security system on these places?”

“He’s got to,” said Zeke. “Almost every warehouse in New York has got one. But it wouldn’t be anything serious. And knowing Luca, I’d bet he went for the cheapest one he could find.”

“If the cops show up at one of the addresses and he finds out about it…” I said.

Zeke nodded. He looked at Sara. “She’s right,” he said.

Sara looked at me.

“Girl,” she told me. “If you don’t come back in one piece, I am gonna be so goddamn mad.”

“Save it for Luca,” I said. “He’s expecting a call from Alex this afternoon. Let’s go at midday. In the meantime, we’ll split up. Anyone could be watching us,” I said, with a shiver.

I’m coming for you, baby, I thought to myself.