Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“Ms. Bellamy? Mr. Gallo?” the taller says. “I’m Officer Ruiz. This is Officer McClain. We’re here about your daughter.”
“Foster daughter,” Raven says. “Belinda. Eleven.”
They take statements. They ask for a recent photo. They ask what Belinda was wearing, when she was last seen. We try to build a timeline out of thin air and panic as we show the officers to Belinda’s room.
Officer Ruiz steps into the room. “We’ll dust for prints. For now, please don’t disturb anything.”
“We won’t,” I say, even though every part of me wants to dig.
“Any friends she might be with?” McClain asks.
“Gwen,” I say. “Gwen Charleston. From school.”
“I already called them,” Raven says. “They’re part of the same homeschool group. Natalie has the list, but she’s out for the evening.”
“And Natalie is?” Ruiz asks.
“Belinda’s nanny,” Raven says. “I called her cell, but she didn’t pick up.”
Ruiz makes a note. “We’ll call the parents again. Sometimes you just don’t ask the right questions.”
“Excuse me,” Raven says, “but what is there to ask besides ‘is Belinda over there?’”
Ruiz doesn’t reply.
“Seriously, what?” Raven pushes.
“Ma’am, please. Just let us do our jobs.”
“I know Chef Charleston,” I say. “He’s my cooking instructor. I can call him.”
Except I don’t move. Just saying the word “chef” sends me spiraling.
Different chef. Different time.
Fear courses through me. Mostly for Belinda. But also for myself. What if I get sent back to Colombia? What if I never see Hawk again?
Ruiz and Raven are talking, but I stopped listening. Vinnie pulls feeds on his phone. We stand there and try to pretend time isn’t sprinting away from us.
Vinnie is still holding the packet from Officer Patel. I try not to think about it.
Belinda.
Belinda has to be the priority.
I leave her bedroom. A moment later, Vinnie follows.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
Tears threaten. How can I possibly be okay? Someone is stalking me. I think I’ve figured out who it is. I’m in love, but Hawk is ghosting me. The federal government has decided I’m not in danger in Colombia, and Belinda… My Belinda is gone. Sweet Belinda, who’s already been through so much.
“No.” I glance at the packet in his hand. “But I will be. Later.”
“We’ll fight this,” he says. “I promise.”
“I know.” I lift my chin toward Belinda’s doorway. “Right now—Belinda.”
He nods. “Right now—Belinda.”
We rejoin the officers. Ruiz is looking at the printer in Belinda’s room without touching it. “Does she print often?”
“Homework. Piano music,” Raven says, voice thin.
“We’ll ask our tech to pull the print log,” he says. “If that’s okay.”
“Please,” Raven says.
I hover in the doorway. The room looks wrong because it’s too neat. Bed made. Pillow square.
“Did you call Gwen’s parents?” I ask, brittle.
“Not yet,” Ruiz says. “We’ll get there.”
I nod. Wrap my arms around myself to hold me in.
Out front, headlights wash the living room. Another patrol car. The house fills with more careful footsteps, more radios whispering. Ruiz takes statements again, tightens the net in ways I can’t see. McClain checks the side gate and the patch of dirt where neighborhood kids cut through sometimes. Vinnie pulls school contacts. Raven texts Gwen’s mom’s number to Officer Ruiz.
I pace. I stop. I pace again. I touch nothing.
And I think. Hard.
The note is typed. The tone is off. The timing is uncanny. He wanted me to understand the chocolate. He wanted me to think of him. He wanted to remind me that the kitchen taught me things at a price—and he can set the price again.
He took a child.
Every cell in me goes cold and sharp.
I picture the pantry. The molinillo. The way the chocolate bloomed. The way his voice softened when the drink was perfect. The way it hardened when I hesitated.
You want me, Chef? Then you get me. But you do not get her.
I text Hawk again, fingers flying.
Emergency x2. Belinda missing. DHS is revoking my temporary protected status. Call me now!
I wait.
Stare at my screen.
No dots.
“Ms. Agudelo?” Officer Ruiz says, startling me from behind.
“Yes, what?” I say more indignantly than I mean to.
“I spoke to the Charleston family. Gwen’s at home. They haven’t seen Belinda.”
Exactly what Raven said. But I don’t say so. “Okay. Thank you.”
“We’ve issued a BOLO.” He holds my gaze. “We’re treating this as a missing juvenile. We’ll escalate if we find evidence of an abduction.”
My pulse roars in my ears. “You will,” I say.
He nods. “We’re here.”
Hours stretch. Minutes snap. The house becomes a scene and a refuge and a trap all at once.
At some point, I slip into the kitchen and grip the edge of the counter until my knuckles ache. I breathe in, hold it. Out. In again. Out. For ten seconds, I continue.
In those ten seconds I make promises.
To Belinda—I will find you. I will not stop.
To myself—I will not run. I will not freeze. I will fight.
To the chef—You won’t get away with this. I’m a different person now.