Page 35 of The Forbidden Secret

Maggie exhaled. “Would turning her over to the foster care system be the best option for her right now? She’d be safe there. A family would take her in, and because she’s so young, they would love her.”

“No,” I said. “I won’t ever get her back if that happens.”

“Give me something, Evelina. You’re my best friend, but I have been doing this for you for months.”

My heart raced. It was too much.

“Is she doing okay?” I whispered. “I… I miss her, and… I just need to know that she’s okay.”

“She’s doing great, Evelina. She really is. I love her like she’s my own. If it weren’t for the people watching me because of your situation—the people who could pose a risk to my baby and yours—I would keep her longer. I would find a way to keep her safe for you. But it’s too much. I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens under my watch, and I’m afraid that something will. You need to find someone to come and get her. I’m so sorry, but I can’t keep her much longer.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” I told her, shaking my head. “Jesus, Maggie, you’ve done everything for me and my family. You told me from day one that you couldn’t keep her when your baby was born. I just… I never expected any of this to happen.”

“I know, honey. I didn’t either.”

I bit my lip as I considered. “How much longer can you keep her?”

She exhaled, and a small coo came from the background. I wanted to cry as the sound melted the resolve I had managed to keep during this entire conversation. A single tear slid down my cheek. I missed Beatrice so damn much. I needed to be reunited with her again, but were my selfish desires worth her safety?

No, not at all.

“Another week. I need you to tell me what to do if nobody comes for her after that, Eve. Ineedto know what you want me to do.”

There were only two options: come and get her or allow Maggie to give her to a stranger. And what were the odds I would ever get Beatrice back if she did that? The odds were slim, but if the options were to either put her in danger or risk losing custody of her, I knew the choice I had to make.

“If I don’t get back to you within a week, you can do whatever you need to do,” I told her.

I wouldn’t let that happen.

I would sooner tell Zeke the truth and pray he could do something for her.

The conversation lingered heavy on my mind as I marched back to the car and waited for Zeke to return. And he did with a scowl on his lips and a tightness to his posture. The moment he settled into the seat of the car, he began driving erratically, taking a series of turns that appeared counterintuitive.

“What did you find?”

“They’re all bugged,” he replied, shaking his head. “We got lucky that nobody is tailing us, but they’ll know we were there.”

A sense of hopelessness filled my chest. “Do we have any other options?”

“Just one.”

I didn’t ask as I weighed the benefits of telling him about Beatrice. I felt like I knew a part of him, but there were so many unpredictable parts that were volatile in a decision like this. Would he hate her? Would he give up his protection detail out of spite? I didn’t think so, but how much did Ireallyknow about him? I knew what I had learned on my own, but he still hadn’t opened up to me. He still didn’t show me who he truly was behind the mask of a mafia assassin.

We pulled up to a neighborhood different than the others we had frequented. This one looked like a street full of lawyers and doctors—people who could afford the luxury of a park across the street and balconies on each apartment. The stores beneath the apartments were primarily clothing shops, but we parked behind the building of a luxury candle and fragrance shop as Zeke pulled out a set of keys.

I followed him into the back entrance and up the elevator to a sixth-floor apartment sandwiched between two others.

When we walked through the door, I stumbled over my feet.

The décor was sparse, but there was something.

There was art hanging on every wall of the living room.

Myart.

I turned in place, scanning all the pieces that seemed to fit immaculately in the room. Nothing else hung on the walls. No other décor had been arranged around the space.

“Is this your place?” I asked.

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