Page 24 of The Marriage Debt

Steel flashes as he draws the knife, low and fast, blade tucked close to his hip. He aims for Rafe’s ribs, going for a quick tear instead of a kill shot. He wants to send a message, not leave a body on school grounds.

Rafe pivots and catches the inside of the man’s wrist, but not cleanly. The blade scrapes his forearm, cutting through fabric and into skin. He reacts on instinct—drives a fist into the man’s jaw and throws him back, hard enough that his shoulder hits the post beside the sidewalk.

I shove Lev behind me with one hand and lift my jacket with the other. The Glock sits snug in the waistband of my trousers. I don’t draw it. I just let it show. The man sees it instantly.

He freezes.

His chest rises and falls with the effort of the failed strike. He looks past Rafe and locks eyes with me. I hold his gaze, unmoving, hand resting on the grip of the weapon. My body blocks Lev from view, but he knows exactly who I’m protecting.

His stance falters. For a second, he looks ready to try again, but then he hesitates. Rafe takes a half-step forward, blood trailing down his sleeve, but doesn’t strike. The man backs off, slowly at first, then turns and disappears into the line of parked cars without a word.

I don’t watch him go. I already have his face memorized.

I open the rear door and help Lev inside. His hands are cold, and his fingers wrap around the strap of his backpack tightly. He doesn’t speak as I buckle him in. His eyes stay wide, fixed on the spot where the man disappeared between the cars.

Once he’s secure, I shut the door and move around to the other side. The Glock stays visible until I’m seated. Giorgio pulls away without needing a signal.

The car is silent. Lev watches the sidewalk through the glass, quiet but alert. His knees bounce slightly, not with energy but with nerves he doesn’t know how to hide.

“I saw that man before,” he says, voice low but steady.

I turn my head. “Where?”

He shrugs, but it’s not careless. He’s thinking. “Yesterday. When I was with Mommy.”

“Where were you?” I ask.

“The place with the paper window,” he says. “With the stamps.”

“The filing center.”

He nods. “He was standing by the bikes. Just staring.”

The words settle like a weight in my chest. Lila didn’t say a thing. She looked me in the eye after that outing and let me believe it was uneventful. Either she didn’t notice the man, or she noticed and chose silence. I don’t know which is worse.

“He was watching you?” I ask.

Lev nods again, slower this time. “And Mommy. But he looked at me first.”

My jaw tightens, but I keep my voice calm. “Did you tell her?”

“No. She just told me to stay close and hold her hand.” He stares out the window, voice smaller now. “We left really fast.”

She knew.

I look forward again and rest my hand on my thigh to keep it from drifting toward my weapon. The road opens ahead, but the pressure in my chest doesn’t ease. She let it go. She walked him back to the car with a man watching and never told me. She had every chance to say something.

Lev shifts in his seat and leans closer to the edge of the cushion. “You didn’t even talk and he went away.” I glance at him, and he smiles proudly in a quiet, tired way. “That’s what heroes do.”

“I’m not a hero,” I say.

He frowns but doesn’t argue. “You scared him. Like a real one.”

I don’t answer. The compliment feels too clean for what just happened.

The car falls into silence again. The road bends toward the estate, and Giorgio keeps the speed steady. Lev rests his head against the window, his eyes still open but unfocused.

I watch the trees pass outside and think of the man’s face. I think of the way his eyes moved from Rafe to Lev without hesitation. I think about how close that blade came.

---