Chapter 3
Maya looked at the security men before answering.
She did not like the way they listened.
Not threatening.
Too disciplined for that.
But every word she spoke seemed to become part of an invisible file.
Lorenzo noticed her hesitation.
“They work for me.”
“I guessed that.”
His mouth almost moved.
Not quite a smile.
“Then speak.”
Maya’s eyes hardened.
“I don’t report to you.”
The nearest security man turned his head sharply.
Lorenzo lifted one hand, and the man stopped.
Matteo looked between the adults, frightened by the sudden change in air.
Maya immediately softened and crouched halfway, keeping her hand in his.
“It’s okay,” she told him. “I’m still here.”
Lorenzo watched that.
She had challenged him without raising her voice, then lowered herself to reassure his son before defending her pride.
That was not ordinary.
He shifted Matteo higher against his chest.
“Please,” Lorenzo said.
The word cost him something.
Not because he did not know manners.
Because he was not used to needing them in front of strangers.
Maya heard the difference.
She took a breath.
“I was walking from the fountain. I heard him crying before I saw him. He was behind that bench.” She nodded toward the path. “He kept saying Papa, but when people approached, he backed away.”
Matteo hid his face.
Maya continued more gently.
“He didn’t trust anyone. He was trying not to be touched.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
One guard shifted his weight.
Maya looked at the guard.
“You were not there.”
The guard’s face closed.
Lorenzo asked, “Was anyone near him?”
Maya paused.
“Yes.”
The entire security team became still.
Lorenzo’s voice lowered.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. A man by the pretzel cart looked over twice and left when I knelt down.”
One guard immediately turned his head, scanning.
Another spoke quietly into a hidden earpiece.
Lorenzo did not move.
His eyes stayed on Maya.
“What did he look like?”
“Gray jacket. Baseball cap. Sunglasses. Too warm for how he was dressed.”
The guard who had spoken into the earpiece repeated the description.
Maya’s stomach tightened.
This was no longer only a lost child.
Matteo whimpered.
Lorenzo pressed a kiss to his temple.
“Sei al sicuro.”
You’re safe.
But his eyes did not look certain.
Maya saw it.
And realized the men in black suits had not been searching like bodyguards embarrassed by losing a child.
May you like
They had been searching like people afraid of who else had noticed.
Read Chapter 4 👉 Because Matteo had not merely wandered away, and Maya’s description made Lorenzo’s controlled fear impossible to hide.
