Chapter 9
Maya should have walked away then.
Matteo was with his father.
The security team had new information.
The nanny had been found.
The gray man was someone else’s problem.
A dangerous problem.
A problem wrapped in a name people whispered.
Maya Bennett had a life.
A job.
An apartment uptown.
A half-finished coffee somewhere on a bench now probably taken by a pigeon.
She should have said goodbye.
But Matteo still held her hand.
And Lorenzo was watching her like he already knew she understood too much.
“Miss Bennett,” he said.
“Maya.”
The correction came automatically.
His eyes flickered.
“Maya.”
Her name sounded different in his voice.
She wished she had not noticed.
“I need to ask one more thing.”
“No.”
He blinked once.
She continued, “Not here. Not with three men standing around like I’m being interviewed.”
Adrian looked offended.
Lorenzo looked almost amused.
Almost.
“You are very direct.”
“I found your child crying behind a bench. Direct feels appropriate.”
His amusement vanished.
“Fair.”
He turned to his security.
“Give us space.”
Adrian hesitated.
Lorenzo’s gaze sharpened.
Now.
The men stepped back several paces, still watching, but no longer close enough to crowd her.
Maya appreciated that against her will.
Lorenzo lowered Matteo so the child’s feet touched the path but kept one arm around him.
Matteo immediately leaned into both adults, one hand on Lorenzo’s sleeve, one still in Maya’s.
Lorenzo looked at the joined hands.
Then at Maya.
“Did the man in gray see you?”
Maya’s mouth went dry.
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“I am thinking.”
His intensity pressed too hard.
Matteo stiffened.
Maya’s eyes flashed.
“Lower your voice.”
Lorenzo stopped.
It was not loud before.
But it was enough.
He looked at Matteo, then back at her.
“I apologize.”
Maya believed him.
That unsettled her more.
She looked toward the pretzel cart area, replaying the moment.
The gray jacket.
The cap.
The sunglasses.
The way he turned when Maya knelt.
The way he did not approach after hearing her speak Italian.
“He looked at me,” she said slowly. “Then at Matteo. Then he left.”
Lorenzo’s face tightened.
“So yes.”
Maya swallowed.
“Yes.”
Matteo’s hand squeezed hers again.
Lorenzo looked at her with something that was not quite fear, not quite guilt.
“You should not have been pulled into this.”
Maya answered quietly.
May you like
“I wasn’t pulled. I knelt down.”
Read Chapter 10 👉 Because Maya had chosen to help, but Lorenzo knew the man in gray may have seen the woman his son now trusted.
