She looks at her nanny, then back at me, at my hand.
“We need to move,” Jarno says.
“Let’s go,” I tell her and am surprised when she reaches out her hand. I scoop her up, expecting her to yell or scream and alert the guard waiting in the other room, but she does neither. She’s quiet as a mouse, only holding her hand out to her nanny as I carry her across the room.
Before the guard has to grab the nanny, she’s on her feet, rushing to take Emma’s little hand, and we’re out of the house. It says something about Lucien that the little girl is so willing to leave with me in the hopes of seeing her sister. I don’t hear a gunshot after I’m out—even silenced, you know the sound—so when Jarno joins me in the SUV as I load the girl and the nanny in and we pull away, I raise my eyebrows.
“Doc should wake up by the time their appointment is over but apart from having a headache, he’ll be fine. We want Russo to get his money’s worth, and shrinks are expensive.”
I chuckle, then glance at the girl beside me who is staring up at me. She’s still not spoken a word, sitting with her back pressed into the nanny’s side.
“Her brother,” the nanny starts, voice trembling, forcing me to look at her. “He’ll pay the ransom. Please don’t hurt her.”
I snort. “This isn’t about ransom.” I take my phone out, snap a selfie with the girl, and send it to Amadeo. He sees it but doesn’t respond. I know why. He’ll be at the church by now or well on his way. And showing Vittoria the photo of the little girl will give her that nudge she needs to do as she’s told and move us forward to the next step of this plan.