Chapter 26 -
Sleep would not come. Nia had been lying in bed for what felt like hours, staring at the ceiling, watching the chandelier's crystals catch fragments of moonlight and scatter them across the walls like broken stars. Her mind replayed the conversation between Leo and Santiago over and over, dissecting every word, every threat, every revelation.
Two weeks. Fourteen days. The numbers marched through her head like a funeral procession.
Finally, she gave up. Sitting up in bed, she wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them, feeling the weight of exhaustion that had nothing to do with physical tiredness. This was the bone-deep weariness of fear, of uncertainty, of being trapped with no clear way out.
A sound in the hallway made her lift her head. Voices. One was Rosa's measured, professional tone. The other was higher, younger, filled with the kind of energy that only children seemed to possess even late at night.
Gabriel.
Nia slipped out of bed and padded to the door in her bare feet, pressing her ear against the cool wood. She could hear them more clearly now.
"But I am not sleepy yet, Rosa," Gabriel was saying, his voice carrying that wheedling note children used when they were trying to negotiate bedtime.
"That is what you said twenty minutes ago, mijo." Rosa's voice was firm but affectionate. "And the time before that. Your mother will have my head if you are tired and cranky tomorrow."
"I will not be cranky. I promise."
"That is what you always say."
Nia found herself smiling despite everything. There was something achingly normal about the exchange, something that reminded her of the children at the shelter where she had grown up. The ones who fought bedtime with every weapon in their small arsenals because sleep meant the end of play, the end of stories, the end of feeling safe in someone's presence.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Nia opened the door a crack and peeked out.
Rosa stood in the hallway, one hand holding Gabriel's much smaller one. The boy was dressed in airplane pajamas, his blonde hair damp from a recent bath, his hazel eyes bright despite the late hour. He was dragging his feet theatrically, making a great show of how exhausted he was from being forced to go to bed.
Then he saw Nia, and his entire face lit up like someone had switched on a lamp inside him.
"Miss Nia!" He yanked his hand free from Rosa's and ran toward her door before the older woman could stop him.
"Gabriel, no!" Rosa called, but the boy was already at Nia's door, bouncing on his toes with excitement.
"Hi!" He grinned up at her, showing a gap where he had recently lost a tooth. "Are you awake? I thought everyone was asleep already. Except me and Rosa. I am not tired at all. Not even a little bit."
This last sentence was punctuated by a yawn so huge it made his eyes water.
Nia could not help but laugh. "Not tired, huh?"
"Nope." He rubbed his eyes with small fists, then seemed to remember something important. His face grew serious, and he looked up at her with those enormous hazel eyes. "Miss Nia, can you read me a story?"
The request caught her completely off guard. "What?"
"A story. Rosa always reads to me, but she says the same ones over and over. I bet you know different stories. Good ones. With dragons and knights and maybe pirates."
Rosa had caught up to them now, slightly out of breath, her expression torn between exasperation and amusement. "Gabriel Romano DeSanto, you cannot just ask guests to..."
"I do not think Miss Nia counts as a regular guest," Gabriel interrupted with the brutal honesty of children. "She lives here now. Kind of like family. Right, Miss Nia?"
Nia's throat tightened. Family. The word hit her harder than it should have. "I..."
"Please?" Gabriel clasped his small hands together in front of his chest, his lower lip trembling slightly in what was clearly a well-practiced move. "Just one story? I will go straight to sleep after. I promise. I super promise."
Nia looked to Rosa, uncertain. The last thing she needed was to cause more trouble, to give her captor another reason to be angry with her. But Rosa's expression had softened, and she gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.
"Just one story," Rosa said, her voice gentle. "And then straight to bed, young man. No arguments."
"No arguments," Gabriel agreed immediately, then grabbed Nia's hand with both of his. "Come on! My room has the best books. Uncle Nardo gets them for me. He says reading is important."
Uncle Nardo. Leo. The same man who had threatened to kill his cousin less than an hour ago bought children's books for his nephew. The contradiction made Nia's head spin.
Gabriel tugged her forward, and Nia found herself following, Rosa trailing behind them with a small smile playing at her lips. They moved through the hallways, and Nia noticed they were heading to a different wing of the mansion, one she had not explored during her brief tour with Lucia.
The corridor here was warmer somehow, less imposing. The walls were painted a soft cream instead of stark white, and there were pictures hung at intervals. Drawings, Nia realized. Children's drawings of stick figures and lopsided houses and animals that might have been dogs or possibly horses.
"I made those," Gabriel said proudly, noticing where she was looking. "Uncle Nardo hung them up. He says they make the hallway less boring."
"They are wonderful," Nia said honestly.
Gabriel's room was at the end of the corridor, and when Rosa opened the door, Nia stepped into what looked like a child's paradise. The room was spacious but cozy, painted in soft blues and greens. There was a bed shaped like a race car, shelves overflowing with toys and books, a small table scattered with art supplies, and a window seat piled high with cushions.
"Wow," Nia breathed. "This is amazing."
"Uncle Nardo says every kid should have a good room," Gabriel said matter-of-factly, already scrambling onto his race car bed. "Somewhere safe where bad dreams cannot get you."