Chapter 76 – "Ghosts Don't Sleep"

Chapter 76 – "Ghosts Don't Sleep"
\# Chapter 76 – "Ghosts Don't Sleep"

The scream tore from my throat before I knew I was awake.

My hands shook as I sat up in bed. The sheets were soaked with sweat. My heart hammered against my ribs like it wanted to break free. The dream still burned behind my eyes. Marco's hands reaching for my son. His voice echoing in the dark. "He belongs with family now, Eve."

I pressed my palms against my face and tried to breathe. Just a dream. That's all it was. But my gut told me different. It twisted and churned like it knew something my mind didn't want to face.

The clock on the wall showed three in the morning. Outside, rain hit the windows hard. The sound made me think of fingers tapping. Waiting. Watching.

I threw off the covers and grabbed my robe. My feet hit the cold floor, and I moved fast down the hall. I needed to see him. Needed to know he was safe.

The nursery door was cracked open. Inside, soft light from the night lamp painted the walls yellow. I pushed the door wider and stepped inside. There he was. My little boy. Sleeping in his crib with his tiny fists curled up near his face. His chest rose and fell in perfect rhythm.

"Ma'am?"

I spun around. Janet stood in the doorway. She was the night guard I'd hired last month. Young but sharp. Good with weapons and better with watching.

"I heard you scream," she said. Her hand rested on the gun at her hip.

"Bad dream." I moved closer to the crib. "Has anyone been near the house tonight?"

"No ma'am. All quiet. I've been doing rounds every hour like you said."

I nodded but the feeling in my gut didn't go away. Marco was out there somewhere. I could feel him like a storm coming over the mountains. He'd been quiet for weeks now. Too quiet. Men like him didn't just disappear. They planned. They waited. They struck when you thought you were safe.

"Double the rounds," I said. "And I want someone in this room at all times. Even when I'm here."

Janet's eyes went wide. "You think he's coming?"

"I think he never left."

The next few hours crawled by like wounded animals. I couldn't sleep. Every sound made me jump. The house settling. The wind in the trees. A cat yowling somewhere in the dark. I sat in the kitchen with coffee that had gone cold hours ago. The gun lay on the table next to my cup. Loaded. Ready.

When the sun finally came up, I felt like I'd been through a war. My eyes burned. My muscles ached from staying tense all night. But daylight didn't make the fear go away. If anything, it made it worse. Marco was the kind of man who struck in broad daylight just to prove he could.

I called Tommy at seven. He answered on the first ring.

"Boss?"

"I need you here. Now."

"On my way."

Tommy had been with me for five years. He'd saved my life twice and never asked for anything in return except a chance to keep doing his job. If I trusted anyone in this world, it was him. But even trust had limits these days. Marco had ways of getting to people. Money. Threats. Family members who could disappear in the night.

Tommy showed up twenty minutes later. His dark hair was messy like he'd rolled out of bed. But his eyes were alert and his hand never strayed far from his weapon.

"What's going on?" he asked.

I told him about the dream. About the feeling that wouldn't leave me alone. He listened without saying a word. When I finished, he nodded.

"You want me to take the boy somewhere safe?"

"I want you to watch him. Here. Don't let him out of your sight. Not for a second."

"What about you?"

"I can take care of myself."

Tommy looked like he wanted to argue. But he knew better. "Yes ma'am."

I left him in the nursery and went to check the grounds. The rain had stopped but everything was still wet. Water dripped from the trees. The grass squished under my boots. I walked the fence line, looking for anything out of place. Footprints. Broken branches. Signs someone had been watching.

I found nothing. But that didn't mean nothing was there.

The front gate stood twenty feet high. Iron bars topped with razor wire. Security cameras on both sides. It should have made me feel safe. Instead, it felt like a cage. Something to keep me in as much as keep others out.

I was heading back to the house when I saw it.

Letters carved deep into the wood of the gate. Fresh cuts that went through the paint to the raw timber underneath. The words made my blood freeze.

"Blood for blood. The heir is mine."

I stared at the message until my eyes watered. The letters were rough but clear. Done with a knife. Maybe in the early morning when the guards changed shifts. There was a twenty-minute window when the cameras moved from one sector to another. Just enough time for someone who knew the schedule.

Someone who'd been watching. Learning. Planning.

I ran back to the house. My boots pounded on the gravel driveway. My breath came in short gasps. Tommy was still in the nursery when I burst through the door.

"He was here," I said. "Marco was here."

Tommy's hand went to his gun. "When?"

"This morning. Maybe an hour ago." I showed him the picture I'd taken of the gate. His face went hard.

"I'll call the others. Set up a perimeter."

"No." The word came out sharper than I meant it to. "We don't know who we can trust anymore."

Tommy stared at me. "You think someone on the inside is feeding him information?"

I looked down at my son. He was awake now. His big eyes stared up at me like he could see straight into my soul. Like he knew the danger that surrounded us both.

"I think Marco doesn't make moves unless he knows he'll win," I said. "And right now, he seems pretty confident."

The day dragged on like a funeral march. I stayed close to the nursery. Tommy never left his post by the door. We took turns eating. One of us always watching. Always listening.

But the house felt different now. Like something had changed in the night. The shadows seemed deeper. The sounds seemed wrong. Even the air felt thick and hard to breathe.

At noon, the phone rang. I answered it on the second ring.

"Hello, Eve."

Marco's voice hit me like a punch to the gut. Smooth and calm. Like he was calling to chat about the weather.

"What do you want?"

"I think you know."

I looked at my son. He was playing with a stuffed rabbit, making soft baby sounds that should have been the sweetest thing in the world. Instead, they sounded like a countdown.

"He's not yours," I said.

Marco laughed. The sound made my skin crawl. "Blood doesn't lie, Eve. The boy belongs with his family."

"I am his family."

"You're his mother. I'm his future."

The line went dead. I stood there holding the phone until the dial tone turned to that annoying beep that meant I'd been listening too long to nothing.

Tommy appeared at my shoulder. "What did he say?"

"He's coming for him." I set the phone down with hands that shook despite my best efforts to stay calm. "Not the throne. Not the business. My son."

"We can move him. Take him somewhere Marco will never find him."

I wanted to say yes. Every instinct I had as a mother screamed at me to run. To take my baby and disappear into the night. Find some quiet place where Marco's reach couldn't touch us.

But running wouldn't solve anything. Marco had resources. Connections. People who owed him favors in every corner of the country. He'd find us eventually. And when he did, I'd be away from everything that made me strong. My people. My weapons. My home ground.

"No," I said. "We make our stand here."

The rest of the day passed in a blur of preparation. I called the guards I trusted most. The ones who'd been with me longest. Who'd bled for me. Who'd proven their loyalty with more than just words. By evening, the house was a fortress.

But fortresses could be broken. I'd seen it happen before. The strongest walls meant nothing if the enemy was already inside.

I was thinking about that when the power went out.

The house plunged into darkness. Emergency lights kicked in a few seconds later, bathing everything in red. My son started crying. The sound cut through me like a knife.

"Tommy!" I shouted.

No answer.

I grabbed my gun and moved toward the nursery. The red lights made everything look like a horror movie. Shadows danced on the walls. The house creaked and groaned like it was settling into its grave.

The nursery door stood open. Inside, the crib was empty.

My son was gone.

And in his place was a note written in Marco's handwriting: "Come alone. You know where."

I knew exactly where he meant. The old warehouse by the docks where this whole war had started. Where Marco had first challenged my father's rule. Where blood had been spilled before and would be spilled again.

I checked my weapon. Full clip. One in the chamber. It wouldn't be enough. Not against Marco and whoever he'd brought with him. But it was all I had.

The front door stood wide open. Rain had started falling again. It hit my face like cold tears as I stepped outside. My car was still in the driveway. Keys in my pocket. Thirty minutes to the warehouse if I pushed it hard.

But first, I had to make a choice. Go alone like Marco wanted and probably die. Or bring backup and risk him disappearing with my son forever.

I got in the car and turned the key. The engine roared to life, cutting through the sound of rain and my own hammering heartbeat.

Some choices weren't really choices at all. A mother would always choose her child. Even if it meant walking straight into hell.

I put the car in drive and headed into the night. Behind me, the house got smaller in the rearview mirror until it disappeared completely. Ahead of me waited Marco and whatever trap he'd set.

But I was done being afraid. Done running. Done letting him dictate the terms.

Tonight, one way or another, this would end.

My son deserved better than a world where monsters like Marco could reach into the night and steal children from their beds. And I was going to give him that world. Even if it killed me.

The speedometer climbed as I pressed harder on the gas. The warehouse waited in the darkness. Marco waited with my son.

Time to finish what we'd started.