Chapter 4 - THE SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
The next morning, Damiano wore a navy suit with no tie.
Rafael looked at him as though the missing tie were a greater scandal than the child.
“You are attending an elementary-school performance.”
“I am aware.”
“There will be parents.”
“I have seen parents.”
“Teachers.”
“I have seen teachers.”
“Children.”
Damiano stopped buttoning his jacket.
“Rafael.”
“Yes?”
“Are you afraid of eight-year-olds?”
“No.”
“Then stop speaking.”
Mia entered the room wearing a yellow dress and white shoes.
Sofia had tied her hair with two blue ribbons.
Damiano’s chest tightened.
Isabella had once described the ribbons she would buy if they had a daughter.
Blue.
Never pink.
“Do I look okay?” Mia asked.
Damiano cleared his throat.
“You look prepared.”
“That means pretty.”
“It means both.”
She smiled.
Sofia watched from the doorway.
Fear had not left her face.
“We should cancel.”
Mia’s smile disappeared.
Damiano looked toward Sofia.
“No.”
“Silvio knows who she is.”
“That is why she does not disappear again.”
“You cannot protect her in public.”
“I can protect an entire city block.”
Mia took his hand.
“Mommy says school has metal detectors.”
Damiano looked at Sofia.
“Mommy is trying to be reassuring.”
The school auditorium smelled of paper decorations and floor polish.
Parents turned when Damiano entered.
Conversations died.
Two security officers exchanged nervous looks.
Rafael had already spoken with the principal.
Damiano sat in the second row beside Sofia.
Mia waited backstage with her class.
The performance was called Our Families.
Children walked onto the stage one by one.
Some stood beside mothers.
Some beside fathers.
Some beside grandparents, older siblings, or family friends.
When Mia’s name was announced, she entered alone.
She held the red heart.
Damiano felt every eye in the room move toward him.
Mia approached the microphone.
“My family is small,” she said.
“My mommy works very hard.”
“She says fathers are not borrowed like library books.”
Several adults laughed gently.
Mia continued.
“But I asked Mr. Damiano to borrow him anyway.”
The principal looked toward Damiano.
He stood.
The whispers began.
He walked onto the stage.
Mia held out the heart.
“We were supposed to say what our dads teach us.”
She looked up.
“What do you teach me?”
Damiano had commanded armies of men.
He had negotiated peace between killers.
He had never been asked to explain fatherhood.
He looked toward Sofia.
Then toward the children.
“A father should teach a child that her voice matters.”
Mia smiled.
“What else?”
“That asking for help is not weakness.”
“What else?”
Damiano lowered his voice.
“That no one has the right to make her feel small.”
The auditorium became silent.
Mia took his hand.
“And what do I teach you?”
The question reached a place he had sealed after Isabella disappeared.
He looked at her honest brown eyes.
“That being feared is not the same as being strong.”
A flash appeared near the rear exit.
Not a camera flash.
Light reflecting from metal.
Damiano moved before the thought formed.
He pulled Mia against his chest and turned.
A bullet struck the microphone stand.
Children screamed.
Parents dropped beneath seats.
Rafael fired toward the rear door.
A man in a delivery uniform disappeared into the hallway.
Damiano carried Mia from the stage.
Sofia ran toward them.
“Is she hurt?”
“No.”
Mia clung to his jacket.
“They tried to shoot you.”
Damiano looked at the bullet mark.
The angle was wrong.
The bullet had not been aimed at him.
It had been aimed at Mia.
Rafael returned from the hallway.
“The shooter escaped through the service stairwell.”
Damiano’s voice became deadly calm.
“Find him.”
Rafael nodded.
Mia pressed her face against Damiano’s chest.
“Was this because I borrowed you?”
“No.”
May you like
He held her tighter.
“This happened because someone is afraid you belong to me.”
