Page 15 of Blood Debt

“She’s gone,” I whisper, hugging the bag to my chest. “She’s gone, and I wasn’t there—”

Then my phone buzzes.

I yank it from my coat pocket with shaking hands. The screen flashes Mama.

I answer with barely a voice. “Mama?”

Her voice bursts through the speaker, gasping, hysterical.

“She’s back! Serafina—Bianca’s here. She just walked up the steps. She’s with me. Oh my God—she’s here.”

The phone nearly slips again.

Tony’s already reading my expression.

“She’s back,” I whisper.

He exhales hard, then pulls me to my feet.

We run.

Through the gate, past the startled teachers. Around the parking lot where two patrol cars now sit idling, doors ajar. The wind smells like fresh cut grass and the inside of a too-hot car.

Then I see them.

Near the entrance.

Bianca stands between two teachers and my mother. My mother is crouched beside her, crying openly, fingers tangled in Bianca’s curls like she can’t believe they’re real.

I break into a run.

“Mama!” Bianca cries when she sees me.

I drop to my knees and sweep her into my arms so fast she gasps. Her small arms go around my neck in an instant, breath warm on my skin.

I sob into her shoulder.

I press my hands over her back, her arms, her ribs—checking, gently but urgently. Her jacket is still zipped. Her socks are grass-stained. There’s a small scrape on her elbow, but no blood. She giggles softly, confused by my hands.

“Mama…why are you crying?”

Tony crouches beside us. His voice is gentler than I’ve ever heard it. “Where did you go, sweetheart?”

She smiles up at him, dimples showing. “Mama’s friend took me.”

I stiffen.

Tony looks at me, then back at her. “Which friend, piccolina?”

She tilts her head. “He was really nice. He told me to give this to Mama.”

She digs into the pocket of her coat. I’m still kneeling, frozen, as she pulls out a sealed envelope and hands it to me with a proud grin.

Tony straightens. I meet his eyes.

The paper is thick, ivory-white, with clean edges. No name. No logo.

I tear it open, heart suddenly slamming hard enough to make me light-headed.