THIRTY-THREE

"The marks humans leave are too often scars."

—John Green

MARCO

He was twelve hours old. Smaller than the distance between elbow and my wrist, and here he was, motherless. He was suffering like Lisa suffered as an infant. It had taken Evelyn over a decade to finally hold her…to love her. And every second Jen that was gone, Ethan was forced to travel the same path his mom had. Right now, he was oblivious to it all, as he slept in his bassinet, lost in his own little world.

"Marco." Evelyn burst into the hospital nursery. "A nurse went to look for Jen so she could feed Ethan."

"Shit." It was only a matter of time before the police would be brought in. With the police came the media, investigations, and people digging deeper into our lives.

"Does Lisa know?" I asked, pulling out my phone.

"The nurse already went to his superiors. It's only a matter of time." No sooner had the words left her lips, a silent red siren went off around the room. We blinked at the brightly flashing lights that were supposed to catch a nurse's attention without waking the children.

"What do we do?" she whispered, walking over to Ethan.

The only thing we could. "We tell the truth. We left Jen to get some rest and when we came back, she was gone."

"The timeline won't match up, Marco. I went to check on her hours ago. Either we tell them we knew she was missing for hours or someone has to screw with the camera footage." It was a lose-lose situation because in the end, it would kick up more questions than any of us were ready to handle.

I couldn't leave her or Ethan alone to prep Lisa for the questions that would most likely be hurled her way. All I could do was stand in the middle of Ethan's personal nursery as the red lights above us flashed non-stop.

"He knows." She sighed, allowing him to grab her finger. "He knows his mother is gone. Just like Lisa did."

"Evelyn…"

"Lisa and I aren't close. It's my fault. I left her alone for years, and when I finally woke up, she wasn't a baby anymore and she avoided me. Not once has she come to me for advice. I know she loves me, but it's always been you. Her anger, her pain, her loneliness, are all because I wasn't there." She trembled in my arms as her tears soaked my shirt.

"Lisa loves you, and this is completely different. Jen didn't…Jen was taken, but she'll be back. We're talking about the first woman to take over the Mafia. The moment she can, she will get back to us and leave nothing but a wake of blood behind her. This will be over soon." I hoped my words would be true. Every moment she wasn't here, Lisa would spiral. I knew this about Lisa; she couldn't handle being abandoned again.

NICKHUN

Nothing but a sea of blue was flooding the walls, drowning out the white coats that normally infested the hallways. Cops made me sick. They were nothing but self-persevering, opportunistic leeches hiding behind shiny badges. The nurse had set us back and now the hospital was on its own lockdown, forcing us to stay in a private wing instead of searching for Jen. Lisa hadn't said a word since we took out the doctor. She sat like a man made out of marble, her head permanently attached to her hands.

"Ms. Manoban," a short balding man said. He was dripping in medals, which he undoubtedly wore for the cameras outside.

"May I ask who you are?" I asked. "Lisa is both tired and devastated, as you can imagine." I stepped beside Lisa. She looked up at me, eyebrow raised.

"Ms. Manoban, I am Superintendent Wendell Homer. I wanted to personally come down and tell you that we will do everything in our power—"

"Let me stop you here. We're Manobans, we are used to people kissing our asses for personal benefit. So, save your words for the press hounds outside and find my sister-in-law." As if they could. The Chicago PD were a running joke across the country.

His back straightened from his ass-kissing position before he placed his hat on.

"Has anyone received any ransom demands?" he asked and I had to fight my initial reaction to roll my eyes.

"No. We haven't."

"Okay, but expect one. These types of low lives always hunt for a fast paycheck. We're going to need a list of anyone who may have a grudge against you…" He stopped as Lisa laughed.

She laughed hysterically, leaning in her chair and running her hands through her hair. "Do you know how much we are worth?" she asked him. "32.7 billion dollars. That puts us between Wal-Mart and Michael Bloomberg on Forbes' richest people list. You want a list of people who have grudges against us? Start with the whole fucking state and work outward!"

"Ms. Manoban, I know this is difficult, but please trust us. We will not stop until we find her. Until we find who did this. We know that your guard was murdered only a day ago. This is obviously connected. Give us time. We will do everything," he said, almost begged, but Lisa was done with them. Instead, her eyes glazed over as she stared emptily at the wall. Neither of us had anything more to say.

"Would you like to make a statement? Plead to the kidnappers to return your wife?" he questioned, making me want to punch his tiny Teletubby self in the face.

"In all your time as an officer, has that shit ever worked? Do you really think they give a shit?" I really couldn't comprehend why he thought that that was even an option.

"It doesn't hurt to try. Please excuse me," he said, waddling down the hall, as more police officers arrived on the scene.

Sighing, I took a seat next to Lisa.

"We've got a list of twelve properties," I said. "Five are out of the country. I've called Rosé and told her to call in every favor she had in Interpol for flight records."

She took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Good. I can't move, not with these fuckers crawling up my ass. Get all the men we have on the outside to start searching. I want Bambam to go with them. He's been in the public eye, traveling the country."

"Bambam? I'll go, Lisa."

"No, Nickhun. I need you here. I need you going through every fucking camera in the damn state. These fuckers have red tape to go through, you don't. I'm not wasting another bloody second just because they want a photo-op. If Scarlet wanted her dead, she could have killed her months ago. She wants Jen alive. And I know my wife, as long as she's alive she will be trying to contact us." What if she couldn't? What if…

"Lisa?"

"Do not motherfucking 'Lisa' me, Nickhun. She's my wife. She's a fucking fighter, a leader. I have full faith that she's going to beat the shit out of her mother and come home with her head on a stake. She didn't become who she is by being weak. She's strong. I'm going to be strong. And our son will know that. So don't you dare 'Lisa' me, and do your fucking job."

With that, she got up and walked away. I wasn't even sure if she knew where she was going. I couldn't even begin to understand her pain. The only person on the face of the earth that she could be honest with was gone.

"Nickhun." Victoria wheeled up out of fucking nowhere with her hands pulling at the rubber band on her wrist—something she had taken to doing during her treatment.

"A…"

"What can I do? What should I be doing? I need to do something. Evelyn told me and I—"

"Victoria." I dropped to my knees, taking her hand in mine. "Just watch Ethan, I don't want you getting hurt."

"But…"

"No! I need to concrete on Lisa. This family and I cannot do that if you're in the middle of this. I'm begging you. Just watch Ethan, avoid the police, and focus on your health, okay?"

She sighed and nodded, but she didn't meet my gaze. Kissing her forehead, I held her to me for a long second. "I love you, baby. Just keep your head above this and we will get through it."

"We always do," she whispered. "I'm going to see Ethan, and before you ask, don't worry about me. I can push myself."

"Of course you can." I looked up to see Adriana; she was standing in the middle of the hospital wing, taking in the chaos around her. Her hair was drenched, sticking to her face. It seemed as if she was trying to hold it together, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked like a wet, dying puppy without a home.

She was Jen's right hand. There had to be more properties that Jen hid from us. I wouldn't put it past her to have tricks and funds up her sleeve that no one knew of.

"Be safe," I told Victoria before leaving her and walking over to Adriana. The halls were crawling with badges but I wasn't sure where else to take her.

"I don't understand," she whispered, her hands shaking. "She was with me hours ago. I don't…No…She doesn't get kidnapped. She's not the type. She's Jennie."

Great, she's losing her shit too.

"Adriana, I know this is hard, but I need you to think. Okay? I need you to tell me all the properties Jen has, everything."

"I can't do that, Jen would—"

"Jen is not fucking here, Adriana, and you work for us, for this family," I hissed through clenched teeth, trying not to draw too much attention. "Now, I need you to tell me anything that Jen has failed to inform us about."

"She has fifteen million, and a loft in Cagliari, and a private house in Varna, Bulgaria. And… she has private homes no one even knows about all around South Korea. I don't know them all; it's her safety net. The only record of that shit is in her head. Those are the only two—"

"It's fine. We will keep looking, okay, Adriana? But right now, I need you to keep calm and breathe. You need to get out of here. You look like you just shanked an old woman. Go home." First Antonio, now Jen. I was surprised she wasn't rocking back and forth in the corner.

"I'm supposed to watch her back, especially when she can't. That's my job. That's my only real job. Everything I do and everything I've done is because I wanted to help her. I would do anything to help her."

I knew that. I doubted anyone would say differently. "Go home, Adriana," I repeated as I pulled out my phone. I hoped to God Lisa was right and that Jen was trying to contact us.