Chapter 4 - A Favor with Teeth
Naen stepped back from the window.
She didn’t run downstairs. She didn’t confront the driver.
She called Elena.
Within minutes, Elena connected her with a detective named Mara Bell, who took the vehicle description and asked Naen to stay away from the glass.
Mrs. Alvarez came upstairs when Naen called her.
The older woman listened without interrupting, then pulled Leo’s overnight bag from the closet.
“He can sleep downstairs.”
“I don’t want to frighten him.”
“Then tell him I need help guarding my cookies.”
Leo accepted the assignment with solemn enthusiasm.
After the apartment door closed, Naen realized her hands were shaking.
Detective Bell arrived before the sedan moved. A patrol officer approached it. The driver produced identification, answered several questions, and eventually drove away.
No arrest.
No dramatic confession.
Just a man who claimed he was waiting for someone.
Bell knocked on Naen’s door afterward.
“Do you recognize this name?”
She showed her a notepad.
Naen didn’t.
“He works for a private investigation firm,” Bell said. “We’re documenting the contact. Let us know immediately if he returns.”
“Who hired him?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Naen looked at the circled invoices on her table.
She thought she could guess.
The next morning, Roman called.
“I’m sorry.”
She sat on the edge of Leo’s bed.
“For which part?”
“For letting you discover the danger after you’d already accepted the assignment.”
“Did you know someone would watch my apartment?”
“No.”
“Did you know there might be trouble?”
“Yes.”
The honesty made her angrier.
“I have a child.”
“I know.”
“No. You know his name. That isn’t the same thing.”
Roman said nothing.
Naen could hear the hospital room around him, a quiet electronic rhythm, a door opening somewhere nearby.
“I’m ending the assignment,” she said.
“Your pay will be honored.”
“And I’m giving what I found to Detective Bell.”
“You should.”
She had expected resistance.
It left her briefly speechless.
“Roman, who are you?”
For several seconds, he didn’t answer.
Then he said, “Someone who has allowed people to fear him because fear made business easier.”
“That’s an expensive way to avoid my question.”
“My father ran a criminal organization. When he died, I took control. Some businesses were legitimate. Some weren’t.”
Naen closed her eyes.
“Are they now?”
“Not all of them.”
There it was.
No polished explanation could soften it.
“Then don’t come near my son.”
“I won’t.”
She ended the call.
An hour later, Elena arrived alone. She brought Naen’s completed pay, a copy of the assignment agreement, and contact information for an independent attorney.
“Roman is covering reasonable legal costs connected to the work,” she explained. “You choose your lawyer. They represent you.”
“And what does he get?”
“Nothing.”
Naen looked unconvinced.
Elena sat across from her.
“I’ve spent two years trying to persuade him that cleaning up a business requires more than changing the sign outside. This may be the first time he’s listening.”
“I’m not his lesson.”
“No,” Elena said. “You’re not.”
That afternoon, Naen took Leo to his follow-up appointment. His ear was improving. He earned a dinosaur sticker and spent the bus ride deciding which species deserved to become president.
For twenty minutes, life felt ordinary.
Then Naen found a cream envelope wedged beneath her apartment door.
Inside was a photograph.
Her and Leo leaving the clinic.
On the back, someone had written a message.
Good mothers know when to stop asking questions.
Naen’s knees weakened.
She photographed the envelope where she found it and called Detective Bell.
She didn’t call Roman.
Not until Bell had arranged a safer place for her and Leo to stay and an officer had collected the envelope.
Then she dialed his number.
He answered immediately.
“They photographed my son,” she said.
Roman’s breath changed.
“Tell me where you are.”
“No.”
The word came out stronger than she expected.
“You don’t get to fix this by becoming worse than the person doing it.”
Silence stretched between them.
“What do you need?” he asked finally.
May you like
Naen looked at Leo, asleep beneath Mrs. Alvarez’s coat.
“The truth,” she said. “All of it. Somewhere the police can hear.”
