“Is there a pharmacy open at this hour?” Felicity asked. “I know this is New York City, but…”

“Don’t worry. We will have the prescription filled here,” the doctor told her before Mom could answer. “It will be brought to you in just a few minutes.” He bowed his head to Mom. “If there’s nothing else you need, Mrs. Vitucci?”

“No, thank you, Doctor. I’ll make sure your boss knows how well you took care of us.”

While the adults talked, I carried Nova over to the exam table, but I didn’t place her on it. Instead, I stood so I could lean my back against it and adjusted her in my arms. “Does your ear hurt very bad?” I asked her quietly.

She nodded.

“Did the doctor make it hurt worse?”

This time, she shook her head before yawning, but then her head shot up. “Bun-Bun! Where’s Bun-Bun?”

“In the limo. I thought she would be safer there.” She let out a relieved breath and rested her head back on my shoulder. I started rubbing her back again. “It’s okay. Go to sleep. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

Another yawn escaped her. “I wanna marry you,” she said with the prettiest giggle I’d ever heard. “You take care of me like Daddy takes care of Mommy.”

My heart lifted at that idea. If I married her, then she would always be with me. I could take care of her. Protect her. Make sure she was always happy.

But she was too young—we both were. I’d have to do some research, but I’d find out how old Nova had to be before I could marry her.

And as soon as she was old enough, she would be mine forever.

Then no one could take her away from me.

6

Ryan

It was hard to be excited for my birthday when Nova was leaving me the day after. I couldn’t think about anything past what I was going to do once my little angel was no longer there to climb into bed beside me each night so I could protect her and Bun-Bun. Would she be happy when she left? Would she be safe?

Would her mom hurt her like mine had?

I hadn’t seen Felicity so much as yell at Nova in the time they had been staying at our house, but she’d done more than a little shouting at Garret. Not that he didn’t deserve it. All Garret did was get into trouble. He was worse than Vito and Bennie combined, and I didn’t think it was possible for any one person to get into more mischief than those two. But other than getting frustrated with her son and threatening to ground him, Nova’s mom had seemed okay, I guess.

I still didn’t trust her, though.

What if she was different when no one else was around? What if she did bad things to her kids when there wasn’t anyone to see?

The thought of Nova crying because she was scared and hurt by her mother—or anyone else—left me sick to my stomach.