I pulled into the rear parking lot of St. Patrick’s Soup Kitchen, feeling better and ready for my shift. Before entering, I looked around to make sure Daddy’s hired goon hadn’t found me. I didn’t need that type of attention brought here. It was hard enough to convince them to let me help. I locked my car and walked to the Employees Only door in the alley. All clear.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Genovese.” Carl, the manager, waved a spatula at me.

“How’s business?” I asked, tying on an apron and stepping up beside him.

“Booming as usual, unfortunately.” He frowned.

I peeked into the restaurant area to see just how right he was. “Wow, standing room only.” I whistled.

“Yeah, I wish Dirty Monkey’s gigs could be so lucky,” Carl huffed, playing the comment off as a joke.

“You never know when that big break’s gonna hit. Any day now, I’m sure.” I tried to be reassuring, but I knew the odds were stacked against a meteoric rise to fame at his age. “Don’t forget us when you’re this huge rock star.”

“Nobody could forget someone as beautiful as you, Ms. Genovese.” He stared into space, and I knew he wasn’t thinking of me. He swore I looked just like his little girl, Carolyn, who had disappeared when she was sixteen. She’d gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and run off one day instead of going to school. I was sure it was the reason he worked at three soup kitchens around D.C. He was hoping to run into her.

I gave him an ‘aww shucks’ grin, but he was lost in his own world now. So instead, I set up shop at the salad bar and got to work. I was pleased to see they’d added raw spinach to the selection. When I’d first started here, the stuff that passed for salad was a sad assortment of wilted iceberg lettuce and squishy cherry tomatoes. Now, we were expanding our menu so much — thanks to an anonymous donation from a wealthy local businessman — that we might have to add a second counter.

Three hours into my shift, I hadn’t had a moment’s rest. The line had been steady since the doors had opened this morning. Some of the regulars said that it curved around the building. I looked at my dwindling supplies and wondered if I needed to give that anonymous benefactor a call.

As if on cue, my phone rang. “Hi, Daddy. I was just thinking about you.”

“Where are you?” he asked, cutting to the chase.

“Daddy, you know I’m working.” He grumbled something about it being a volunteer job, but I just ignored him. “And, speaking of work, could you send some veggies over? We’re running low, and there are still so many people waiting.”

“Stefan called. You ditched your security again.”

“Stefan? Really? That red’s name was Stefan?” I chuckled.

“Stefan’s his supervisor — oh, never mind. What’s important is that you ran off to that seedy part of town with no protection.”

I rolled my eyes at him, and although he couldn’t see me, I knew he knew I was doing it. “Daddy, I’m fine. Antony and his henchmen wouldn’t be caught dead in this part of town. It’s probably the safest place for me.”

“You can’t know that. The salon was—” he stopped. The salon. I imagined my mother having this same talk with Daddy a few months ago.

“Tell you what. I’ll let your babysitter come to the kitchen… if he brings salad stuff. And maybe some fish. We need healthier options here.” I surveyed the assortment of ground-beef-based items. The smell!

“He’s already been let go. I’m in talks with another firm. Much higher caliber. Ex-SEALs.” I pictured him saluting on the other end of the line.

“Great. I can’t wait.” The sarcasm dripped from each word.

“You’ll see. It’ll be different. But until then, please come home where I can keep you safe myself,” he begged.

“I can’t. You know I still have three hours to go. I’ll come home after, I promise. Now, the food?”

“I’ll have Ophelia check the pantry at the restaurant, see what can be cleaned out.”

“Someone else is bringing it, right?”

“Ness, you know there’s nothing going on—”

“I’ll come home right after the food delivery if you don’t send her,” I interrupted. Nothing going on, my ass.

“Not sure who else I can spare right now. It’s almost dinner rush for us, too.”

“Daddy.” I stood firm.

“Alright, I’ll work something out. But you need to treat O better. She still has to run the restaurant.”

“Well, it looks like I won’t be back at the restaurant if you have your way. I’ll be locked up in the dungeon beneath the house like a good little princess.”

“The wine cellar is not a dungeon. And you’ll have the run of the entire estate. I’d just prefer it if you don’t leave the grounds until we have your new security team in place. For my sanity.” I heard the fear in his voice, so I let up.

“I need to get back to work. Thank you for the food, Daddy. And I’ll get home right after my shift. I promise.”

“Please be safe.” He got in one last beg before hanging up.

I’d had no intention of going straight home, but now there was no choice. Daddy had been through so much. Sometimes I forgot that he really had loved her, regardless of… his indiscretions. And Antony. I shivered.

What if Antony really was to blame for my mother’s fall? If he could get to her there, he could get to me anywhere, too.

For the rest of the afternoon, I spent half my time refilling vegetable trays and the other half looking over my shoulder. Every new face was shadowed in suspicion and fear.

It was dark when my shift ended. For the first time since I had started working at the kitchen, I was scared while walking to my car. And it wasn’t the so-called bad area of town that had me freaking out. It was La Familia and Antony’s men possibly lurking behind every tree that prompted me to run to my conspicuous new Audi and lock myself in.