Chapter 5 - Strangers in the Dark
The fight was brutal and short. Rossi lay gasping on the steel grating, Bennett's knee crushing his windpipe.
"You don't touch what's mine," Bennett snarled, driving his fist into Rossi's skull until the man went entirely limp.
Chest heaving, Bennett turned to Lily. He holstered his weapon and pulled out a combat knife to slice through her zip-ties. As the plastic snapped, he reached out to pull her into his arms, expecting her to collapse against him.
Instead, she scrambled backward, pressing herself against the railing, eyes wild.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed, holding her bleeding hands to her chest.
Bennett froze. "Lily... it's me. It's Bennett."
"Where is my daughter?!" she demanded, hysterically scanning the bloody pier. "What did you do to Mia? Who are you people?!"
Bennett felt the ground fall out from under him. He looked at Walter, who had just secured the perimeter.
"Lily..." Bennett said softly, dropping the knife and holding his hands up in surrender. "Mia is safe. She’s at my house. She's waiting for you."
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Lily paused, her breathing ragged. She looked at his face, studying the sharp jawline, the scars, the dark, pleading eyes. A flicker of something—recognition, pain, confusion—crossed her face, but she quickly suppressed it.
"My name is Elena," she said, her voice shaking. "I don't know who Lily is. Just take me to my baby."
