"What happens when a 3-year-old notices something all the adults missed?

My phone rang violently, vibrating against the wooden crate.

The caller ID showed Mom’s number.

I answered with a pounding pulse.

"Mom? Are you guys okay?"

On the other end, I heard heavy breathing, then a quiet, terrified whisper.

"Elena... they’re here," Mom whispered.

"Who is there, Mom?! Speak louder!"

"A black town car parked at the end of the long driveway," Mom said, her voice shaking. "Two men got out with legal envelopes. And Isabella is in the passenger seat."

"Do not open that door!" I shouted, sprinting toward the depot exit with Marcello right behind me. "Dad has private security, call them right now!"

"Robert went out to the gate," Mom cried. "Elena, Lily is screaming. She keeps saying the bad lady wants to take Elena's sister."

My blood ran cold.

"What did Lily say?"

"Lily said Isabella brought papers to take baby Elena!"

We scrambled into Marcello’s SUV, tires screeching against the wet pavement as he slammed on the accelerator.

"She’s using the courts," Marcello growled, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. "She found a loophole. Sofia signed emergency guardianship papers while she was drugged in the private clinic three weeks ago!"

"Those papers were forged!" I shouted.

"A judge doesn't know that until a hearing, Elena!" Marcello slammed his palm against the dash. "If she has an emergency custody order signed by a corrupt magistrate, the police will help her enforce it!"

We were twenty miles away.

Traffic on Route 9 was backed up due to the afternoon downpour.