Chapter 5: The People Who Came to Take Them
There were two of them.
A man and a woman, standing at the side entrance when I came up the stairs.
The woman had a clipboard.
The man had a city lanyard around his neck and the flat expression of someone who had delivered bad news so many times it no longer registered as news.
"We're looking for a Miss Olivia Hart," the woman said.
"That's me."
"My name is Sandra Okafor.
I'm a caseworker with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services." She held out an ID.
"We received a report this morning regarding six minors living in an unregistered residence without a licensed guardian.
We're here to assess the situation."
My throat tightened.
"Who made the report?"
She didn't answer that.
Victor appeared behind me on the stairs.
Sandra Okafor looked at him and something shifted in her posture — not deference exactly, but recognition.
"Mr.
Moretti," she said.
"Sandra." His voice was calm.
"I wasn't expecting you personally."
"The report came through a priority channel." Her eyes moved between us.
"I need to see the children."
"They're safe," I said.
"They've been safe for a year.
They have food, medicine, a routine—"
"Miss Hart." Her voice wasn't unkind.
"I understand.
But what you've been doing, however well-intentioned, is not a legal arrangement.
You are thirteen years old.
You cannot be a guardian of record for six children."
"Then who is?" I said.
"Because before me, there was nobody."
She didn't have an answer for that either.
Victor stepped forward.
"Sandra, I need twenty-four hours."
"Mr.
Moretti, I have a mandate—"
"I know what you have.
I'm asking for twenty-four hours before any child is moved from this building." He said it quietly, without threat, without the kind of pressure Richard would have used.
"I am prepared to file for emergency guardianship today.
My attorney is already drawing the paperwork."
Sandra looked at him for a long moment.
"You understand that filing is not the same as approval."
"I understand."
"And you understand that if the children are not in a certified safe environment by this time tomorrow, I have no choice but to place them in temporary state care."
"I understand that too."
She looked at me.
Then she looked past me at the doorway, where Daniel was standing very still, listening to every word.
"Twenty-four hours," she said.
"I'll be back at ten tomorrow morning.
If the paperwork is not filed and the environment is not certified, I will be bringing a transport team." She handed me a card.
"If anything changes before then, call me directly."
She and the man left.
I stood at the entrance until their car pulled away.
Then I turned around.
Daniel was still in the doorway.
"They're going to take us," he said.
"Not if I can help it."
"Olivia." His voice cracked slightly on my name.
He was fourteen and trying very hard not to show that he was frightened.
"You can't stop them.
You're thirteen."
"I know how old I am."
Victor put his hand briefly on Daniel's shoulder as he passed.
"She's not doing this alone," Victor said.
He pulled out his phone and made a call.
Two words when it connected.
"Call Marcus."
He walked away from us, speaking quietly.
I watched him and tried to decide whether I was looking at someone who was going to save these children or someone who was about to take them somewhere worse.
Daniel came to stand beside me.
"Lucas says he's been watching him since he got here," Daniel said quietly.
"He says Victor keeps looking at Noah."
"I know."
"What does that mean?"
I thought about the letter in my backpack.
About Elena's handwriting.
About the choice she said she couldn't make anymore.
"It means," I said carefully, "that tomorrow is going to change everything.
For all of us."
Daniel was quiet for a moment.
"Is he Noah's father?"
I looked at him.
May you like
"Don't say that out loud again," I said.
"Not until we know what kind of man he is."
