Matteo reaches the table, bending down beside my place. "We need to go, right now."

I'm on my feet in less than a second, not questioning his urgency. If he's here and not at the producers meeting, it's for a reason. "Okay."

"What's going on?" Hugh whispers softly so he won't interrupt Richard's speech-making.

"We have to go. I'll call you tonight." I bend down, kissing his cheek, my heart pounding wildly.

Hugh glances between us. "Is it about Charles?"

I nod, supposing it is especially when Matteo doesn't correct me. Hugh moves to his feet. "I'm going with you."

"You shouldn't," Matteo says bluntly. I look at him, eyes wide.

But Hugh nods, decisively. "Let's go."

I'm surprised when Matteo doesn't argue, grabbing my hand as we turn. Hugh knows only the basics of what is happening with Eddie. He doesn't know about the money or private investigator. I'm afraid he's getting into something he knows nothing about. I keep my voice low, leaning towards Matteo.

"Matteo, what's happened?"

"We have to go to Queens. I'll tell you in the car."

We make it out the doors. Hugh is right beside me. "Why?"

"Charles is in danger, Emma," Matteo breathes, stopping to look at me. My gaze falters.

"Fuck," Hugh utters.

***

"Tell me what you know," I demand as Matteo shuts the driver's door, starting the ignition. He pulls out of the space and the tires screech, sending us shooting forward and I begin to truly feel fear. Hugh is holding on for dear life in the back seat. "Matteo."

"Harold called me about fifteen minutes ago and told me that Eddie took Charles to Queens for a party."

"He took him?"

Matteo nods. "Harold was able to photograph through the windows. He has the evidence we need of Eddie doing heroin. Charles wasn't in sight. Harold didn't know where they put him, where he was."

"This guy is a heroin addict? Are you fucking kidding me?" Hugh asks, disbelievingly.

"It's not just heroin," Matteo growls.

Heroin. "Oh my god."

Matteo looks at me, breathing out then. "He left the party. He left without Charles... He fucking left him there."

And then, I'm positive, all the remaining blood drains from my face.

***

We pull up, screeching to a stop in the middle of the road. Harold exits his car then, having been waiting for us. We peer up at the apartment Eddie decided was the designated hangout, finding under observation that the door literally has pieces of it's door missing. I reach for my handle immediately but Matteo pulls the door back in swiftly, forbidding me from getting out. "You're not going in there."

"Well, I'm not going to just stay in here!"

"No, Emma."

"Emma, just stay," Hugh says, stepping from the car with Matteo. Harold holds up his camera to him, showing him the images, I'm guessing.

"This is will get him locked up for sure," Harold says informingly.

"Take them to the police. Tell them they're needed here."

Matteo shuts the car door, leaving me alone, staring after him in shock as he walks around the car, meeting up with Hugh at the base of the stairs. I watch them leap up the steps and straight into the building. It's unlocked.

My heart is in my throat. My hand is on the door, terrified. I need to go after him. What if Charles isn't there anymore? What if someone's taken him? After watching Harold pull out of his spot and drive off for the police station, my gaze drifts back to the uneventful doorway, where I'm only left to wonder what kind of conditions happen from the inside.

Hugh appears in the doorway first, and to my relief, is carrying Charles against his chest. I throw open the door and my heart pitfalls to my feet as I dive for Hugh, taking Charles from his arms. I inspect him quickly, my mind still elsewhere.

My eyes dart to the doorway, awaiting another exit.

Matteo's.

"Where is he?" I ask, breathless. Hugh begins to walk back for the stairs but Matteo appears with a heavy step. Even in the darkness, I see his brow is swollen and red with blood. He's been hit.

Matteo points at the car. "Get in."

Wanting to be free of this place, especially knowing the people inside are confrontational, I slip into the backseat with Charles, who clutches me tighter. The tears from his cheeks drop onto my neck.

"Matteo, you're bleeding," I say, nervously.

He starts the car, wiping the blood with the back of his hand. "We walked straight into an orgy. One of the guys decked me; the rest were too high to care."

"Oh god," I whisper, clutching Charles head as we begin to drive again. I comfort him by stroking his hair, speaking only of things that will give him comfort, relief, unsure as to what he saw while trapped in that apartment. I don't see any bruises, any swollen areas which gives me my own relief. We are all silent as Matteo drives, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

I only speak up when I realize we're not headed to our apartment, nor the police station. I glance at the surroundings and my stomach does a back flip. "Wait. Matteo-"

He pulls into a space, a few feet from Eddie's apartment. I reach out, failing to grab his arm as he exits the car. "Matteo, no!"

"Emma."

"Don't go in. You don't have to go in! Let the cops get him!"

Hugh agrees with me, looking shaken. "Man, you should stay. He could have a weapon."

"Like hell," Matteo growls, slamming his door, bounding around the car on a mission.

"I'll go after him," Hugh says after a moment, probably wondering why the hell he came with us. I won't let him get mixed up in all of this anymore than he has.

"No, I am." I thrust out Charles to him, and he takes him with wide eyes.

"Mummy!" Charles howls.

Hugh has paled considerably. "Emma, be careful. Just get him out of there."

I shut the car door, sprinting across the floor with bare feet, having misplaced my heels somewhere between Richard's party and here. I grasp the railing, running up the steps as Matteo pounds on the door repeatedly.

"Matteo, please, baby. Let's just go."

"Eddie! Open the goddamn door!"

I grab onto his arm, tightly, urging him back. "Matteo, nothing good can come from this!"

The door opens then and everything erupts into chaos. Matteo is pushing Eddie back into his apartment, his hands fisting the green t-shirt just below his throat. Snarls are leaving Matteo's clenched teeth. "You fucking piece of shit!"

Eddie stumbles back until there's only a wall to slam into. He holds up his arms fearfully and I notice the marks the needles left on his arms. His eyes are glazed over. He's sweating profusely.

"I was... I was gonna go get him! I swear!"

"Eddie?" We all look over at the woman standing at Eddie's bedroom door, a cover wrapped around her. She looks just as high as him.

Matteo's face twists in rage. "You left your son with freaks so you could get laid in peace? Are you kidding me?"

"You gonna hit me, Matteo?" Eddie instigates. "You think you're so big and bad. Hit me. See where it gets you. I'll tell-"

Within seconds, as if overcome with a unspeakable kind of rage, Matteo fist connects with Eddie's cheek so hard, I watch Eddie's head bash into the wall before he drops onto the floor, slumping.

The woman runs back into the room then for her own safety, probably to grab her clothes and get the hell out of here. I stare at Matteo, who's glaring down at Eddie. The man is too high to do anything but hold his own face.

"You'll never fucking have him again," Matteo states coldly. "You're going to jail."

Matteo gives up on the man, to my relief, and walks back to me.

"You... won't have him either," Eddie gets out, his face busted open above his cheek bone. Matteo and I stop by the door, looking back.

Eddie chuckles, trying to stand. "You see, I'll tell the cops you killed your goddamn parents...You know Gwen told me when you went to live with her that she blamed you. She said your mother was fucking scared of you, that she had told her that. Gwen always believed you had something to do with it."

I can't breathe, can't think. I see red. "How fucking dare you-"

Matteo stops me from getting near him, grabbing onto my arm. "Tell them, Edward. Tell them and see who the fuck they believe."

"They'll reopen that case," Eddie keeps going, doing what he does best. Running off at the mouth. "They'll realize all the pieces don't fit. I know you did it. I know you burned down that house, you sick fuck. You wanted your parents dead."

Matteo's chest is heaving violently, the mistakes of his past coming to haunt him. A man who used him his entire life uttering the words he knows will destroy him.

Matteo walks from me, approaching Eddie slowly. The old man backs up instinctively. "You can try to threaten, blackmail me as much as you want, Edward. You're not keeping Charles another damn day, I can promise you that."

I hear the door at the far end of the house slam. The girl is gone.

"I'm not going to jail," Eddie grumbles defiantly.

Matteo hums, pressing his lips together. "Well, the cops are probably seconds away from here now, buddy. You're done. We've got enough evidence to keep you locked up for a long, long while."

Eddie stares at him as best he can. He's so messed up that I'm surprised he's processing any of this. Matteo's threats have seemed to work. He finally looks scared. Matteo smiles and it has the ability to frighten even me. He's hated this man for years and it shows.

"I can't go to jail," Eddie says, contrite now. I shake my head, wishing I'd hear the sirens already. "We can figure something out."

"No compromising," Matteo snaps. "I will relish in the fact that you're stuck behind bars, where you fucking belong."

The sirens begin to wail distantly and in a couple of seconds, they're loud as if placed directly beside my ears. They're on the street. Matteo doesn't take his eyes off of Eddie, whose eyes are darting around the apartment for a way to escape. Eddie's gaze lands on the kitchen.

"Reach for one of drawers and you'll wish you hadn't," Matteo warns, pointing at him.

Too panicked to listen, Eddie sprints for the kitchen and Matteo leaps into action, going after him. Oh fuck.

I back up against the door as Eddie finds a large silver steak knife. Matteo slams down on his hand to try and get his grip to loosen. Eddie flings his arm back and despite Matteo's elbow blocking him, Eddie manages to escape his grasp. I yelp when Matteo is nicked with the blade across the chest, leaving a slim tear in the fabric. He visibly jerks at the contact, trying to block another blow. Stuck in a situation only present in my nightmares and left with no choice, I dart from my place at the door, grabbing onto a rickety chair from the dining table.

I run right up to him and don't even think about it. I lift the chair as high as I can and bring down all of it's weight onto Eddie's back. He drops to the ground in seconds, wheezing and Matteo drops down on top of him, digging his knees into his back to keep him still. Pulling the knife from his hand, Matteo throws it against the wall.

"Fuck you, bitch! Fuck you!" Eddie screams, sputtering and coughing from the blow.

The door bursts open, revealing three officers, guns raised high. I back up against the wall, holding up my hands in surrender. My hands are shaking. Matteo holds up his hands as well, standing up. Eddie doesn't move from his place on the floor, still coughing.

"They beat me, officer! They ganged up on me!"

The officer bends down, cuffing him. "Yeah, yeah, shut the hell up."

"But they came at me! I didn't fucking start this!"

The officer heaves him up, grasping onto his cuffs to direct him outside. The officer's gaze descends to Eddie's arms where the swollen needle marks are still visible. The cop looks back at Eddie then, showing not a bit of mercy in his expression.

"If my kid was with a guy like you, I'd beat the shit out of you too. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can-"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"And will be held against you. You have the right to-"

I hurry to Matteo when Eddie's vacated the apartment, reaching for him fearfully. His crisp white shirt is stained with blood. "You need to go to the hospital."

He shakes his head as I run my hand through his hair to get a better look at the gash on his brow. "It's just a scratch, Em."

"We have an ambulance on route, sir."

"We need to make sure our son is alright," Matteo says breathlessly. He wraps an arm around my shoulders, not waiting for a reply from the officer. However, when we begin to walk from the apartment, he follows us. There are over five police vehicles now. I can see an ambulance turning our way on the far end of the street.

Eddie is being shoved into a vehicle, clearly resisting. My gaze is on the congestion of onlookers, trying to find Hugh and Charles in the mix. Catching sight of us, Hugh breathes a sigh of relief, smiling wide. When we reach the two of them, Hugh hands me Charles, who's unnaturally quiet.

I'm crying, in shock mostly, clutching him tightly to me. Matteo rests his forehead against my hair, releasing a sigh of relief. Oh god, we have him. We made it in time. Matteo extends his arm to Hugh, clasping his hand gratefully.

"Thank you so much, man," Matteo says. "Thank you."

"Sir?"

We all turn, finding the officer we spoke to before behind us. "Ambulances are here for you and for the child."

"Alright." Matteo turns to me. "Go with Charles, okay?"

I nod, kissing him when he leans in. Hugh presses a hand to my back as I watch Matteo go. My heart is still pounding. I'm unsure as to what is really happening right now.

"I'll take the car there."

I can't even wipe my tears. "Are you sure? You've helped us so much, Hugh. I-I don't even know what to say."

"I'm just happy you have him back," Hugh says, kissing my head. "He's safe now."

Another officer, a woman this time, stops in front of us, waiting to escort us to the other ambulance. I clutch Charles tighter to me as we walk behind her amongst all the chaos.

"Mummy," Charles breathes, sniffling. I hum gently, kissing his hair.

"We've got you, baby."