The Mafia's Babysitter

Two

Ellie wasn't sure if she would go shopping until she found herself in the busy mall, feeling lost and grossly unprepared. She never went shopping for fun, only when Charlotte dragged her along, otherwise it was just for the practical things.

Now that she was standing in the middle of the walkway with people bustling all around her, she realised she hadn't even made a list of things she needed.

Not wanting to look like a weirdo or get in people's way, she followed the crowd's general direction, browsing random stores. Her eyes landed on Charlotte's favourite bubble tea shop and her friend's words rang in her mind again.

Two minutes later she was walking away, coconut milk with panda pearl bubble tea in hand. She sat down on one of the couches with plants surrounding it and enjoyed her treat.

"This isn't so bad," she muttered to herself with a little smile, making a mental note to thank Charlotte for the idea.

The events of the previous night were still rather unsettling, but Ellie was thankful the police believed her story - at least the part about the two attacking her - and took them down to the station.

When she had finished her drink, Ellie stayed sitting for a little bit, doing what she's always loved to do: people watching. She was just wondering whether the guy at the technology store was a normal customer or actually a spy from the rival store across the walkway, trying to find company secrets, when her eye caught sight of a pink blur moving in between her and the store.

A little girl in the bright pink fairy dress had a worried look on her face and was hugging an ugly green dinosaur teddy tightly to her little body while she looked left and right, searching for someone. Ellie's heart squeezed in compassion - poor thing!

But she knew this girl...

With a gasp, Ellie sprung up from her seat and hurried towards her.

"Gaby?" Ellie called when she was a bit closer. The girl spun to face her with the big olive green eyes she knew well. "Oh Gaby, darling! Are you okay?"

Gaby burst into tears as she ran into Ellie's arms. Ellie got on her knees to give the girl a proper hug and pulled her tightly towards her just like all the other times.

"It's alright," she comforted, "You're safe now." Gaby clung to her and Ellie waited until her sobs subsided before pulling back far enough to see her. "What happened, sweetie? Where's your daddy?"

"Papa's at home," she answered between sniffles.

"Oh." She should have guessed that. Then she tried again, "Well, who brought you here? Who'd you come with?"

"Chloe."

"Chloe? Your nanny?" Ellie received a shaky nod. "Okay, where did you last see Chloe?"

"Over there." Gaby pointed to the right of them.

"Okay, well, she couldn't have gotten too far, hey?" Ellie reasoned out loud with an encouraging smile, "Come on, let's go look for her."

Hand in hand, the two searched for the nanny, but after twenty minutes, Ellie realised Chloe had gotten further than she thought. Gaby no longer seemed distressed, having a familiar face around, but as the minutes ticked over to an hour, it was Ellie's turn to grow concerned. She had even called Chloe's cell every 5 minutes using the website her work used to get in contact with parents and guardians.

No answer each time.

How could Chloe just leave a three-year-old in the middle of a busy mall?

Pushing down her anger at the nanny, Ellie calmly led Gaby to the nearest security guard and while Gaby was happily showing her dinosaur the things through a store's window, Ellie got him to call in some help.