Chapter 4 - The Crash That Was Meant for Luca
The Moretti estate sat beyond the city, guarded by iron gates and lakefront walls.
It looked less like a home than a monument to survival.
Sophia slept in a downstairs guest suite after Dr. Benton checked her legs and declared that she had overworked every muscle in her body.
“She will be sore tomorrow,” the therapist warned. “But this was not a medical impossibility. It was fear, memory, and motivation breaking through a barrier.”
Luca looked toward the closed bedroom door.
“She stood because of Hannah.”
“She stood because she believed someone kept a promise,” Dr. Benton corrected.
That sentence stayed with him.
It stayed with me too.
Later, Luca brought me into his study.
It was a dark room lined with books, locked cabinets, and photographs of men who looked as though they had never smiled without a reason.
On the desk sat the report from Marco’s investigators.
“The sedan’s brake lines were cut before Sophia and her mother left the gala,” Luca said.
I looked at the page.
“And the driver?”
“Dead.”
“Her mother?”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Dead before the ambulance arrived.”
Sophia’s mother, Elena, had died in the crash.
I remembered her hand reaching backward through the water, trying to reach her daughter even after she had lost consciousness.
“Who was the target?” I asked.
Luca looked at the rain beyond the windows.
“Me.”
The answer came with no hesitation.
“My wife took Sophia home because I stayed behind at the gala. The car I was supposed to use had a driver waiting. Elena took it instead.”
I felt cold.
“So someone tried to kill you and killed them.”
“Yes.”
“And your mother knew?”
“I don’t know.”
His eyes turned to me.
“But she knew enough to keep you away.”
Marco entered without knocking.
“Boss.”
Luca turned.
“Talk.”
“We traced the emergency voicemail restriction. It was authorized by Gianna Moretti and co-signed by Adrian Voss.”
The name made Luca’s expression darken.
“Adrian Voss was my wife’s brother,” he explained to me. “He became chief financial adviser after she died.”
Marco placed another folder on the desk.
“Voss also had access to the foundation victim fund. Hannah’s application was rejected after he marked her as a ‘security risk.’”
I stared at the paperwork.
“Why would he do that?”
Marco looked toward Luca.
“Because the accident investigation could have brought her into contact with evidence.”
Luca opened a second file.
Inside were bank transfers from a Moretti shell company to a firm called Harborline Logistics.
Harborline had been a front for a rival crew years ago.
My hands went cold.
“Are you saying your mother and Adrian were working with the people who tried to kill you?”
Luca’s face had become unreadable again.
But I had seen him kneeling beside Sophia in the ballroom.
I knew the silence now.
It was grief turning into rage.
“We do not know yet,” he said. “But we will.”
A small voice came from the doorway.
“Daddy?”
Sophia stood there in pink pajamas, holding onto the frame.
Her face was pale.
Dr. Benton had told her to rest, but children rarely followed orders when fear was involved.
Luca crossed the room immediately.
“What is it, bella?”
Sophia looked at me.
“Can Hannah stay?”
The question made my chest ache.
Luca looked toward me.
“You may stay in the guest wing. With your permission, security will also arrange a safe place for you after we understand the threat.”
“I have work,” I said automatically.
“You have a job,” Luca replied. “That is not the same as having to risk your life.”
I looked at Sophia.
She had waited three years, believing I chose not to return.
Now she was looking at me like I might disappear again.
“I can stay tonight,” I said.
Sophia smiled.
Then she looked at Luca.
“Can we dance tomorrow?”
Luca’s eyes softened.
“If Dr. Benton approves.”
Sophia considered that answer.
“Then Hannah can ask her.”
I laughed softly.
For the first time that night, Luca almost smiled.
But the moment did not last.
Marco’s phone buzzed.
He listened, then looked up sharply.
“Boss, Gianna’s car has been found.”
“Where?”
“Near Ashwood Bridge.”
Luca’s face went still.
“And Adrian Voss?”
“Missing.”
A cold wind rattled the study windows.
Someone had tried to bury the truth in the river three years ago.
May you like
Now they were returning to the same place.
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