Chapter 4 - THE MAN ISABELLA FEARED
The front gates opened before the SUV stopped.
Alessandro was out first.
Elena followed.
She did not remember crossing the courtyard.
Only the front door.
The overturned table.
A security officer unconscious near the staircase.
Pauline lying beside the nursery corridor with blood at her temple.
“She’s breathing,” Richard said.
Elena kept running.
The nursery door had been forced inward.
“Sophia!”
Nothing.
“Mia!”
Elena nearly collided with Alessandro.
He crossed to the wardrobe, shoved aside rows of tiny dresses, and pressed the silver star.
The hidden panel opened.
Two children were inside.
Sophia sat wrapped in the pink blanket.
Mia had both arms around her.
Mabel was wedged between them.
For a second, Elena could not move.
Then Mia saw her.
“Mommy.”
Elena dropped to her knees.
Mia crawled out.
Elena pulled her so tightly against her chest that the child squeaked.
“My baby.”
“I saved Sophie.”
“Yes.”
Elena kissed her hair.
“Yes, you did.”
Alessandro lifted Sophia.
His hands trembled.
He checked her face.
Arms.
Legs.
Nothing.
No injury.
Sophia stared at him.
Then touched his cheek.
“Da.”
Alessandro froze.
Sophia had never called him anything.
Fourteen months old and quiet except for crying and babbling.
“Da.”
His face changed.
Elena saw him turn away quickly.
Mia pointed.
“She called you Da.”
“I heard.”
“You crying?”
“No.”
“You look crying.”
Richard entered before Alessandro had to defend himself against a three-year-old.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found the Mercedes.”
Alessandro handed Sophia to Elena.
“Where?”
“Abandoned near Dundee Road.”
“Luca?”
“Gone.”
“Find him.”
Richard hesitated.
“And Pauline says she saw the intruder.”
Alessandro turned.
“She awake?”
“Yes.”
They found Pauline downstairs while a physician treated the cut above her temple.
She looked furious rather than frightened.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Moretti.”
“For getting attacked in my house?”
“I should have heard him.”
“You’re sixty-two, Pauline. You are not a security system.”
She looked offended.
“I’m sixty.”
Even Elena almost smiled.
Alessandro crouched.
“Who did you see?”
Pauline’s expression changed.
“Not Mr. Luca.”
Richard frowned.
“The getaway car was Luca’s.”
“I know what I saw.”
“Who?”
“Daniel Carter.”
Elena’s entire body went cold.
Alessandro slowly looked at her.
“Your husband.”
“Ex-husband.”
“Legally?”
She swallowed.
“Not yet.”
Richard immediately began typing.
Pauline continued.
“He came through the service entrance wearing an electrician’s uniform. I recognized him from Elena’s emergency contact paperwork.”
Elena shook her head.
“He doesn’t know where we are.”
“He does now.”
She looked at Alessandro.
“How?”
“Luca.”
Richard answered.
“Probably.”
Elena wrapped both arms around Mia.
Daniel.
The man she had crossed two states trying to escape.
The man who had once taken her debit card because she spent four dollars more than he expected at a grocery store.
The man who apologized after every assault with flowers purchased from the same joint account he prevented her from accessing.
He had found them.
Mia felt her mother tense.
“Mommy?”
“I’m okay.”
Alessandro watched Elena lie to her child.
He recognized it.
He had watched Isabella do the same.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m not scared.”
“It was nothing.”
He hated those sentences.
“Richard.”
“Yes?”
“Put Carter’s photograph on every post.”
“Already happening.”
“And Luca?”
“We’re tracing him.”
Alessandro looked toward Elena.
“What did Daniel want?”
“Mia.”
“Why now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said he controlled you.”
“Yes.”
“Did he ever care about custody before?”
Elena gave a humorless laugh.
“He cared about winning.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“Did Isabella help you file anything?”
Elena frowned.
“A protection order.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Who paid the lawyer?”
“St. Catherine’s.”
Alessandro already knew the answer before he asked.
“Isabella?”
“I didn’t know.”
Richard looked up.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Daniel Carter’s employment history.”
Richard turned the tablet.
“He worked for Lakeshore Transit eighteen months ago.”
Alessandro looked at the company name.
His eyes went cold.
Lakeshore Transit was one of the shell contractors listed in Isabella’s files.
Elena understood from his face.
“What?”
“Your husband worked for the people Isabella was investigating.”
“No.”
“Six months.”
“He drove delivery trucks.”
“Yes.”
Elena sat slowly.
A memory surfaced.
“Daniel used to come home with cash.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. Hundreds sometimes. Once several thousand.”
“What did he say?”
“Overtime.”
Alessandro and Richard exchanged a look.
“He wasn’t doing overtime,” Elena whispered.
“No.”
Another memory.
“He used to take calls outside.”
“Elena.”
She looked at Alessandro.
“Did Isabella ever ask you questions about Daniel’s work?”
Her eyes widened.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Truck numbers. Routes. Whether he ever mentioned Milwaukee.”
Richard swore.
“She found him through Elena.”
Alessandro understood.
Isabella had not randomly chosen St. Catherine’s.
She had met Elena there.
Learned Daniel worked in freight.
Later realized his routes connected to falsified Foundation manifests.
Daniel had been one piece.
Luca had been another.
And Isabella had followed the chain too far.
Richard’s phone buzzed.
“Found Luca’s cell.”
“Where?”
“Downtown.”
“Bring him in.”
“Sir, he’s at Moretti Tower.”
Alessandro frowned.
His corporate headquarters.
“What floor?”
“Thirty-one.”
“My office?”
“No.”
Richard looked confused.
“Isabella’s old foundation office.”
The room became silent.
Alessandro picked up his coat.
Elena stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You already lost that argument once.”
“This is different.”
“My ex-husband just entered my daughter’s room.”
“Which is why you stay here with her.”
Elena’s anger disappeared.
He was right.
She hated it.
Alessandro approached.
“Daniel came here because somebody told him you mattered.”
“To Isabella.”
“To this investigation.”
He lowered his voice.
“That makes you valuable to Luca.”
“And Mia?”
Alessandro glanced toward the child.
“Leverage.”
Elena went pale.
“I won’t let him take her.”
“He won’t.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No.”
Alessandro looked directly at her.
“But I can promise I will not underestimate him again.”
He turned.
Mia stood beside Sophia’s playpen.
“Tall man?”
Alessandro stopped.
Mia walked over and held out Mabel.
“For brave.”
He stared at the battered rabbit.
Elena almost laughed.
“She doesn’t lend Mabel.”
Mia lifted it higher.
Alessandro took the rabbit carefully.
“Thank you.”
“You bring her back.”
“Who?”
“My mommy’s not-scared face.”
Everyone became quiet.
Mia looked toward Elena.
“She uses it when she is scared.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
Alessandro looked at Mia.
Then at Elena.
“I’ll bring it back.”
Less than an hour later, Alessandro entered the thirty-first floor of Moretti Tower.
Luca sat behind Isabella’s old desk.
No guards.
No weapon visible.
Just a glass of bourbon.
And a smile.
“Cousin.”
Alessandro placed Mabel on the desk.
Luca looked at the rabbit.
“What the hell is that?”
“The reason you’re losing sleep.”
Luca’s smile faded.
Alessandro sat across from him.
“You went to St. Michael’s.”
“I go there every Christmas.”
“You knew about room 314.”
“No.”
“You sent Daniel Carter into my house.”
Luca laughed.
“That loser?”
“Your Mercedes left the property.”
“Stolen.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Luca took a drink.
“I expect you to want to.”
Alessandro’s expression did not change.
“Why?”
Luca leaned back.
“You know what your problem has always been?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re dying to tell me.”
“You inherited a kingdom and started pretending you were respectable.”
Alessandro stared at him.
“Our grandfather built power because people feared us.”
“He also died in federal prison.”
“He died respected.”
“He died eating pudding from a plastic cup.”
Luca’s smile vanished.
Alessandro continued.
“Isabella found your operation.”
Luca said nothing.
“The weapons.”
Nothing.
“The Foundation trucks.”
A small muscle moved in Luca’s cheek.
That was enough.
Alessandro felt something inside him turn cold.
“You killed her.”
Luca stood.
“You don’t know what happened to Isabella.”
“No.”
Alessandro rose too.
“But you do.”
For the first time, Luca looked uncertain.
Then he smiled.
“You think because your maid’s kid found some old papers, you understand anything?”
Alessandro stared at him.
Luca realized his mistake.
He had mentioned the child.
Information Alessandro had never made public.
Mia.
Alessandro’s voice lowered.
“You just confirmed you knew who found the key.”
Luca’s face changed.
The office door opened.
Richard entered with two men.
Luca stepped backward.
“You recording this?”
“No.”
Alessandro placed his phone on the desk.
“I didn’t need to.”
Then Richard spoke.
“But I was.”
Luca’s eyes filled with hatred.
“You really think you can turn me over to police?”
“I think I can do something worse.”
“What?”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Make you irrelevant.”
Luca laughed.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
And smiled.
Alessandro saw it.
“Who is it?”
Luca ignored him.
The call stopped.
A message arrived.
Luca read it.
His smile widened.
“Too late.”
Alessandro grabbed the phone.
The message contained a photograph.
Elena.
Standing inside the Moretti mansion.
Taken through a window less than a minute earlier.
Below it:
WE HAVE THE MOTHER IN SIGHT.
Alessandro’s blood turned cold.
He looked at Richard.
“Call the estate.”
Richard did.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Luca began laughing.
And Alessandro finally understood.
May you like
Luca had never expected to leave Moretti Tower.
He was the distraction.
