Chapter 4 - The Empty Hospital Bed
The phone slipped from my fingers and clattered onto the hardwood floor.
“What’s wrong?” Luca demanded, already moving toward his desk to grab his car keys.
“Someone is taking my mother from the hospital,” I gasped, my chest tightening with panic. “They said a family member signed the transfer orders. I’m her only family!”
Luca didn't ask another question.
“Come with me. Now.”
We ran out of the study. We bypassed the grand staircase and took the servant’s corridor straight to the underground garage.
Luca threw open the door to a black, armored SUV. I climbed into the passenger seat.
He floored the accelerator, the massive engine roaring as we tore out of the estate gates.
“Call the nurse back,” Luca ordered, his eyes locked on the road as he wove recklessly through the morning traffic. “Find out the name of the transport company.”
I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and redialed the hospital.
“Mercy General, fourth floor.”
“Please,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. “This is Mary Collins’ daughter. Do not let them take her. I didn't authorize a transfer.”
“Ms. Collins, I’m so sorry,” the nurse said, her voice laced with confusion. “The gentleman had a notarized medical power of attorney. He said he was her brother. They wheeled her into the elevator two minutes ago.”
“What was his name?” I screamed.
There was a pause. The sound of paper shuffling.
“Marcus,” the nurse said. “Marcus Bellini.”
I dropped the phone.
“It was Vanessa’s father,” I choked out. “Marcus Bellini took her.”
Luca hit the brakes so hard the tires screamed, swerving violently into the hospital’s emergency drop-off zone.
He didn't even put the car in park before he threw his door open.
We sprinted through the sliding glass doors into the main lobby.
“Wait here,” Luca commanded, pushing past the security guards and sprinting toward the rear loading docks.
I stood in the chaotic lobby, unable to breathe.
Marcus Bellini was the head of a rival crime family. He was a ruthless, terrifying man who operated under the guise of a legitimate shipping magnate. Why would he want a grocery store cashier?
Ten minutes later, Luca returned.
His face was a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
“They’re gone,” Luca said, his voice dangerously quiet. “The loading dock cameras show Marcus loading her into an unmarked ambulance. They bypassed the street cameras.”
“Why?” I sobbed, collapsing into a plastic waiting room chair. “She doesn't have any money. She doesn't know anything.”
“She knows what happened in Milwaukee,” Luca said softly, kneeling in front of me. “She knows what my father was hiding.”
He pulled the silver rosary out of his pocket.
“Fifteen years ago, Marcus Bellini’s wife, Elena, vanished. Marcus told the police she ran away with another man. My father didn't believe him. He spent a year investigating Marcus in secret.”
Luca looked at the cross.
“Elena was devout. She never took this rosary off. If my father had it, it means he found out what really happened to her. And your mother helped him.”
I wiped my eyes. “But why go after her now? Why wait fourteen years?”
“Because of last night,” Luca said, his eyes narrowing. “Vanessa told Marcus about the gala. About the dog.”
I frowned. “Scout?”
“Vanessa wasn't trying to get rid of Scout because he shed on the carpets, Hannah. She was trying to get him out of the house so she could search his things without my mother noticing.”
Luca stood up, pulling his cell phone from his jacket.
“Vanessa has been living in my house for six months. Looking for whatever my father left behind. And when you stopped her from searching the doghouse last night, she panicked and called her father.”
He dialed a number.
“Matteo,” Luca barked into the phone. “Mobilize the men. Lockdown the Bellini shipping ports. Nobody goes in, nobody goes out.”
He hung up and looked at me.
“I’m going to have a conversation with my fiancée.”
We drove to Vanessa’s luxury penthouse downtown. She had kept the apartment even after moving into the mansion.
Luca didn't bother buzzing the concierge. He walked through the lobby with a look that made the security guards step back, and we took the private elevator to the top floor.
When the doors opened, Luca kicked the heavy oak door of the penthouse right off its hinges.
Wood splintered violently.
Vanessa screamed from the living room.
She was packing a designer suitcase, her phone pressed to her ear.
Luca crossed the room in three strides, grabbed the phone from her hand, and crushed it beneath his boot.
“Where is her mother, Vanessa?” Luca roared.
Vanessa backed up against the floor-to-ceiling windows, terrified. “Luca, you’re insane! I don't know what you’re talking about!”
Luca pulled the rusted tin from his jacket and slammed it onto the glass coffee table.
“I found your midnight project,” Luca said. “I know what you were looking for.”
Vanessa stared at the tin. The color completely drained from her perfect face.
“My father is going to kill you,” she whispered.
“He’s going to have to get in line,” Luca said coldly. “Why did he take Mary Collins?”
Vanessa let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “You really are blind, Luca. You think your father was a saint. You think he brought that stupid dog home out of the goodness of his heart.”
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She pointed a manicured finger at me.
“He didn't hide the proof in the doghouse, Luca. He hid it on the dog.”
