Chapter 2 - THE CAR RIDE INTO THE DARKNESS
The kitchen felt as cold as a winter street.
Luca Moretti didn’t yell. He didn’t scream.
For a man who ran half the city, his silence was far more terrifying than his anger. He took one slow step toward Vanessa, the crumpled piece of paper still clutched in his large hand.
“I will ask you one more time,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. “Where is my daughter?”
Vanessa’s perfect posture faltered. She took a step back, her designer heels clicking against the marble floor.
“Luca, please, you’re overreacting,” she stammered, her eyes darting toward the decorators who were now trying to make themselves invisible. “She’s at my sister’s house in Oak Park. Just for the weekend. I thought we needed some time alone to plan the wedding.”
“Your sister?” Luca’s jaw tightened. “Your sister who despises children? The one who has two Dobermans that tried to bite Lily last Thanksgiving?”
Vanessa swallowed hard. “It’s perfectly safe. She has a nanny there—”
“Hannah.” Luca didn’t look at me, but his command was absolute. “Get your coat.”
I blinked, startled. “Sir?”
“Lily trusts you,” he said, finally turning his dark eyes toward me. The vulnerability I saw in them broke my heart. “If she’s frightened, she won’t come out for my security men. She’ll come out for you. We’re leaving.”
“Luca, you can’t just walk out!” Vanessa protested, her voice turning shrill. “We have caterers arriving in an hour!”
“Cancel them,” he said flatly.
He didn’t look back as he strode down the hallway.
Ten minutes later, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Luca’s black SUV. The rain had started to fall, slicking the Chicago streets with a dark, oily sheen. Luca gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.
“I shouldn’t have let Vanessa take over the household,” he said, his voice tight with guilt. “Elena always said I trusted the wrong people to protect our home.”
“You were trying to build a future for Lily,” I said gently, watching the rain streak the window.
He looked at me for a fraction of a second. “You stood between a bucket of paint and a wooden doorframe, Hannah. You risked your job for a ghost’s handwriting.”
“It wasn’t just handwriting, Mr. Moretti. It was a promise that she was loved.”
He didn’t say anything else, but the tension in his shoulders eased slightly.
We pulled up to the massive iron gates of the Bellini estate in Oak Park. Luca didn’t wait for the intercom. He punched in a security code he clearly already knew, and the gates swung open.
He parked the SUV at an angle on the circular driveway and was out the door before the engine had fully died. I hurried after him, pulling my coat tight against the wind.
Luca hammered his fist against the heavy mahogany door.
A minute later, Vanessa’s sister, Clara, opened it. She was holding a martini glass, looking annoyed.
“Luca? What on earth—”
“Where is she?” Luca demanded, pushing past her into the sprawling foyer.
Clara spilled her drink. “Excuse me? You can’t just barge in here!”
“Lily. Where is she?”
Clara rolled her eyes. “She’s in the guest room on the second floor. Good riddance, honestly. She’s been crying for three hours. The nanny locked her in there because she wouldn’t stop screaming about some stupid coat.”
Luca’s face went pale. “You locked my ten-year-old daughter in a room?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He took the stairs two at a time. I followed right behind him, my heart pounding in my chest.
We reached the end of the hallway. The door to the guest room was shut.
“Lily?” Luca called out, turning the brass handle. It was locked from the outside. He twisted the key, shoving the door open.
The room was dark. The bed was perfectly made.
“Lily, sweetheart, Daddy’s here,” Luca said, stepping inside.
Silence.
I turned on the light switch.
The room was completely empty.
The window leading out to the sloping porch roof was wide open, the rain blowing in and soaking the expensive carpet.
But it was what was sitting on the windowsill that made my breath catch in my throat.
It was a small, silver locket.
The same locket Elena had worn in every photograph. The one Lily never took off.
The chain was broken.
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And tucked beneath the locket was a small, torn piece of a train ticket to a town three hundred miles away.
TITLE: THE TRAIN TO NOWHERE
