Chapter 7 - THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
The drive to the cabin took less than twenty minutes, but it felt like hours.
The heavy armored SUV tore through the muddy, unpaved logging roads of rural Wisconsin.
I sat in the back with Katie, clutching Luca’s trench coat around me. My mind was spinning. My father. An accountant for the mob. It explained the sudden lack of money when he died, the strange men who used to visit his home office at night.
The SUV slammed to a halt.
“We’re here, Boss,” the driver said.
Through the windshield, illuminated by the headlights, was a massive, dilapidated wooden cabin surrounded by towering pines.
Luca stepped out, drawing his weapon. His men fanned out silently, securing the perimeter.
“Stay in the car,” Luca ordered us again.
This time, I listened. I held Katie’s hand, watching through the rain-streaked glass.
Luca approached the front door. He didn't bother checking the lock. He kicked the heavy wooden door inward with a resounding crash.
He disappeared into the dark interior.
Silence followed.
One minute. Two minutes.
My heart hammered against my ribs. What if Vanessa had lied? What if Richard’s men were waiting inside?
Then, a light flickered on inside the cabin.
A moment later, Luca stepped back out onto the porch.
He wasn't holding his gun anymore.
He was carrying a small, fragile bundle wrapped in a dirty woolen blanket.
It was a little boy.
Leo.
Luca walked back to the SUV and pulled the back door open.
He climbed in, sitting next to me, cradling his nephew against his chest.
Leo was pale, thin, and shivering violently. He looked to be about six years old.
“I've got you, buddy,” Luca whispered, burying his face in the boy’s messy dark hair. “You're safe now. I've got you.”
Leo clung to Luca’s shirt, sobbing silently.
I felt tears streaming down my own face. The terrifying Mafia boss was weeping softly, holding the child he thought he had lost five years ago.
“Is he okay?” I asked quietly.
Luca nodded, wiping his eyes. “He’s cold. Hungry. But he’s alive.”
He looked at me, a profound depth of gratitude in his dark eyes.
“Thank you, Emma. If you hadn't found those coordinates on the rosary...”
He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to.
We drove back to Chicago in the dead of night.
The mansion had been completely secured by the time we arrived. Daniel’s loyal men had locked the property down tightly.
Medical staff were waiting in the grand foyer. They immediately took Leo upstairs to check his vitals and get him warm. Luca didn't leave his side.
I took Katie to the staff quarters, getting her out of her torn uniform and into warm, dry clothes.
“Are we going home, Em?” Katie asked, curled up on my small bed.
“Soon,” I promised. “I just need to figure out what Vanessa meant. About Dad.”
I left Katie sleeping and walked back into the main house.
The dawn was breaking, casting pale light through the massive crystal chandeliers.
I walked into Luca’s study.
The ruined doors had been propped up. The room was empty.
I went to the mahogany desk and looked at the broken bottom drawer.
My father hid the encrypted hard drives. Vanessa said I had the key.
What key?
My father hadn't given me anything before he died. Just a cheap, silver necklace I wore every day.
I reached up and touched the pendant resting against my collarbone.
It was a small, silver locket. He had given it to me on my eighteenth birthday. He told me never to take it off.
My fingers trembled as I unclasped the locket.
I opened it.
Inside was a small picture of our family.
But behind the picture, tucked into the metal casing, was a tiny, micro-SD card.
I gasped.
I had been wearing the syndicate’s financial records around my neck for seven years.
“You found it.”
I spun around.
Standing in the doorway of the study wasn't Luca.
It was a woman.
She was in her late fifties, impeccably dressed in a tailored suit, radiating authority.
It was Luca’s mother. The matriarch of the Moretti family, who supposedly lived in isolation in Italy.
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“Hand it over, Emma,” she said smoothly, stepping into the room.
TITLE: THE MATRIARCH IN THE DOORWAY
