Chapter 4 - The Child’s Drawing in the Safe
“A warrant?” Luca repeated, staring at the radio.
“Yes, sir,” Marco’s voice replied tightly. “They’re claiming they have proof you ordered the hit on Tomaso.”
Vanessa let out a sharp, hysterical laugh.
Luca turned to her, his eyes cold and dark. “You called them.”
“I told you he blackmailed me,” Vanessa sneered, her tears vanishing, replaced by a cornered animal’s viciousness. “I knew the moment Sarah’s note was found, you’d kill me. I made sure that if I go down, you lose everything. Including Lily.”
“Claire. Now.” Luca didn’t look at me, but his command was absolute.
I ran.
I bolted up the grand staircase, my apron strings flying behind me. I heard the front doors crashing open downstairs, the heavy boots of police officers flooding the marble foyer.
I burst into Lily’s bedroom. Marco was standing by the window, peeking through the blinds.
“They’re here for him,” Marco said, his jaw tight.
“He told me to take her to Wisconsin,” I said, rushing to her closet and pulling out a duffel bag.
Lily sat on her bed, clutching a stuffed bear. “Where is Daddy?”
“He’s going to be right behind us, sweetheart,” I lied, tossing clothes into the bag. “We’re going on a little trip.”
“Wait,” Lily said. She jumped off the bed and ran to her small pink vanity. She pulled out a messy, crayon-drawn picture. “I need to leave this for him. So he knows I love him.”
I didn’t have time to argue. “Okay, put it on his pillow. Quickly.”
We hurried down the back servants' stairs. The mansion was in chaos. I could hear Luca’s lawyers shouting in the front hall, demanding to see the warrant. I gripped Lily’s hand tightly, leading her through the kitchen and out the side door into the cold Chicago night.
Marco had a black SUV running in the alley.
“Get in the back. Keep her head down,” Marco ordered, slamming the door behind us.
As the SUV sped into the alleyway, I pulled Lily against my chest. She was trembling. I looked down at the silver flip phone in my apron pocket. I pulled it out, needing the comfort of Sarah’s voice as much as Lily did.
I opened it.
But when the screen lit up, my breath caught.
There was a new notification.
A text message.
On a phone that didn't have a cellular plan and only ran on Wi-Fi.
“Did she leave the drawing?”
I stared at the screen. The number was blocked.
“Lily,” I whispered, my heart pounding against my ribs. “The drawing you just left on your dad’s bed... why did you want to leave it?”
Lily looked up at me, her blue eyes wide in the dark car.
“Because the lady on the phone told me to.”
My blood ran cold. “What lady?”
“The one who calls sometimes when Daddy isn’t home,” Lily said innocently. “She sounds just like Mommy.”
I looked at the flip phone.
The phone didn’t just hold recordings. Someone had been calling a nine-year-old girl, pretending to be her dead mother.
Suddenly, Marco slammed on the brakes.
The SUV skidded to a violent halt, throwing us against the seatbelts.
Two black vans were blocking the alley exit. Men in dark suits were stepping out. They weren’t cops.
Marco pulled his gun. “Claire, lock the doors.”
Before I could hit the button, my window shattered.
A gloved hand reached in and unlocked the door. The door was ripped open, and a man leaned in.
He wasn’t looking at Marco. He wasn’t looking at me.
He looked straight at Lily.
In his hand, he held a delicate silver bracelet with a blue stone.
“Your mother sent me to bring you home, little bird,” the man said.
May you like
Lily gasped. “Mommy’s bracelet.”
TITLE: The Ticket to a Ghost Town
