The First Class Ticket To Geneva

“Where is she?!”

I dropped the serving tray.

The crystal champagne flutes shattered against the marble, but I didn't care. I lunged forward, grabbing Camille by the shoulders of her designer dress.

“Natalie, wait!” Luca said, stepping between us.

But I couldn't stop. The panic in my chest was blinding.

Maya was supposed to be at her evening biology lab at the community college. She was the only family I had left in this city. She was the reason I took this job, the reason I swallowed Camille’s daily insults, the reason I survived.

“What did your brother do to her?!” I screamed, shaking Camille.

Marcus, the security chief, gently but firmly pulled me back.

“I’ve got her, Natalie,” Marcus said quietly.

Luca looked down at Camille.

He held the delicate silver bracelet by its chain. It dangled in the silent room, the tiny sunflower charm catching the chandelier’s light.

“Answer the question, Camille.”

Camille wiped her nose, her false tears vanishing.

When she looked up, the terrified fiancée was gone. In her place was a cold, calculating woman backed into a corner.

“Daniel has her,” Camille said, her voice completely flat.

I stopped breathing.

Anthony gasped from his wheelchair, his good hand gripping the armrest in fury.

“You touched a child?” the old man rasped.

“She’s nineteen, Anthony. She’s hardly a child,” Camille snapped. She looked at Luca. “Daniel picked her up from her campus thirty minutes ago. She thinks he’s giving her a ride home because Natalie is working late.”

Luca’s jaw tightened. “Call him. Tell him to bring her here.”

Camille laughed.

It was a hollow, ugly sound.

“You think I’m stupid, Luca? You just found my ticket to Geneva. You know I pushed your father. If I hand over the girl, you’ll kill me.”

“If you hurt her,” Luca said softly, “death will be a mercy.”

“Daniel won't hurt her,” Camille bargained, standing up and brushing off her knees. “He’s driving around the city. If I don't text him every fifteen minutes with a safe word, he takes her to a warehouse on the South Side. And you know exactly who runs the docks down there.”

The room murmured in horror.

She was threatening to sell my sister to a syndicate.

“What do you want?” Luca asked.

“My freedom,” Camille said immediately. “I walk out the front door. You let me get in my car. I drive to O'Hare, I get on my flight. Once the plane is in the air, I text Daniel the safe word. He drops the girl off at her apartment and disappears.”

I looked at Luca, tears streaming down my face.

“Please,” I begged him. “Please, she’s all I have.”

Luca looked at me.

His dark eyes were impossible to read. But I saw a flicker of something deeply protective flash across his face.

“Nobody is hurting your sister, Natalie. I promise you.”

Then, he turned back to Camille.

“Answer one question for me,” Luca said, his tone conversational. “We know why you wanted my father out of the way. You wanted the estate. You wanted the trust funds.”

Camille lifted her chin. “Obviously.”

“But that opens two bigger questions,” Luca continued. He stepped closer to her. “Why did you need to leave tonight? The wedding is in three weeks. If my father died tonight, the grief would have solidified your place in the family. You would have had everything.”

Camille swallowed hard. “I... I couldn't wait.”

“Lie,” Luca said instantly. “You’re greedy, Camille. Greedy people don't run from the vault just before the door opens. They run when they know they’re about to be caught.”

Camille’s eyes darted toward the hallway.

“What did you steal, Camille?”

“Nothing!”

“You’ve been embezzling,” Luca stated. “That’s why Daniel was in the storage room today. He wasn't looking for a wheelchair for photographs. He was looking for the physical ledgers.”

She didn't answer.

“And the second question,” Luca pressed, holding up the silver bracelet. “Daniel is a coward. He’s not a kidnapper. He wouldn't grab an innocent girl off a college campus just as an insurance policy. He grabbed her because he thought she had something he needed.”

Camille’s face tightened.

Luca looked at me.

“Natalie. Does your sister ever come to this house?”

“No,” I said quickly. “Never. She’s only been here once, to drop off my forgotten keys.”

“When?”

“Yesterday morning.”

Luca turned back to Camille.

“She dropped off keys yesterday morning. And today, Daniel kidnaps her. Why?”

Suddenly, Anthony spoke from his wheelchair.

“The... photograph.”

We all looked at him.

Anthony was pointing a shaking finger at the pocket of Camille’s dress.