Chapter 7 - THE TRAIN TICKET
The library at the end of the east corridor was a stark contrast to the chaos of the ballroom.
It was warm, smelling of old paper and leather, and illuminated only by the soft glow of a crackling fireplace.
When Luca pushed the heavy oak doors open, Isabella looked up from the velvet sofa. She had been cleaned up by the physician, wearing a plush robe, with a cup of hot tea shaking in her hands.
The moment she saw Matteo in my arms, the teacup shattered against the floor.
"Matteo!" Isabella cried out, a sound so full of pure, agonizing relief it brought tears to my eyes.
She scrambled off the sofa, falling to her knees on the Persian rug. I knelt down quickly, releasing my grip on the little boy. Matteo didn't hesitate. He practically launched himself into his mother’s arms, burying his face in her neck, both of them sobbing uncontrollably.
I stood back, wiping my own tears, feeling the heavy, suffocating weight of the night finally begin to lift.
Luca stood beside me, his massive frame perfectly still as he watched his sister and nephew reunite. I saw his jaw clench, the fierce protectiveness radiating off him in waves.
"Thank you," Luca said.
His voice was a low, rough whisper, meant only for me.
I turned my head to look at him. "I didn't do anything, Mr. Moretti. I just found him in a closet."
"You protected him," Luca corrected, his dark eyes locking onto mine, completely stripping away the barrier between employer and employee. "When Vanessa cornered you, when my own head of security pointed a weapon at you, you didn't hand him over. You fought for him."
A flush of heat rose to my cheeks. "She offered me the necklace."
Luca let out a dry, humorless breath. "The pearls. Yes. A bribe for your silence."
Answer one: Vanessa had intended to use the family heirloom to buy her way out of a kidnapping charge.
"But that wasn't the only thing she planned for you," Luca said, his tone darkening. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular slip of paper.
He held it out to me.
I took it carefully. It was a train ticket. A one-way sleeper cabin on the midnight express to Montreal, paid for in cash. The name printed on the passenger line was Sophie Bennett.
I stared at the ticket, a cold dread washing over me. "I don't understand. Why would she buy me a ticket to Canada?"
"I found it in Daniel’s pocket after I disarmed him," Luca explained grimly. "Vanessa wasn't going to let you walk away with the pearls, Sophie. If you had taken the bribe, Daniel would have intercepted you in the garage. He would have planted this ticket in your belongings, killed you, and dumped your body. The police would have found a dead maid with stolen family heirlooms and a one-way ticket out of the country."
The reversal made my knees weak. Vanessa hadn't been offering me a way out. She had been setting me up as the perfect scapegoat.
"She was going to frame me for stealing the necklace," I whispered, the reality of my near-death entirely paralyzing.
"And for kidnapping Matteo," Luca added quietly. "If anyone ever came looking for the boy, Vanessa would claim the rogue maid stole him and fled the country."
I closed my eyes, a shudder running through my entire body. I had been minutes away from being murdered in a parking garage.
Suddenly, I felt a large, warm hand cup my elbow.
I opened my eyes. Luca was standing very close, his presence solid and grounding.
"You are safe now, Sophie," he promised, the intensity in his voice leaving absolutely no room for doubt. "Daniel is in police custody. Vanessa is being dragged out of my house in handcuffs as we speak. They will never come near you again."
"Luca," a soft voice interrupted.
We both turned. Isabella was standing a few feet away, holding a sleeping Matteo tightly against her chest. She looked exhausted, broken, but for the first time, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"Is he really gone?" Isabella asked, her voice trembling.
Luca nodded. "He's gone, Bella. Both of them. It's over."
Isabella let out a long, shaky breath and looked at me.
"You saved my boy," she said, tears welling in her eyes again. "I don't even know your name."
"It's Sophie," I managed to say, offering a small, exhausted smile.
"Thank you, Sophie," Isabella whispered. "Thank you."
Luca stepped forward, gently placing a hand on his sister’s shoulder. "The doctor wants you to rest, Bella. He prepared the guest suite on the main floor. No more locked doors. I will post guards outside your window. You and Matteo will sleep safe tonight."
Isabella nodded, leaning into her brother’s touch for the first time in over a year. She let the physician lead her out of the library, the sleeping child clutched safely in her arms.
When the heavy doors clicked shut, leaving Luca and me alone in the firelit room, the silence stretched between us.
I suddenly became acutely aware of how I looked. I was wearing a stained, wrinkled maid's uniform, my hair was a mess, and the side of my face throbbed from where the service door had hit me hours ago.
"I should..." I started, gesturing vaguely toward the door. "I should go clean up the kitchen. The catering staff is probably..."
"You are not cleaning a kitchen, Sophie," Luca interrupted firmly.
He stepped closer, closing the distance between us. He reached out, his long fingers gently brushing the hair away from the left side of my face, exposing the bruised and bloody scrape behind my ear.
His touch was incredibly gentle, completely contrary to the violence I knew his hands were capable of.
"You are hurt," Luca murmured, his jaw clenching as he examined the wound. "Because of a door she locked. Because of a secret she kept in my house."
"It’s just a bump," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. My heart was pounding for an entirely different reason now.
Luca slowly lowered his hand, his dark eyes meeting mine.
"Nothing that happens to you in this house is 'just a bump' anymore, Sophie," he said quietly.
Before I could process the weight of his words, the library doors flew open.
Arthur burst into the room, his face pale, completely shattering the quiet intimacy of the moment.
"Boss," Arthur gasped, out of breath. "The police arrived. But they didn't get Vanessa."
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Luca spun around, his posture instantly rigid. "What do you mean they didn't get her? She was in the ballroom!"
"She slipped out through the catering exit while the guests were panicking," Arthur said quickly. "And Boss... she didn't leave empty-handed."
