Chapter 4 - THE CHILD’S DRAWING
“Where is he?”
My voice didn't sound like my own.
It sounded like a wild animal.
I lunged toward Sloane.
I didn't care that she was the boss's fiancée.
I didn't care that thirty security guards were in the room.
I grabbed the expensive fabric of her champagne gown and pulled her halfway up from the floor.
“Where is my son?!”
“He’s not your son!” Sloane shrieked, batting at my hands.
Matteo caught my shoulders and gently but firmly pulled me back.
He didn't hand me to security.
He stepped between me and Sloane, becoming a wall of black wool and cold fury.
He looked down at his fiancée.
“You kidnapped my nephew.”
Sloane was sobbing, crawling backward away from him.
“I had to! Daniel was getting too close!”
She pointed a shaking finger at the man in the overcoat.
“Daniel Mercer! My father! He’s the one who wants the boy!”
The room spun again.
I looked at the man.
The man who had thrown the watch.
He was Sloane’s father.
Daniel Mercer adjusted his coat.
He didn't look like a loving grandfather.
He looked like a man who collected debts.
“She’s lying again,” Daniel said smoothly. “I don't want the boy. I want the inheritance your brother left him. The trust fund Rebecca here has been trying to access for four years.”
Rose DeLuca slammed her cane against the floor.
The sharp crack sounded like a gunshot.
“Enough!”
Everyone froze.
Rose walked slowly toward the table.
She picked up the child’s drawing Grace had put down.
She stared at the bright blue crayon lines.
Her hands were shaking.
“Grace,” Rose said softly. “Why did you have this?”
Grace wiped her eyes.
“Because Emily brings Leo’s drawings to work sometimes. She keeps them in her locker. I saw Sloane going through Emily’s locker yesterday.”
Matteo’s head snapped toward Sloane.
“You broke into her locker?”
“She’s a maid!” Sloane yelled. “She has no right to privacy in this house!”
“She has the right to be safe,” Matteo said.
The absolute coldness in his voice made Sloane flinch.
“You found her address,” Matteo continued. “And you had Leo taken.”
“To keep him safe from him!” Sloane pointed at Daniel.
Daniel laughed.
“I didn't take the boy, Rebecca. You did. And you're going to tell us where he is right now.”
I pushed past Matteo.
I couldn't wait anymore.
Leo was seven.
He was terrified of the dark.
He had a scar on his chin from the accident, and he needed a special brace to sleep because his leg hadn't fully healed.
“Who took him, Sloane?” I demanded.
Sloane looked at me.
Her eyes were filled with a vicious kind of triumph.
“You really think you were protecting him, Emily? Playing house in your cheap little apartment?”
“Where is he?!”
“He’s on a plane,” Sloane sneered. “To a private facility in Switzerland. Under my name. As his legal mother, I had every right to reclaim him.”
My legs gave out.
I fell to my knees.
Switzerland.
He was gone.
Matteo knelt beside me.
He put one hand on my shoulder.
It was warm, and it was surprisingly gentle.
“Emily.”
I looked at him.
Tears were blurring my vision.
“She took him.”
“No, she didn't,” Matteo said.
I blinked.
Matteo stood up.
He looked at his security chief.
“Did any flights leave the private airstrip today?”
“No, sir.”
Sloane’s smug expression vanished.
“What? Yes they did. I paid the pilot!”
Matteo pulled his phone from his pocket.
“You paid a pilot who works for me.”
Sloane scrambled to her feet.
“You can't stop the plane!”
“I don't have to,” Matteo said. “Because the plane never left the ground.”
He tapped a button on his phone and put it on speaker.
A man’s voice answered.
“Boss.”
“Where is the package, Marco?”
“Safe, sir. Just like you asked.”
Sloane screamed and lunged for the phone.
Two security guards caught her and pinned her arms behind her back.
I stared at Matteo.
“You knew?” I whispered.
Matteo looked down at me.
For the first time all night, there was profound sadness in his eyes.
“I didn't know he was my nephew, Emily. I just knew Sloane was hiding something.”
He looked at Grace.
“Grace came to me yesterday.”
Grace nodded slowly.
“I saw Sloane take the address. I told Mr. DeLuca.”
Matteo continued.
“I had my men intercept the people Sloane hired. We took Leo before they could put him on the plane.”
I covered my face with my hands and sobbed.
He was safe.
My boy was safe.
But then Daniel Mercer started laughing.
It was a slow, dark sound.
Matteo turned to him.
“What’s funny?”
Daniel reached into his pocket again.
This time, security drew their guns.
Daniel didn't pull out a weapon.
He pulled out a small, child-sized leg brace.
Leo’s brace.
“It's funny, DeLuca,” Daniel smiled. “Because your men might have intercepted the car. But they didn't intercept the boy.”
Matteo’s phone crackled.
“Boss?” Marco’s voice sounded panicked now.
“Marco. Do you have the boy?”
There was a long silence.
May you like
Then Marco said the words that stopped my heart.
“Sir... the back seat is empty.”
