Chapter 3 - THE TORN WOOL COAT
The evening air was freezing, but the cold I felt was entirely internal.
I stared at the dark-green wool coat in Luca’s hands.
“It belongs to David,” I whispered, my voice shaking so badly I could barely form the words. “Richard’s older brother.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
He didn't ask me who David was. He didn't ask for a long, drawn-out explanation. He could see the absolute terror in my eyes, and for a man like Luca Moretti, that was all the information he needed.
David Hayes wasn't a commercial real estate agent like Richard.
David was a man who owed money to dangerous people. He was a gambler, a drifter, and someone who had once cornered me in my own kitchen when Richard wasn't home, demanding cash I didn't have.
“Daniel,” Luca commanded, turning to his head of security who had just run down the mansion steps. “Get Thomas to the medical wing. Wake him up. Find out exactly where this car stopped between the school and my front door.”
Daniel nodded, pulling the groaning driver from the front seat.
Luca turned back to me. He took off his expensive suit jacket and draped it over my trembling shoulders, covering my thin maid’s uniform.
“We are going back inside,” Luca said quietly.
“My daughter—”
“I will find her, Claire,” he promised. The absolute certainty in his voice anchored me. “But right now, I need to have a conversation with your husband.”
We walked back into the grand dining room.
The twenty-six guests were completely silent, frozen in their seats like statues. Vanessa was weeping quietly into a napkin.
Richard was exactly where Luca had left him, guarded by two massive security men in black suits.
When Richard saw me walk in wearing Luca’s jacket, his upper lip curled into a sneer.
“What is this, Claire?” Richard demanded. “Where is Ellie? Did you hide her again?”
Luca didn't say a word.
He walked directly up to Richard, holding the heavy green wool coat in his right hand.
He dropped it onto the ruined dinner table, right over the spilled water and the white roses.
Richard looked at the coat.
For the first time in the seven years I had known him, the smug, confident mask on his handsome face completely slipped.
His eyes widened in genuine panic.
“Where did you get that?” Richard asked, his voice suddenly breathless.
“It was in the back of the car,” Luca said smoothly. “The car that arrived without Claire's daughter.”
Richard stood up, pushing his chair back violently. “David? David took her? No, no, that wasn't the plan!”
The dining room gasped.
I stepped forward, my hands clenched into fists. “What plan, Richard? What did you do?”
Richard looked at me, completely ignoring the fact that he was surrounded by mafia security. His panic was real. “Claire, you have to believe me, I didn't tell David to take her! I just told him to follow the car to make sure Vanessa's driver didn't pull any tricks!”
“Why is your brother involved at all?” Luca asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
Richard swallowed hard. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Because David owes money,” Richard stammered, looking frantically at the heavy oak doors. “A lot of money. To the Moreno family.”
The entire room seemed to suck in a breath.
Even I knew that name. The Morenos were a rival syndicate in Chicago. They were ruthless, violent, and the sworn enemies of the Moretti family.
Luca went completely still.
“Why would the Morenos care about a little girl?” Luca asked.
“They don't care about the girl,” Richard blurted out, desperation taking over. “They care about what Claire stole from my office the day she left!”
I stared at him in absolute shock.
“I didn't steal anything from you!” I yelled, stepping closer. “I took my daughter's clothes, my birth certificate, and I walked out the door!”
“You took the safety deposit key, Claire!” Richard shouted back, his face turning red. “The silver key! It was in the top drawer of my desk!”
My heart stopped.
The silver key.
The day we left, Ellie had been looking for a crayon in Richard's office. She had found a small, antique silver key with a heavy square head. She thought it was a treasure. I had slipped it into my pocket, entirely focused on getting us out of the house before Richard returned.
I had put it on a cheap silver chain. I wore it around my neck every single day, tucked beneath my uniform, believing it was just a spare house key I had forgotten to leave behind.
“What is in the box, Richard?” Luca asked softly.
Richard looked at Vanessa, then at Luca.
“Ledgers,” Richard whispered. “Evidence. I launder money for the Morenos through my real estate firm. My brother racked up a gambling debt, and I stole from the Moreno accounts to pay it off. If I don't give them the ledgers and the missing money by midnight tonight, they're going to kill both of us.”
The truth hit me like a physical blow.
Richard didn't come to the dinner to get his wife back.
He didn't care about his family.
He had tracked me down because he needed the key to save his own miserable life. And when Vanessa had blindly offered up Ellie's location, Richard used his own daughter as bait.
But David, desperate and terrified, had hijacked the plan.
Suddenly, Richard’s cell phone buzzed loudly in his breast pocket.
Luca gestured to his security men. One of them reached into Richard's jacket, pulled out the phone, and answered it on speaker.
“Richard?” David’s frantic, breathless voice echoed through the dining room.
“David, where is my daughter?” I screamed toward the phone.
“Claire?” David sounded terrified. “Listen to me, both of you. I didn't want to do this. But the Morenos found me. I had to give them the kid.”
My knees gave out. Luca caught me by the waist, holding me upright as my world shattered.
“They have her,” David sobbed through the speaker. “They said if Richard doesn't bring the silver key to the abandoned train yard at the edge of the city in one hour, they are going to put the little girl on a freight train heading south, and you will never see her again.”
Before anyone could speak, another voice came through the phone. A dark, amused voice.
“One hour, Moretti,” the rival boss said, knowing exactly whose house Richard was in. “Let's see how much your maid means to you.”
May you like
The line went dead.
And from Vanessa’s purse, sitting on the table, a single photograph slowly slipped out and fell onto the floor, revealing exactly how the Morenos knew where to look.
