Chapter 4 - THE CHILD'S DRAWING
The engine of the SUV hummed quietly.
Outside, the city lights blurred past the tinted windows.
But inside the car, the air felt suffocating.
Luca kept staring at the crayon drawing.
"My mother died in a hit-and-run," Luca said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The police said it was a drunk driver. They never found the car."
I looked at the messy blue lines Ben had drawn.
"My dad gave that to you?" I asked Ben gently.
Ben nodded, his eyes wide.
"He told me to draw what he described. He said his hands were shaking too much to write it himself."
Luca traced the numbers at the bottom of the page.
"Why didn't your father go to the police?" Luca asked.
"Because he worked for your father," I realized, the truth hitting me like a physical blow. "If my dad saw the car that killed your mother, and he didn't report it..."
Luca looked up.
"It means my father paid him to keep quiet."
The reversal hit him instantly.
Luca had spent his life believing his father was a grieving widower.
Now, he was holding proof that his father had covered up his own wife's murder.
And my father had been the accomplice.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered.
Luca shook his head.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Sarah. Your father was likely following orders to keep you and Ben safe."
He folded the drawing and placed it carefully in his jacket pocket.
"Marco," Luca called toward the front seat. "Change of plans. We aren't going to the safehouse."
"Where to, Boss?" Marco asked.
"The old estate on Lake Michigan. The one my father uses for storage."
I tightened my grip on Ben.
"Mr. Moretti, why are we going there?"
Luca looked at me, his dark eyes hardening into something dangerous.
"Because if my father kept the car that killed my mother, that's where he hid it. And we need proof before Vanessa's family realizes what Thomas actually left behind."
An hour later, we pulled up to a massive, iron-gated property shrouded in darkness.
The wind howling off the lake was bitter cold.
Marco cut the headlights as we rolled up the gravel driveway.
"Stay close to me," Luca ordered, stepping out of the SUV.
I carried Ben, who was too exhausted and terrified to walk.
We approached a large, detached garage at the back of the property.
Luca punched a code into the keypad.
The heavy doors groaned open.
Inside, the air smelled of dust, motor oil, and old secrets.
Luca found the light switch.
Fluorescent bulbs flickered to life.
Sitting in the center of the room, covered by a heavy gray tarp, was the shape of a vehicle.
Luca walked toward it.
He grabbed the edge of the tarp and pulled.
Dust flew into the air.
Underneath was a black sedan.
The front end was completely crushed.
The windshield was shattered.
And the license plate matched the one Ben had written down perfectly.
Luca staggered backward.
He leaned against the concrete wall, covering his mouth.
"He kept it," Luca choked out. "My father killed her, and he kept the car."
I set Ben down gently and walked over to Luca.
I placed a hand on his arm.
"Luca," I said softly, dropping the formalities.
He looked at me.
His eyes were completely broken.
"I spent ten years trying to find the man who did this," he whispered. "And I sat across from him at Thanksgiving dinner."
Before I could comfort him, a sound echoed from the front of the garage.
Footsteps.
Crunching on the gravel outside.
Marco drew his weapon.
"Boss," Marco hissed. "We've got company."
Luca instantly straightened, shielding me and Ben behind him.
The garage door rattled.
A voice called out from the darkness.
"You always were too smart for your own good, Luca."
It wasn't Vanessa's father.
It was Arthur Pendelton.
The Moretti family attorney.
The man whose stamp had been on Ben's boarding school papers.
He stepped into the garage, flanked by three armed men.
"Arthur," Luca said, his voice cold. "What are you doing here?"
Arthur smiled sadly.
"Protecting your father's legacy, Luca. Just like I always have."
He looked at me.
"Thomas was a good man, Sarah. But he got greedy. He wanted a pension. He threatened to expose this car if we didn't pay for your brother's college fund."
My stomach turned.
My father hadn't been blackmailing them out of malice.
He'd been trying to secure a future for Ben.
"So you killed him," Luca said.
"Vanessa's father killed him over the ledger," Arthur corrected. "We just let it happen. It solved two problems at once."
Arthur gestured to his men.
"I'm sorry, Luca. But your father can't allow you to leave this garage with that information."
The armed men raised their weapons.
I pulled Ben tightly against my chest, closing my eyes.
But then, Ben reached out.
He pointed a shaking finger at Arthur.
"Sarah," Ben whispered loudly in the echoing garage.
"What is it, baby?" I cried.
Ben pointed at the heavy wool coat Arthur was wearing.
"That's the man," Ben said.
Arthur froze.
Luca looked down at Ben.
"What man, buddy?"
Ben swallowed hard.
"That's the man who visited our apartment the night before Dad died. The one who gave Dad the envelope of cash."
Arthur’s face drained of color.
But Ben wasn't finished.
He pointed to a specific tear on the sleeve of Arthur's coat.
"And he dropped something under our couch."
Arthur took a step backward.
"Shut that child up," he snapped.
"What did he drop, Ben?" Luca demanded.
Ben reached into his tiny pocket.
He pulled out a heavy, gold signet ring.
"This," Ben said.
Luca stared at the ring.
May you like
It was the ring Arthur wore to seal the Moretti family’s most confidential documents.
And it had a drop of dried blood on the inside band.
