Chapter 5 - THE WOODEN ROSARY
The rain began to fall as Luca’s SUV tore through the industrial district of South Chicago.
He held the wooden rosary tightly in his left hand, his knuckles white against the steering wheel.
Henry wasn't just a greedy gardener. He was a ruthless manipulator who had spent fifteen years studying the Moretti family, finding their weaknesses.
And Madison had become one.
Luca pulled into the abandoned shipping yard at the old docks. The towering metal containers looked like rusted gravestones in the downpour.
He parked the car, leaving the headlights on, illuminating the heavy steel door of Warehouse 4.
He didn't bring a gun. He brought the silver key.
Luca kicked the heavy door open.
The warehouse was damp and echoing with the sound of rain hitting the tin roof.
In the center of the vast space, sitting under a single hanging lightbulb, was Madison.
Her hands were tied behind a metal chair. Her lip was bleeding, and her eyes were wide with terror.
Standing behind her was Henry.
He wasn't dressed in his gardening overalls. He wore a sharp, tailored suit, holding a suppressed pistol pressed firmly against the back of Madison’s head.
“You’re remarkably punctual, Mr. Moretti,” Henry called out, his voice echoing.
Luca walked forward, stopping ten feet away.
“Let her go, Henry.”
“The key, Luca. Toss it.”
Luca pulled the small silver key from his pocket.
“You don't need this anymore. You know what was in the lockbox. The photograph. My mother’s letter.”
Henry smiled, a cold, empty expression.
“I don't care about the photograph. I care about what the key opens next.”
Luca frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Isabella didn't just leave a box at the bank,” Henry sneered. “She left a secondary ledger. The one that details the exact locations of the Moretti offshore accounts. Accounts that require a physical key to access.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed. His mother had never mentioned offshore accounts.
“Where did you get this?” Luca asked, holding up the wooden rosary.
Madison gasped when she saw it.
“That’s my mother’s!” she cried out.
Henry pressed the gun harder against her hair. “Shut up.”
He looked back at Luca.
“Elizabeth Reed thought she was so clever. When Isabella died, Elizabeth stole the ledger. She hid it. I’ve spent months threatening her, slowly poisoning her medication to keep her weak, waiting for her to break.”
Madison’s eyes widened in horror.
“You... you poisoned my mom?”
“She wouldn't talk,” Henry said coldly. “So I had Vanessa hire you. I figured if I couldn't break the mother, I could break the daughter. That bruise on your neck was just the beginning.”
Luca felt a murderous rage burn in his chest.
Henry had orchestrated Madison’s poverty, her mother’s illness, and her employment, all to keep them trapped.
“I’ll make you a deal, Henry,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifying calm.
“I don't make deals with dead men.”
“You’ll make this one. Because I have Vanessa. And I have Leo.”
Henry’s confident smile faltered for a fraction of a second.
“You’re lying.”
“Daniel has the boy. My men have your daughter locked in the wine cellar. If I don't walk out of this warehouse in five minutes, they both disappear permanently.”
Henry stared at him, the gun trembling slightly against Madison’s head.
“You wouldn't hurt a child.”
“I’m a Moretti,” Luca said, his eyes pitch black. “Don't test me.”
Henry hesitated.
That hesitation was all Luca needed.
From the shadows of the warehouse rafters, a suppressed shot rang out.
Henry screamed, dropping his gun as his right shoulder shattered.
He collapsed to his knees on the concrete.
Daniel stepped out from behind a stack of rusted shipping crates, his rifle still raised.
Luca didn't waste a second. He lunged forward, kicking Henry’s fallen gun across the floor, and grabbed the older man by the throat, slamming him onto his back.
“Where is Elizabeth Reed?” Luca roared.
Henry spat blood onto the concrete, laughing bitterly.
“She’s gone, Luca. Vanessa took care of her two hours ago.”
Madison let out a devastating scream.
Luca hit Henry, knocking him unconscious.
He pulled a knife from his belt and immediately cut Madison’s restraints.
She fell forward into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
“My mom... Luca, my mom...”
Luca held her tightly, pressing his face into her hair.
“We’re going to find her,” he promised.
He stood up, pulling Henry’s ringing cell phone from the unconscious man’s pocket.
He answered it.
“Dad?” Vanessa’s voice came through, panicked. “The cellar door was unlocked. I got out. Do you have the girl?”
Luca didn't speak.
“Dad?”
Luca looked down at Madison, then at the wooden rosary on the floor.
“Your father is indisposed,” Luca said softly.
Vanessa gasped.
“If you touch my mother,” Madison screamed toward the phone, “I will kill you myself!”
Vanessa let out a cruel, mocking laugh.
“You’re too late, Madison. I have her. And I found what she was hiding.”
“Where are you?” Luca demanded.
“Look in your pocket, Luca,” Vanessa whispered. “The blue ticket. She didn't just hide a ledger.”
The line went dead.
Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out the blue train ticket.
He looked at the destination printed on the front.
It wasn't a city.
It was an address.
May you like
St. Jude’s Hospice.
And written on the back, in fresh blood, was a single silver clasp.
