Chapter 7 - THE BRACELET
The warehouse on 4th Street was abandoned, smelling of rust and damp earth.
Luca parked two blocks away.
He opened the trunk and pulled out a heavy black steel lockbox.
Not the briefcase.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, terrified. “They want the files. They want the money.”
“I don’t negotiate with men who take children,” Luca said.
He handed me a small, cold pistol.
I flinched.
“I don’t know how to use this.”
“Point and pull. But you stay behind me.”
We walked through the darkness, the rain starting to fall in thin, icy sheets.
The warehouse doors were slightly open.
A single work light burned in the center of the massive room.
Tied to a wooden chair in the middle of the room was Vanessa.
Her face was bruised. Her red dress was torn.
But she wasn’t the one I was looking for.
“Leo!” I screamed.
My little boy was huddled in the corner, clutching the pink knitted coat.
Sitting next to him, holding his hand, was a little girl with pale skin and dark hair.
Mia.
Standing over them, holding a gun to Daniel’s head, was an older man.
He had silver hair and wore a sharp gray suit.
I recognized him from the wedding rehearsal.
Arthur Moretti.
Luca’s uncle.
“Hello, Luca,” Arthur said smoothly.
Luca didn’t raise his hands. He just stopped walking.
“Arthur.”
“I see you found my little side project.”
Arthur smiled, pressing the gun harder against Daniel’s temple.
Daniel looked at Luca, his face covered in blood.
“I’m sorry, Boss,” Daniel choked out. “He had my wife. I had to plant the ticket for Vanessa. I had to do it.”
Arthur laughed.
“Daniel here has been a very useful pawn. Just like Vanessa.”
Arthur looked down at the battered woman in the chair.
“She thought she was so clever. Hiding the child in Switzerland. Pretending Marco died in a random crash. But I knew.”
I felt sick.
“You cut the brake lines,” Luca said, his voice deadly low.
“Marco was weak,” Arthur spat. “He wanted to take the family legitimate. He wanted to leave the life. I couldn’t let him ruin what we built.”
“So you killed him.”
“And I took his daughter. A little insurance policy. I gave her to a trusted family in Europe. But then... she got sick.”
Arthur sighed dramatically.
“Treatment is expensive. So, I reached out to Vanessa. Told her if she wanted the girl to live, she’d pay up.”
Vanessa looked up, crying.
“I didn’t have two million in cash! That’s why I was faking the tapes. I was going to extort the syndicate to save my daughter!”
It all made sense.
The audio files. The secrecy. The desperation.
“Let them go, Arthur,” Luca said, dropping the black steel lockbox on the floor. It echoed loudly.
“You have your money. Take it and disappear.”
Arthur smiled greedily.
He pushed Daniel to the floor and took a step toward the box.
That was his mistake.
Because as he stepped forward, Leo—my brave, terrified six-year-old—threw the heavy pink wool coat directly at Arthur’s legs.
Arthur stumbled.
May you like
Luca drew his weapon faster than I could blink.
BANG.
