Chapter 5 - THE MIDNIGHT FLIGHT
My hands flew to my mouth.
"Friday at 8 PM?" Eleanor gasped, her face draining of all color.
"That's tomorrow night," I whispered.
Luca stared at his daughter's name circled in red ink. The mafia boss who had never shown fear in front of his enemies was suddenly pale.
Vanessa hadn't just planned to kill Luca tonight. She had already ordered a hit on his eight-year-old child for the next evening.
"Why?" I asked, trembling. "Why would she target Sophia?"
"Because as long as Sophia is alive, she inherits my shares of the family trust," Luca explained, his voice devoid of emotion, though his eyes burned with lethal intent. "Vanessa needed us both gone to take complete control."
He picked up Sophia and handed her to Eleanor.
"Lock the doors. Keep the lights off. Do not open this door for anyone except Marco or myself."
"Where are you going, Luca?" Eleanor pleaded.
"To end this."
Luca turned to leave, but I grabbed his sleeve.
"Please," I begged, tears in my eyes. "My mother... what if they already..."
Luca touched my shoulder, his large, warm hand surprisingly gentle.
"I swear on my life, Hannah. I will bring her back."
He disappeared into the dark hallway.
The next hour was agonizing.
Eleanor sat on the edge of the bed, rocking Sophia, quietly humming a lullaby to keep the little girl calm.
I paced the floor, staring at my silent phone.
Every shadow outside the window looked like a man in a dark suit. Every creak of the floorboards sounded like footsteps.
Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my hand.
An unknown number.
I answered it. "Hello?"
"Hannah?"
"Mom!" I cried out, collapsing to my knees. "Mom, are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm safe, honey," my mother sobbed. "A man named Marco got here just in time. They caught the men trying to break down the bathroom door. We're in a car heading to the estate."
I let out a breath I felt like I'd been holding for a lifetime. "Thank God. Thank God."
"But Hannah, listen to me," my mother said, her voice dropping to a frantic whisper. "Marco is driving, but he's on the phone with Luca. Things are bad."
"What happened?"
"Vanessa didn't go to her family's compound," my mother explained. "She went to the private airfield. She's trying to leave the country. But that's not the worst part."
My stomach plummeted. "What's the worst part?"
"Marco found documents on the men who attacked me. Vanessa isn't a Bellini."
I frowned. "What do you mean she isn't a Bellini? She's the daughter of the boss."
"She's an illegitimate daughter," my mother said. "She was cast out years ago. She's doing this to prove herself to them. To buy her way back into her father's good graces by handing him the Moretti empire."
Before I could answer, a loud crash echoed from downstairs.
I froze.
"Hannah?" my mother asked.
"Someone is in the house," I whispered.
Eleanor stopped rocking. Sophia looked at me, her eyes wide with terror.
I hung up the phone.
"Under the bed," I mouthed to Eleanor.
Eleanor quickly slid Sophia under the massive king-sized bed, then squeezed in beside her.
I grabbed the heavy bronze lamp again and stood flat against the wall next to the door.
Footsteps moved slowly up the stairs.
They were heavy. Deliberate.
Not the frantic rush of someone searching, but the calm, terrifying walk of someone who knew exactly where they were going.
The footsteps stopped outside the master bedroom.
A hand tried the knob. It was locked.
"Hannah," a voice called out softly from the other side of the wood.
My blood froze.
It was Daniel.
"I know you're in there," Daniel said, his voice completely calm.
How did he get out of the basement? Luca said he tied him to a chair.
"Luca isn't here to protect you," Daniel continued, leaning against the door. "And those guards he left downstairs? They were very easy to convince with a little bit of Bellini cash. Open the door, Hannah. Hand over the kid, and I'll let you and the old lady walk away."
"Go to hell," I whispered, though I knew he couldn't hear me.
"I have a master key, Hannah," Daniel sighed. "I didn't want to break the boss's nice door."
I heard the scrape of metal sliding into the lock.
The deadbolt clicked open.
The door slowly swung inward.
Daniel stepped into the room, holding his gun, sweeping the dark corners.
He didn't see me against the wall.
As he stepped past me, I swung the heavy bronze lamp with every ounce of strength I possessed.
It struck him hard in the back of the head.
Daniel grunted, stumbling forward, dropping his gun to the carpet.
But he didn't go down.
He spun around, grabbing my wrist with a brutal grip, twisting my arm until I screamed, dropping the lamp.
He threw me across the room. I crashed into the dresser, pain exploding in my ribs.
Daniel wiped a trickle of blood from his neck and smiled.
"Brave maid," he sneered, picking up his gun.
He pointed it at my chest.
"Say goodbye, Hannah."
A loud click echoed behind him.
Daniel froze.
Standing in the doorway, drenched in rain, holding a massive shotgun leveled directly at Daniel's head, was a man I had never seen before.
He was older, in his sixties, with silver hair and scars across his face.
"Drop it, Daniel," the man growled.
Daniel slowly lowered his gun. "Marco. You're supposed to be in the city."
"I drive fast," Marco said.
He stepped aside.
My mother rushed into the room, falling to her knees and wrapping her arms around me. "Hannah! Oh my god, Hannah!"
I hugged her, crying hysterically into her shoulder.
Marco didn't take his eyes off Daniel. "On your knees, traitor."
Daniel slowly knelt on the carpet. "You're too late, Marco. Vanessa is already in the air. She's gone."
Marco smiled, a grim, terrifying expression.
"She's not in the air, Daniel," Marco said. "Luca caught her on the tarmac."
Marco reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
He tossed it onto the bed.
"Luca sent this back with me," Marco said.
I slowly stood up, holding my ribs. I walked over to the bed and opened the velvet box.
Inside was Vanessa's diamond engagement ring.
And tucked beneath the diamond was a boarding pass for a private flight to Italy.
The name on the ticket wasn't Vanessa Bellini.
It was Vanessa Hayes.
I stared at the name.
Hayes?
I looked slowly under the bed, where Eleanor Hayes was trembling, holding Sophia.
Eleanor slowly crawled out.
She looked at the ticket in my hand.
And then, the sweet, elderly grandmother who had been crying all night did something that made my blood turn to ice.
May you like
She stopped crying.
And she smiled.
