Chapter 4 - THE COAT IN THE WARDROBE
The man Luca’s guards threw onto the marble floor was bleeding and out of breath.
Vanessa screamed.
It was her brother, Marco. The man she claimed had died in a car crash five years ago.
“Did you think I was just sitting in my office all these months, Vanessa?” Luca asked, the smoke swirling around his dark suit. “I’ve had eyes on your family since the day you bumped into me at that charity gala.”
The guests had already been evacuated to the cellar. It was just Luca, Sofia, Daniel, Vanessa, Marco, the guards, and me. I stayed pressed against the wall, my heart hammering against my ribs.
The smoke was getting thicker, but Luca’s men had already extinguished the flames outside the door. The fire had been a scare tactic, easily put out.
“Where are the kids, Marco?” Luca asked, stepping over the broken glass.
Marco spat blood onto the floor. “You’ll never find them. The flight takes off in twenty minutes. By the time you reach O’Hare, they’ll be over the Atlantic.”
Sofia broke down sobbing, leaning heavily against my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her. My uniform was still sticky with wine, but I didn't care.
“Luca, please,” Sofia begged. “My babies.”
Luca looked at his sister, his face softening for a fraction of a second. “I promise you, Sofia. I will bring them home.”
He turned back to Vanessa, who was staring at her brother in disbelief. Her master plan was unraveling.
But I couldn't shake a nagging thought. I remembered cleaning Vanessa’s room earlier that morning.
“Mr. Moretti,” I said. My voice was louder this time.
Everyone looked at me.
“The flight,” I said, stepping forward. “They’re not at O’Hare.”
Vanessa snapped, “Shut up, you stupid girl!”
I stood taller. “This morning, I was putting away Mrs. Bellini’s dry cleaning. I opened the back of her wardrobe. There was a heavy winter coat hidden behind her gowns. A man’s coat.”
Marco’s eyes darted nervously to his sister.
“So what?” Vanessa hissed.
“It had a baggage tag on the zipper,” I continued, my mind racing. “Midway Airport. Private charter hangar. Not O’Hare.”
Luca’s eyes flashed with lethal realization. He looked at the child’s drawing with the O’Hare flight details. “A decoy.”
He dropped the drawing. “Let’s go. Midway.”
Daniel scrambled to his feet. “I’m coming with you. They’re my kids.”
Luca didn’t even look at him. He just punched Daniel squarely in the jaw. Daniel collapsed, unconscious before he hit the floor.
“You’re coming with me,” Luca said, grabbing Vanessa by the arm.
“No!” she screamed, fighting his grip.
“You’re going to call your men at the hangar,” Luca whispered, “and you’re going to tell them to hold that plane.”
We rushed toward the garage. Sofia grabbed my hand, pulling me with her into the back of Luca’s armored SUV. I didn’t ask why I was coming. I was the only one who had seen the tag. I knew the flight company logo.
As the SUV roared out of the gates, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I pulled it out. It was a text from an unknown number.
My blood froze in my veins.
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The text was a photo of my mother, sleeping in her bed.
And the message beneath it read: Tell Luca it was a mistake. Or she doesn't wake up.
