Chapter 6 - The Coat Left In The Hallway
"Tommy?" Luca repeated, stepping closer. "Your brother is involved in this?"
"He's nineteen," I said, panic rising in my throat. I traced the frayed stitching on the cuff of the blue corduroy coat. "He moved back home to help pay for Dad's physical therapy. He works night shifts at a warehouse."
"Or so he told you," Luca said grimly. He pulled out his phone. "Marco, trace a number for a Tommy Reed."
I grabbed Luca's arm. "Don't hurt him. Please. He's just a kid."
Luca looked down at my hand on his sleeve. His expression softened fractionally. "I don't want to hurt him, Emma. I want to know why he was here."
I let go, stepping back. My mind was spinning. My father an ex-mobster. My brother wrapped up in a kidnapping. Everything I knew about my family was unraveling in the span of three hours.
"Look," I pointed to a small wooden crate near where the blankets lay.
On top of the crate were three empty juice boxes, a pile of discarded zip-ties, and a child's flashlight.
Luca walked over and picked up the cut zip-ties. He inspected the clean plastic edges.
"These weren't broken in a struggle," he noted. "They were cut with heavy-duty wire snips. Cleanly."
"Like the kind you keep in an electrician's tool bag," I said.
Luca met my eyes. "Your brother didn't kidnap Leo. He came here to rescue him."
Hope flared in my chest. If Tommy had cut Leo free before the Russians arrived, they might still be safe.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed again in my pocket.
Not a text this time. A phone call.
I looked at the screen. It was Tommy.
I answered instantly, putting it on speaker. "Tommy! Where are you?"
"Em," Tommy's voice was out of breath, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind and distant train horns. "Em, you need to listen to me carefully. Don't go back to the mansion."
"Tommy, I'm with him. I'm with Luca Moretti."
There was a dead silence on the line.
Then, a weary sigh. "Dad said this day would come. I just didn't think it would be tonight."
"Where is the boy, Tommy?" Luca demanded, stepping close to the phone.
"He's safe. For now," Tommy panted. "I got Vanessa's text on Dad's old burner phone. She didn't know I monitor it. I got to the warehouse just as her guys were leaving him for the Volkovs."
"Where are you?" Luca pressed.
"Union Station," Tommy said. "I bought tickets. We need to get out of the city before the Volkovs lock down the exits."
"Stay there," Luca ordered. "Hide in the lower concourse maintenance tunnels. Do not get on a train. I'm coming to get you."
"We can't wait, Moretti," Tommy sounded panicked. "They're already here."
"Who?" I cried.
"Vanessa's backup," Tommy yelled, the sound of shattered glass echoing through the phone. "And they brought someone else."
"Tommy, run!" I screamed.
"Em, I'm sorry," Tommy gasped. "I thought she was dead. Dad swore she died in the fire five years ago."
Luca went rigid. "Who, Tommy? Who is with them?"
Before Tommy could answer, another voice came through the speaker. A woman's voice. Cold, sharp, and chillingly familiar to Luca.
"Hello, Luca," the woman said smoothly over the phone. "It's been a long time."
Luca’s face turned the color of ash. He stared at the phone as if it were a ghost.
"Isabella?" he whispered.
May you like
"Come to platform 9, little brother," the voice purred. "Or your son gets a front-row seat to the express train."
TITLE: The Ticket For A Midnight Train
