Chapter 3 - THE LOCKBOX KEY
The foyer erupted into absolute chaos.
Guests were shouting, guards were drawing their weapons, and Sabrina Vale was screaming hysterically about DNA tests and fraudulent orphans.
But Vincent Caruso heard none of it.
He knelt in the snow, staring at the three-year-old girl in Elena’s arms. The child blinked sleepily, her large dark eyes exactly mirroring the ones Vincent saw in the mirror every morning.
“Isabella was pregnant?” Vincent whispered, the words tearing out of his throat. “When she died… she was pregnant?”
“She didn’t tell you,” Elena said, her voice shaking, “because Daniel found out first. He threatened to hurt Leo if she breathed a word to you. Isabella was trying to gather enough evidence to destroy Daniel before she told you about the baby.”
Leo broke away from my grip and ran onto the snowy porch.
He didn’t look at the adults. He walked straight up to Elena and looked at the little girl.
“I have a sister?” Leo asked, his ten-year-old voice cracking with awe.
The toddler looked at Leo, reached out a chubby hand, and grabbed the fuzzy ear of the torn teddy bear Leo was still holding.
Leo smiled, tears streaming down his face. “Hi. I’m Leo.”
Sabrina stomped her heel against the marble floor.
“This is a circus!” Sabrina yelled, her face red with rage. “Vincent, you cannot possibly believe this! Daniel would never do something so monstrous!”
Vincent slowly stood up.
When he turned to look at Sabrina, the grief in his eyes had been completely replaced by a cold, calculating rage.
“Guards,” Vincent said quietly.
Four heavily armed men stepped forward.
“Take the guests to the dining room. Nobody leaves this house. And take Sabrina to my study. Lock the door from the outside.”
“You can’t do this!” Sabrina screamed as two massive men grabbed her arms. “I am your fiancée! I have rights!”
“Your rights ended the moment you laid hands on my son,” Vincent sneered.
As they dragged Sabrina away, Vincent turned to me.
“Emma. Take Elena and the children to the master suite. Lock the door. Do not open it for anyone but me.”
“Yes, sir,” I said immediately.
I guided Elena inside. The poor woman was shivering violently, her lips turning blue from the Chicago wind.
Once we were safely inside the master suite, I locked the heavy oak doors and threw a thick cashmere blanket over Elena’s shoulders.
Leo sat on the edge of the massive king-sized bed, gently showing the toddler his bear.
“Her name is Mia,” Elena whispered, sitting heavily in an armchair by the fireplace. “Daniel kept her in a private estate in upstate New York. He hired nurses to raise her. I was only allowed to see her once a month to ensure my silence.”
I poured her a glass of water. “How did you get her back?”
“Daniel left the estate two days ago,” Elena explained, her hands shaking as she took the glass. “He told the guards he had to come to Chicago to finalize Leo’s trust. He slipped up. He left the security codes on his desk. I broke in and took her.”
I sat across from her. “Elena, the letter in Leo’s bear… Isabella said Leo knew where the rest of the evidence was hidden. Do you know what she meant?”
Elena shook her head. “No. Isabella told me she had physical proof of Daniel’s embezzlement, but she wouldn’t tell me where it was. She said it was safer if I didn’t know.”
I looked over at Leo.
He was letting little Mia play with the loose thread on the bear’s paw.
“Leo,” I called softly.
He looked up.
“Sweetheart, do you know where your mom hid the other papers?”
Leo looked down at his shoes. “Mom said I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone until my birthday.”
“Leo,” Elena pleaded, tears filling her eyes again. “Daniel is going to come back. If we don’t have the proof, he’ll take Mia away from me again. He’ll take everything.”
Leo hesitated. He looked at the bear in his lap.
Then he reached his small fingers into the tear Sabrina had made in the fabric.
He didn’t pull out another letter.
He pulled out a heavy, brass key.
“Mom gave me this the night before she went away,” Leo said quietly. “She said it opened a special box at the train station.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. A locker at Union Station.
“I’ll take it to Vincent,” I said, standing up and reaching for the key.
But before Leo could hand it to me, the bedroom door handle rattled.
Someone was trying to get in.
“Emma?” Vincent’s voice called from the hallway. “Open the door.”
I let out a breath of relief. I walked to the door, turned the deadbolt, and pulled it open.
But it wasn’t Vincent standing in the hallway.
It was Daniel Caruso.
May you like
He was holding a silenced pistol directly to Vincent’s temple.
“Hello, Emma,” Daniel smiled, stepping into the room and forcing his brother forward. “I hear you have something that belongs to me.”
