Chapter 9
We reached the mansion twelve minutes later.
The front gate stood open.
That alone told us everything.
Luca was out of the SUV before it stopped completely.
I followed.
My leg barely mattered anymore.
The foyer lights were back on.
Too bright.
Too normal.
A guard lay unconscious near the staircase.
Another sat against the wall with blood running from his temple.
Marco rushed to him.
“What happened?”
The guard struggled to focus.
“Gas.”
“What?”
“Guest room. Ventilation. We got dizzy.”
“Angelo?”
“Gone.”
“Sophie?” Luca demanded.
The guard closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Luca turned away.
His fist hit the wall.
Once.
Hard enough to split the skin across his knuckles.
I grabbed his wrist before he could do it again.
He looked at me.
“Don’t.”
The word was mine this time.
His breathing was ragged.
“I left her here.”
“You left her with armed security.”
“I left her with him in the house.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“Stop.”
His eyes flashed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Marco looked toward us, then deliberately looked away.
I lowered my voice.
“Blame yourself after we get her back.”
That stopped him.
I continued.
“Right now, she needs her father, not her father’s guilt.”
His jaw tightened.
Then he nodded once.
“Fine.”
It was the closest thing to surrender Luca Moretti probably knew.
We went to the study.
He unlocked a safe hidden behind a bookshelf.
Inside were folders, drives, passports, cash, and one sealed document case.
He pulled it out.
“Arden?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“What exactly is in there?”
“Original trust certificates. Voting control documents. Elena’s transfer instrument.”
“Sophie’s mother?”
He nodded.
“Why does Angelo need originals?”
“He doesn’t.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Not legally.”
“Then why demand them?”
“To destroy them. Or replace them. Or use them as leverage.”
Marco entered.
“Bellini Tower is twenty-eight floors. Private offices top six. Underground garage. Rooftop helipad.”
“Police?” Luca asked.
“Already notified.”
“No visible approach.”
“I know.”
“He sees tactical, he moves Sophie.”
“I know.”
The tension between them was brutal.
I looked at the case.
“Can we copy everything?”
Luca nodded.
“Already backed up offsite.”
“Then give him the originals.”
He looked at me.
Marco did too.
“What?”
“If the papers aren’t worth more than Sophie, give them to him.”
“They aren’t.”
“Good.”
I touched the case.
“Then stop thinking like a businessman.”
Luca stared at me for a second.
Then he picked up the case.
“Done.”
Marco spread building plans across the desk.
“We need to know where he’ll hold her.”
“His office,” Luca said.
“Too obvious.”
“He’ll want control.”
I studied the plans.
Something bothered me.
“Vanessa said Angelo built the strategy.”
Marco nodded.
“So he likes control too.”
“Yes.”
“Then he won’t put Sophie somewhere he can’t see.”
Luca looked at the plans.
“Executive conference room.”
“Glass walls,” Marco said. “Full view from his office.”
“Access?”
“Two doors. One private corridor.”
I pointed.
“What’s this?”
“Service elevator.”
“Who uses it?”
“Maintenance. Catering.”
I looked at Luca.
He knew what I was thinking.
“No.”
I laughed without humor.
“You haven’t even heard it.”
“I know your face.”
“I worked catering before I worked here.”
“No.”
“Angelo knows your security people. He knows Marco. He knows police procedure. He doesn’t know me beyond what Vanessa told him.”
“He absolutely knows you.”
“He knows I’m a maid.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
“No. That’s the advantage.”
Marco looked between us.
“She has a point.”
Luca turned on him.
“Do not encourage her.”
“I’m not. I’m evaluating.”
“Evaluate something else.”
I crossed my arms.
“Luca.”
He looked at me.
Again, the name changed the room.
“Sophie trusts me.”
His expression hardened with pain.
“I know.”
“If I can get near her, she’ll stay calm.”
“You’re injured.”
“I can walk.”
“Barely.”
“Good. Nobody expects the limping maid to be part of the rescue.”
Marco rubbed his jaw.
“We could put a wire on her.”
“No,” Luca said.
I said, “Yes.”
He glared at me.
“You two are impossible.”
“Welcome to management,” I said.
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he stepped closer.
His voice dropped.
“If you do this, you follow Marco’s instructions exactly.”
“I will.”
“No improvising.”
I said nothing.
“Mia.”
“Fine.”
“That was not convincing.”
“It was the best you’re getting.”
He stared at me.
Then he reached up.
His fingers brushed lightly over the bruise on my cheek.
So lightly I almost thought I imagined it.
“You get Sophie and you come out.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t try to save me.”
My chest tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“Angelo wants me. The trust is just leverage.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
Luca looked at the sealed case.
“Because Angelo tried to buy my company eight years ago.”
“So?”
“I refused.”
“That doesn’t explain this.”
“Elena’s father owned Arden. Angelo wanted it. Elena inherited after her father died. When Elena died, her shares passed to Sophie.”
I slowly understood.
“You blocked him twice.”
“Yes.”
“And Sophie became the third block.”
“Yes.”
The entire nightmare rearranged itself.
Vanessa’s marriage plan.
The guardianship.
The company control.
Angelo’s money.
Cross.
Everything.
“This was never just Vanessa wanting you,” I whispered.
“No.”
“It was her father wanting Arden.”
“And using her wanting me.”
The cruelty of it made me sick.
Marco handed me a small wireless microphone.
“Under the collar.”
I took it.
Then he gave Luca an earpiece.
“We move in fifteen.”
Bellini Tower rose above the river like a blade.
Glass. Steel. Black windows.
At 5:12 a.m., Luca entered the front lobby carrying the document case.
Alone, as instructed.
Police remained four blocks away.
Marco’s team used an underground access tunnel from the neighboring garage.
I entered through the loading dock wearing a borrowed catering jacket over my clothes.
A rolling coffee cart hid my limp badly.
One guard stopped me.
“Where are you going?”
“Twenty-six. Mr. Bellini requested service.”
“At five in the morning?”
I shrugged.
“Rich people don’t sleep.”
He looked at the cart.
Then at me.
My bruises were mostly hidden beneath makeup Marco’s medic applied.
Mostly.
The guard waved me through.
My heart hammered so hard I was sure the microphone picked it up.
The service elevator climbed.
Twenty.
Twenty-one.
Twenty-two.
Luca’s voice came softly through the hidden earpiece.
“Mia?”
I touched my collar once.
Signal received.
Twenty-five.
Twenty-six.
The doors opened.
I pushed the cart into a quiet corridor.
At the far end, through glass walls, I saw Sophie.
She was sitting at a conference table.
Alive.
Untouched.
A man stood behind her.
Not Angelo.
A stranger in a gray suit.
Then Angelo stepped from his office.
He looked older than he had hours earlier.
He walked toward Sophie.
Bent.
Said something to her.
She shook her head.
My earpiece whispered.
“Visual?” Marco asked.
I touched my collar twice.
Yes.
I rolled the cart forward.
Ten feet.
Twenty.
The gray-suited man looked at me.
“Stop.”
I did.
“Who ordered that?”
“Mr. Bellini.”
Angelo turned.
His eyes landed on me.
For one second, surprise flashed across his face.
Then he smiled.
“Mia Carter.”
My blood went cold.
Sophie spun around.
“Mia!”
The gray-suited man reached inside his jacket.
Angelo lifted one hand.
“Don’t.”
Then he looked at me.
“You really do walk into every room you shouldn’t.”
I gripped the cart.
“Story of my life.”
His smile widened.
“Where is Luca?”
A voice behind me answered.
“Right here.”
I turned.
Luca stood at the end of the corridor.
Document case in one hand.
A gun pointed at his back.
And the man holding it—
was Marco.
Before we left the study, Ethan appeared in the doorway with a white bandage wrapped around his head.
I stared at him. “Why aren’t you at the hospital?”
“I was.”
“For twelve minutes?”
“They cleared me.”
“That is a lie.”
“Fine. I cleared me.”
I started toward him. Pain shot through my leg and he pointed immediately. “See? Neither of us is qualified to lecture.”
Luca looked between us. “Is this what living with siblings is always like?”
“Yes,” Ethan and I said together.
For the first time all night, Luca almost looked normal. Then Ethan’s face became serious.
“Bring her home.”
Luca nodded. “I will.”
Ethan looked at me. “And you don’t do the stupid brave thing.”
“I never do.”
He actually laughed. “Mia.”
I hugged him carefully. He whispered near my ear, “I know you think you have to save everybody. You don’t.”
My throat tightened. “Tonight I do.”
He pulled back and looked at Luca. “Then make sure somebody saves her too.”
Luca’s answer came without hesitation. “I will.”
That promise stayed with me all the way to Bellini Tower. It was the reason I stepped into the service elevator even while every instinct told me to run the other direction.
May you like
As the elevator doors closed, I caught my reflection in the brushed steel: bruised cheek under makeup, borrowed catering jacket, tired eyes, and a woman who looked nothing like the maid Vanessa had expected to stay silent.
Maybe that was the only advantage I had left.
