Chapter 4 – THE GHOST ON THE PHONE

The crayon drawing trembled in my hand.

To Daddy, from Mia.

I remembered the day she drew it. I was fifteen, sitting at the kitchen table, helping her pick out the blue crayon for the roof. My father had kissed her forehead, folded it carefully, and placed it in his wallet.

He never went anywhere without that wallet.

“She was there,” I whispered, the realization suffocating me. “Vanessa was there the night he died.”

Luca’s face was unreadable, a mask of cold, calculating fury. He took the drawing from my shaking fingers and placed it next to the train ticket.

“Vanessa is twenty-six,” Luca said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “Fourteen years ago, she was twelve years old. She didn’t kill your father, Natalie.”

“Then how does she have this?” I demanded, tears finally breaking free and spilling down my cheeks. “How does she have his bracelet? Why was she hiding my sister’s drawing in her coat?”

Mia tugged frantically at my dress.

Why are you crying? What does the drawing mean?

I fell to my knees in front of her, pulling her into a desperate hug. I buried my face in her shoulder, unable to translate the nightmare we were standing in. Mia hugged me back fiercely, her small hands rubbing my back, confused but protective.

Luca watched us. The muscle in his jaw flexed.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He put it on speaker and tossed it onto the table.

It rang twice before a gruff voice answered.

“Boss.”

“Lock down the estate, Marco,” Luca ordered. “No one gets in or out. I want Vanessa Bellini found. Check the security cameras, check the perimeter. Do not let her leave the grounds.”

“Understood. What about the guests?”

“Let them go. But if you see Carlo Bellini’s men, shoot to kill.”

I gasped, pulling away from Mia. “Shoot to kill? Luca, what is happening?”

Luca ended the call and crouched down beside us. He didn’t touch me, but his presence was a heavy, grounding force.

“Vanessa’s family, the Bellinis, have been trying to take over my territory for a decade,” Luca explained, his eyes locked on mine. “My mother brokered the engagement to keep the peace. But Vanessa wasn’t just a pawn. If she has your father’s things, it means she’s been blackmailing the person who actually pulled the trigger.”

“Who?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“I don’t know yet,” Luca said. “But she was stealing from my foundation to fund her escape. And she was going to use Mia tonight as a distraction. Keep the cameras on the crying deaf girl while she slipped out the back door.”

A sudden, sharp ringing pierced the silence of the dining room.

It wasn’t Luca’s phone.

It was coming from Vanessa’s abandoned clutch on the table.

Luca stood up slowly. He walked over to the bag, reached inside, and pulled out a cheap, plastic disposable cell phone. A burner.

The screen was glowing brightly in the dim room.

The Caller ID was a single word: THE ARCHITECT.

Luca and I stared at it. The phone vibrated violently against the mahogany table.

“Do I answer it?” Luca asked quietly.

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

Luca hit the green button and put it on speakerphone. He didn’t say a word. He just listened.

For three seconds, there was only the sound of heavy, panicked breathing on the other end of the line.

Then, a woman’s voice spoke.

“Vanessa? Did you get the girls out?”

My blood turned to ice. My lungs completely stopped working.

I knew that voice. I would know that voice anywhere in the world.

“Mom?” I whispered.

The breathing on the other end stopped dead.

“Natalie?” my mother’s voice cracked, thick with terror. “Oh my god. Natalie, why do you have this phone? Where is Vanessa?”

“Mom, where are you?” I cried, lunging toward the phone. “What is going on? Why are you calling Vanessa Bellini?”

“Listen to me very carefully,” my mother rushed out, her voice frantic. “You need to take Mia and get out of that house right now. Do not trust the Morettis. Do not trust Luca. You have to run, Natalie.”

Luca leaned over the table, his shadow falling over me.

“Maria,” Luca said, his voice surprisingly gentle. “It’s Luca Moretti. You’re safe. Tell me where you are. I will send my men to get you.”

“Stay away from my daughters, you monster!” my mother screamed. “Your family already took my husband! I won’t let you take my girls!”

“Mom, wait!” I begged. “Vanessa dropped a drawing. Mia’s drawing. And Dad’s bracelet. Mom, what did Vanessa do?”

There was a heartbreaking sob on the other end of the line.

“Vanessa didn’t do anything, baby,” my mother wept. “She was trying to save you. She found out what her uncle Carlo was planning. She was going to put you and Mia on that train tonight to keep you safe.”

My mind spun so fast I felt dizzy. Vanessa? The woman who had just humiliated my sister in front of thirty people?

“Mom, that makes no sense,” I pleaded. “She humiliated Mia tonight. She was cruel to her.”

“She had to make it look real!” my mother cried. “She had to make Carlo believe she hated you, so he wouldn’t suspect she was helping you escape! Natalie, you have to leave! Carlo is coming for Mia!”

I froze. I looked down at my sixteen-year-old sister, who was watching my lips with wide, terrified eyes.

“Why Mia?” I asked, my voice completely hollow.

“Because Mia isn’t deaf from an infection,” my mother sobbed.

The phone crackled with static.

“Mia lost her hearing because she was hiding in the freezing rain the night your father was murdered. She was the only witness. And Carlo just found out she was there.”

Before I could process the horror of her words, a massive explosion shook the foundation of the mansion, blowing the front doors completely off their hinges.