Chapter 3 – THE ZURICH TICKET

My hands shook violently as I stared at the boarding pass.

Dominic Moretti. First Class. Chicago to Zurich.

He had played everyone. He had stood in the dining room, weeping over his burn scar, playing the noble protector. But this ticket proved he was cashing out. He knew Elias was making a move tonight, and he had sold Isabella’s location to buy his own escape.

“Claire?”

A tiny, trembling voice broke through the ringing in my ears.

Lily had pushed the hidden panel open just a crack. Her tear-streaked face peered out from the darkness.

“Stay there, sweetheart,” I wheezed, forcing myself to sit up despite the agonizing pain in my ribs. “Don’t come out yet.”

I dragged myself toward Gabriel’s desk and grabbed the landline. I punched in the internal code for the security bunker.

“Marco!” I shouted when he picked up. “Victoria and her men were just here. They’re leaving the house!”

“I know, Claire. We’re in a bloodbath downstairs,” Marco grunted. I could hear shouting and the heavy thuds of furniture breaking in the background. “Elias had half my men on his payroll. It’s a civil war in the foyer. Is Lily safe?”

“She’s in the wall safe. But Marco, Elias’s men have Gabriel’s son. They grabbed him in Milwaukee.”

A pause. “Boss knows. He just broke Elias’s jaw. Elias told him the boy dies if he doesn’t sign the syndicate over. We have Elias tied to a chair, but Victoria got away in an SUV.”

“Marco, listen to me,” I coughed, tasting copper. “Don’t trust Dominic. He sold them out. I found a plane ticket in Leo’s coat. Dominic is fleeing to Zurich tomorrow. He gave Elias the Milwaukee address to cover his own tracks.”

Dead silence on the line.

“Marco?”

“Dominic is gone, Claire. He slipped out during the firefight in the foyer.”

I slammed my fist against the carpet. “We have to find Isabella. She’s at a payphone near the Milwaukee Amtrak station. She’s hurt.”

“I’m sending two loyal men to grab her right now. Keep the doors locked. I’m sending Gabriel up to you.”

Ten minutes later, heavy footsteps pounded down the hallway.

“Claire!” Gabriel’s voice roared.

“It’s him!” Lily cried. She shoved the panel open and ran across the room.

Gabriel kicked the splintered door open, his white dress shirt torn and covered in blood—none of it his own. He caught Lily as she leaped into his arms, burying his face in her neck, his broad shoulders shaking.

“I’ve got you, baby. Daddy’s got you,” he choked out.

He looked over Lily’s shoulder at me, seeing my bleeding lip and bruised cheek. “Did they hurt you?”

“I’m fine, sir.” I held up the child’s coat. “Victoria left this. And I found the Zurich ticket inside.”

Gabriel set Lily down and took the ticket. His dark eyes hardened into something demonic. “My own brother. Six years of lies, and now he sells my son to Elias.”

“Isabella called me,” I said. “Marco is sending men to her.”

Gabriel nodded, walking over to his desk. He opened a hidden drawer and pulled out a heavy black Glock, checking the magazine.

“Daddy?” Lily asked, clutching Mr. Buttons. “Where is my brother?”

Gabriel knelt down, his expression softening instantly. “I am going to get him, sweetheart. I promise you.”

He stood up and looked at me. “Claire. There’s a panic room beneath the wine cellar. Only Marco and I know the code. Take Lily down there. There’s a medical kit. Fix yourself up, and do not open that door until you hear my voice.”

“Mr. Moretti, what about Elias?” I asked.

“Elias is currently bleeding on my dining room table,” Gabriel said coldly. “He refuses to tell me where Victoria took Leo. He says he wants to watch me lose everything.”

Gabriel turned to leave, but then he stopped. He looked at the ruined oak door, then back at me.

“Elias made one mistake,” Gabriel said softly.

“What’s that, sir?”

“He thinks Victoria took the boy to one of his warehouses. But Elias doesn’t know his own daughter.” Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. “Victoria doesn’t want money. She wants the life Isabella had. She wants this family.”

A chill ran down my spine. “You think she took him somewhere personal.”

“Two years ago, Victoria bought a property. A summer home in Lake Geneva. She spent months decorating a nursery. She told me it was for our future children. I told her I only wanted Lily.”

Gabriel cocked his weapon.

“She took my son to her fantasy home.”

The reversal was terrifying. Victoria wasn’t just a mobster’s daughter following orders. She was a deeply delusional woman trying to rewrite history, stealing a child to force a family into existence.

“I’m going to Lake Geneva,” Gabriel said.

Before I could reply, my cell phone buzzed again.

I pulled it out. It was a video message from an unknown number.

I tapped play.

Gabriel and I leaned in.

The video showed a small, dark-haired boy sitting on a pristine white rug in a beautifully decorated nursery. He was crying, hugging his knees.

Then, the camera flipped.

Dominic’s face filled the screen. He looked exhausted, his hair unkempt.

“Gabriel,” Dominic said in the video, his voice shaking. “I know what you think. I know you found the Zurich ticket. But it wasn’t for me.”

Gabriel froze.

Dominic flipped the camera back to the boy, then pulled something out of his pocket.

It was a green ledger. The same ledger Isabella had used to track Elias’s crimes six years ago.

“I didn’t sell them out, brother,” Dominic whispered into the camera. “I intercepted Victoria’s men. I took the boy. The ticket to Zurich is for Isabella and Leo. I’m getting them out. But to do that… I have to give Elias the ledger. And if I do that, the Syndicate will kill you.”

The video ended.

Dominic hadn’t betrayed them. He had kidnapped the boy himself to save him from Victoria.

But his ransom was Gabriel’s life.

Share