Chapter 2 – THE EMPTY APARTMENT

The ride to my mother’s neighborhood took less than fifteen minutes.

It felt like a lifetime.

I sat in the back of the armored SUV beside Luca Moretti.

Michael sat in the front passenger seat, staring blankly out the window. His hands were shaking so badly he had to tuck them under his arms.

He was a father.

For eight years, his son had been living twenty minutes away, and the woman he had loved had hidden him.

“Explain everything, Sarah,” Luca said.

The streetlights flashed across his sharp features. He wasn’t the gracious host anymore. He was the boss of the Moretti family.

“His name is Leo,” I said quietly. “He lives in the building where my mother rents her apartment. First floor. Unit 1B. He lives with an older woman named Mrs. Gable.”

“Is she a relative?”

“She tells everyone she’s his foster mother. But I’ve never seen a social worker visit. She doesn’t let him play outside much. I just thought she was overprotective.”

“How is he treated?” Michael asked, his voice cracking.

I hesitated.

“He’s quiet,” I answered honestly. “He wears clothes that are a little too big. But he’s sweet. I bake cookies on Sundays, and he always waits by my mother’s door to say thank you.”

Michael closed his eyes. A single tear rolled down his cheek.

Luca pulled out his phone.

He didn’t call the police. He called Marcus, his underboss.

“Marcus,” Luca said. “I need six men at the Southside apartment complex on 5th Avenue. Block the exits. We have a hostage situation.”

He paused, listening to the voice on the other end.

“I don’t care what you’re doing, Marcus. Get there now.”

When we pulled up to the crumbling brick building, the street was entirely empty.

No cars. No pedestrians.

The rain had started to fall, slicking the pavement.

We rushed inside the poorly lit lobby.

I led them straight to Unit 1B.

Michael didn’t wait. He pounded his fist against the chipped wood.

“Open the door!”

Nothing.

“Mrs. Gable! Open the door!”

Luca stepped forward. He didn’t knock.

He lifted his leg and kicked the door right at the deadbolt. The wood splintered violently, and the door slammed open against the interior wall.

We rushed inside.

The apartment was dark.

And completely empty.

“Leo!” Michael shouted, running down the narrow hallway to the single bedroom.

I flicked on the living room light.

The place had been stripped. The TV was gone. The framed pictures were gone.

Michael walked back out of the bedroom, holding a small, faded blue winter coat.

He buried his face in the fabric, his shoulders shaking.

“They’re gone, Luca,” Michael cried. “She took him.”

Luca didn’t speak. He was scanning the room with the precision of a predator.

He walked into the small kitchenette.

A pot of water was sitting on the stove.

Luca touched the side of the metal pot.

“It’s still warm,” he said quietly. “They left less than twenty minutes ago.”

“Vanessa warned them,” Michael said, wiping his face. “She must have sent a text before you took her phone.”

“No,” Luca said.

He bent down and picked something up off the linoleum floor.

It was lying near the back door of the kitchen, half-hidden under the edge of the refrigerator.

“They didn’t leave because Vanessa warned them,” Luca said. “They left because someone dragged them out.”

He held out his hand.

Resting in his palm was a silver pocket watch.

The glass face was cracked, and the chain was broken.

I didn’t recognize it.

But Michael did.

The color instantly vanished from Michael’s face.

“Luca,” Michael whispered. “That’s Marcus’s watch.”

I froze.

Marcus. The underboss. The man Luca had just called for backup.

“Why would your underboss kidnap a child?” I asked, my voice trembling.

Luca stared at the cracked watch.

The betrayal in his eyes was absolute.

“Because a boss without an heir is a vulnerable boss,” Luca said softly. “But a boss whose brother has a secret child? That child is the only legitimate heir to the Moretti empire.”

Vanessa hadn’t just hidden the baby from Michael.

She had sold the baby’s location to Luca’s greatest rival within his own family.

“Marcus isn’t coming to back us up,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifying register. “He’s coming to clean up the mess.”

Before Michael could respond, the sound of heavy tires screeching halted outside the apartment window.

Four black SUVs had surrounded the building.

But they weren’t here to help us.

Armed men were stepping out.

Luca pulled a heavy pistol from his shoulder holster.

He looked at me.

“Sarah. Where does your mother live?”

“Across the hall,” I panicked. “Unit 1A.”

“Get your keys,” Luca ordered.

We ran out of the apartment just as the front lobby doors burst open.

I jammed my key into my mother’s door, twisting it violently. We threw ourselves inside, and Luca locked the deadbolt just as heavy footsteps hammered down the hallway.

My mother was sitting in her wheelchair in the living room, her eyes wide with terror.

“Sarah? What’s going on?”

“Mom, stay quiet,” I begged, running to her.

Luca stood silently by the door, listening.

The men outside were shouting. They were entering Mrs. Gable’s empty apartment.

Then, one of them spoke loudly in the hallway.

“The boss said check the neighbor’s place. The maid’s mother. Make sure nobody saw anything.”

A heavy fist pounded on my mother’s door.

My mother grabbed my hand, terrified.

But Luca didn’t point his gun at the door.

Instead, he walked over to the small wooden table in my mother’s dining room.

He stared at a small orange pill bottle sitting next to her water glass.

He picked it up.

“Sarah,” Luca whispered, turning toward me.

“What?” I asked, trembling.

Luca held up the pill bottle.

“Who prescribed this medication for your mother?”

I blinked, confused. “Her new specialist. Dr. Bellini. Why?”

Luca’s eyes darkened.

“Because Dr. Bellini is Vanessa’s older brother. And these aren’t arthritis pills.”

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