Chapter 6 – THE STOLEN CAR

The threat hung in the air, chilling the kitchen faster than the winter wind outside.

Vanessa wasn’t bluffing. If she sent proof to the cartel that Marcus had stolen their money, they wouldn’t care that Luca wasn’t involved. In their world, blood paid for blood. And they always went after the most vulnerable target.

Emily.

Luca’s jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth would crack.

“You touch those files, Vanessa, and there isn’t a hole deep enough for you to hide in,” he said, his voice deadly quiet.

“I don’t need a hole,” Vanessa shot back through the speakerphone. “I need the gates opened. And I need the transfer authorized. You have five minutes, Luca. Or I press send.”

The line went dead.

Luca stared at his phone for a split second before springing into action.

“Claire, take Emily upstairs. Lock yourselves in my bedroom. There’s a panic button by the nightstand. Press it if you hear anything suspicious.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, grabbing Emily’s hand.

“I’m going to stop her.”

Before I could say another word, Luca turned and sprinted out the back door into the freezing night.

I looked at Emily. She was pale, her little fingers clutching mine like a lifeline.

“Come on,” I said gently.

We hurried up the back servant stairs, avoiding the grand foyer where the remnants of the ruined engagement dinner still sat on the table. The mansion was eerily quiet. The staff had vanished when the shouting started.

We reached the master suite. I pushed Emily inside, shut the heavy oak door, and locked the deadbolt.

“Sit on the bed, honey,” I instructed.

Emily climbed onto the massive mattress, her knees pulled to her chest. She looked exhausted, her eyes red and swollen.

I walked over to the window and pulled back the heavy curtain.

Outside, the estate grounds were bathed in moonlight. Through the bare winter trees, I could see the dark shape of the lake. A pair of red taillights illuminated the dirt path near the water’s edge.

That was Vanessa. Sitting in Luca’s car. Waiting.

“Claire?” Emily whispered.

I turned around. “Yes, sweetie?”

Emily pointed to Vanessa’s open suitcase on the floor near the closet. In her panic, Vanessa had dumped half her drawers into the luggage before realizing she needed leverage instead of clothes.

“Look,” Emily said.

Poking out from beneath a pile of silk blouses was a heavy, silver rosary.

I frowned. Vanessa wasn’t religious. She had complained loudly about having to attend church on Easter.

I walked over and pulled the rosary from the suitcase.

It was beautiful. Antique silver, with heavy, worn beads. But what caught my attention was the small silver clasp near the crucifix.

It wasn’t a standard rosary.

It was a hospital patient identification bracelet, woven cleverly into the silver chain.

I held it up to the light.

The printed name on the faded plastic band made my blood run cold.

“That was Mommy’s,” Emily whispered from the bed. “She never took it off. She said it kept her safe when she was scared.”

My mind raced.

Why would Vanessa have Caroline’s rosary? And why was the hospital band still attached to it?

Then, the memory of Luca reading the journal hit me.

I begged the nurse to let me see Emily. I need to give Emily the watch…

Vanessa had told Luca she wasn’t in the hospital room the night Caroline died. She claimed she was at a charity event across town. Marcus had corroborated her alibi.

But patients didn’t just give away their identification bands. They were cut off by nurses after death.

Unless someone else cut it off first.

Vanessa had been in the room. She had taken the rosary as a twisted trophy, or maybe to make it look like a robbery gone wrong if she had been caught smothering her.

Suddenly, my cell phone vibrated in my apron pocket.

I jumped, nearly dropping the beads. I pulled the phone out.

It was an unknown number.

I hesitated, then swiped to answer.

“Hello?”

“Listen to me very carefully,” a man’s voice hissed.

It was Marcus.

I froze. “How did you get my number?”

“I told you I sign the payroll,” Marcus snapped. “Where is my brother?”

“He’s handling Vanessa,” I said coldly. “The police are on their way for you, Marcus.”

Marcus let out a dark, frantic laugh. “There are no police, you idiot. Luca wouldn’t call the cops and risk opening his books to them. He locked me in the study. But I just broke the window.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“I’m out, Claire. And I know Luca went down to the lake to deal with Vanessa. Which means he left you and the brat alone in the house.”

I backed away from the window, pulling Emily firmly behind me.

“If you come up here, he will kill you,” I promised him.

“I’m taking the girl,” Marcus said, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly calm register. “Vanessa’s plan is stupid. The cartel doesn’t care about files. They care about flesh. I take Emily, I buy my freedom. Open the bedroom door, Claire. Or I’ll burn the house down with both of you inside.”

The line clicked dead.

I looked at the thick oak door.

Then I looked at Emily.

“We have to move,” I said.

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