Chapter 7
Luca was already running before Vittorio finished speaking.
His legs protested.
He didn’t care.
Samuel followed.
Margaret shouted behind them.
“Luca!”
He turned.
She held out a key.
“What is that?”
“Vittorio’s secure garage.”
Vittorio appeared in the doorway.
“Margaret.”
She threw the key to Luca.
“For once, I’m choosing the right side.”
Luca caught it.
Vittorio’s face became stone.
Samuel drove.
Luca called Elena repeatedly.
No answer.
Then he called Benjamin.
Straight to voicemail.
His hands shook.
“I trusted him for fifteen years.”
Samuel kept his eyes on the road.
“That’s how networks survive.”
“Stop talking like this is a lesson.”
“I’m trying to keep you focused.”
“My wife and daughter are missing!”
Samuel accelerated.
Vittorio had given them the address of Benjamin’s supposed safe house.
“He warned Elena?” Luca asked.
Samuel nodded.
“Apparently.”
“Why would he help?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca looked back at the estate shrinking behind them.
“Because he wants something.”
The safe house was ninety minutes away.
They arrived in fifty-seven.
The front door stood open.
Luca jumped from the vehicle.
Samuel grabbed him.
“Wait.”
Luca pushed him away.
“Maya!”
He entered.
The living room was empty.
A chair was overturned.
A broken lamp lay on the carpet.
“Elena!”
No answer.
Samuel checked the rooms.
Luca found Maya’s blue sweater beside the kitchen door.
He picked it up.
Something hard was inside the pocket.
A phone.
Not Maya’s.
Luca pressed the screen.
A video began automatically.
Benjamin appeared.
His usual friendly expression was gone.
“Luca, if you’re watching this, you finally know.”
Luca stared.
Benjamin continued.
“Adrian anticipated the possibility that your treatment would fail. He moved assets years ago. Accounts, documents, leverage.”
Samuel returned.
“No one here.”
Luca raised a finger for silence.
Benjamin’s recorded message continued.
“Maya is the problem. She notices patterns. Adrian underestimated her once.”
Luca’s breathing changed.
“If you want your family alive, do not involve police. Go to Moretti Tower. Midnight. Executive floor.”
The video ended.
Samuel checked the time.
10:42 p.m.
“We have seventy-eight minutes.”
Luca called the federal contact anyway.
Samuel stopped him.
“If Cole has people inside law enforcement—”
“I’m done obeying threats.”
He made the call.
Then Luca noticed something else on the phone.
A draft text.
Three words.
DAD CHECK PHOTOS.
“Maya,” Luca whispered.
He opened the photo gallery.
Most images were ordinary.
Then he saw the final image.
Blurry.
Taken secretly.
It showed Elena inside a vehicle.
Benjamin was beside her.
But behind them, reflected in a dark window, was another man.
Dr. Voss.
Luca stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Samuel grabbed the phone.
“He was transferred to police custody.”
“He escaped?”
“No.”
Samuel zoomed in.
“Look at his wrist.”
A hospital band.
Luca remembered.
After his arrest, Voss had complained of chest pain.
He had been transported for evaluation.
The hospital transfer had created an opening.
Benjamin must have arranged it.
Luca’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Voss’s voice came through.
“Hello, Luca.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“If you touch her—”
“I had twelve years to kill you and didn’t.”
“You had twelve years to steal from me.”
“That too.”
Voss laughed.
Then his voice became colder.
“Midnight.”
“Let me speak to Maya.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“Then you have nothing.”
Voss paused.
Luca continued.
“You want me scared. Prove they’re alive.”
Silence.
Then Maya’s voice came through.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
“I found something.”
Voss shouted.
The call disconnected.
Luca stared at the phone.
Samuel asked, “What did she mean?”
Luca looked toward the dark skyline.
“I don’t know.”
Then a message arrived from Maya’s hidden phone.
One photograph.
It showed a handwritten page.
At the top was a title.
PROJECT HEIR.
Underneath were two names.
LUCA MORETTI.
MAYA MORETTI.
May you like
And beside Maya’s name were the words:
PHASE TWO CANDIDATE.
