Chapter 11 - What the Girl Heard
Marco survived surgery, but the bullet had damaged his shoulder and left him unable to use his right arm. Lorenzo stayed at the hospital until the doctor confirmed he would live.
Mia sat beside the vending machine, her borrowed jacket folded in her lap.
“You saved him,” Lorenzo said.
“I just told him to stay.”
“Sometimes that's enough.”
She looked at the hospital doors. “The man who shot him smelled like oranges.”
Lorenzo frowned. “What?”
“Like the orange soap in the guest bathroom. The shooter walked past me before he opened the loading door. I remember because he had the same smell.”
“Did you see his face?”
“No. But he wore a silver ring. It had a little black stone.”
Luca went still. “I know that ring.”
“Who?”
“Your uncle.”
Mia blinked. “I don't have an uncle.”
“Your mother's brother. Peter Vale.”
Lorenzo stared at him. “Adrian's brother?”
Luca nodded. Peter had worked as a private security consultant, then disappeared after the bombing. The family had assumed he left the country.
Rebecca Shaw checked the hospital camera footage. A man in a dark cap appeared near the loading bay. His face was hidden, but a silver ring flashed as he opened the door.
The trail led to a storage unit registered to a company owned by Peter Vale.
Inside, agents found a second set of ledgers, photographs of Mia's school, and a map of Lorenzo's estate. Someone had been watching the child long before she entered the study.
There was also a sealed envelope addressed to Mia.
Luca opened it with shaking hands.
The first line was written in a woman's handwriting.
May you like
My sweet girl, if this reaches you, your uncle has found you.
The letter was signed Anna.
