Chapter 3 - A Dead Man's Daughter
Lorenzo caught the door before it shut. Raffaele stood in the corridor with two guards, a calm smile fixed on his face.
“Boss. There you are.”
“You fired at my study.”
“I heard shots. I came to protect you.”
“From whom?”
Raffaele's gaze moved to Mia. “From an intruder.”
“She has a name.”
“She's a child.”
“Then stop pointing guns at her.”
For one second, Raffaele's expression cracked. Lorenzo saw anger beneath the polished concern. Then the security chief lowered his weapon.
“We need to talk privately.”
“We just did.”
Lorenzo ordered the guards to disarm. One obeyed. The other looked at Raffaele first. That small hesitation told Lorenzo more than a confession would have.
Raffaele stepped back. “You're making a mistake.”
“Maybe. But it's mine.”
He took Mia through a side passage and into the old greenhouse. A storm rattled the glass roof. There, beneath the lemon trees, she finally began to cry.
“I'm sorry,” she said. “I didn't mean to make you laugh.”
Lorenzo crouched so they were eye level. “You didn't.”
“Everybody laughs when I'm scared.”
“I'm not laughing now.”
She wiped her face with the oversized sleeve. “My dad said you were the only person who might listen. He said you were hard to reach, but you used to be better.”
“Your father and I were friends.”
“He said you were brothers.”
Lorenzo looked away. Luca had been more than a driver. He had pulled Lorenzo from a burning car, carried Sofia through a hospital corridor, and taken the blame for a mistake that had not been his. Then the ambush happened, and a sealed report named him a traitor.
“Where is he?” Lorenzo asked.
Mia stared at the wet glass. “I don't know. He left me with Mrs. Alvarez and said he'd come back before my birthday. That was six months ago.”
“When is your birthday?”
“Tomorrow.”
The words settled between them.
Lorenzo's phone vibrated. A message from an unknown number appeared.
YOU HAVE THE GIRL. BRING HER TO THE OLD DOCK BY MIDNIGHT, OR LUCA DIES.
Mia read it over his shoulder.
“That's not my dad,” she whispered.
“How do you know?”
“He always writes my name with a heart.”
Lorenzo looked at the message again. The sender had used Luca's old phone number.
Someone had it.
May you like
Someone wanted Mia.
And someone knew exactly where they were.
