Chapter 9 - The Child Who Refused to Be AfraidI didn't wait for Marcus's signal.
I kicked open the door.
The room beyond was lit by a single hanging lamp. A chair lay overturned near the fireplace. Papers covered the floor, and the smell of gunpowder hung in the air.
A man stood near the staircase holding a pistol.
Nora was crouched beneath a table.
Theo stood in front of her.
The boy couldn't have been older than five. His clothes were dirty, and his face was streaked with tears, but he had planted himself between Nora and the armed man.
"Move away from her!" I shouted.
The man turned.
Marcus entered behind me, weapon raised.
"Drop it!"
The gunman hesitated.
Then he ran toward the back door.
Marcus followed while I dropped to my knees beside the children.
"Nora."
She looked at me.
For one horrible second, she didn't move.
Then she threw herself into my arms.
"Mr. Luca!"
I held her so tightly that she squeaked.
"I'm here. I've got you."
She buried her face against my neck.
"I was good," she whispered. "I didn't touch anything. I was good."
My heart broke.
"You never had to be good to deserve help, sweetheart."
She began crying.
I held her until her trembling eased.
Then I turned toward Theo.
The boy was staring at me with my father's gray eyes.
"Are you Uncle Luca?"
I nodded.
He swallowed.
"Mama said you would come."
I couldn't speak for a moment.
"Where is your mother?"
"Mr. Harland took her somewhere."
"Where?"
Theo shook his head.
"He said she had to sign the papers. If she didn't, Nora would never see her mother again."
I looked toward Marcus.
He had returned, breathing hard.
"The gunman escaped into the trees. Two officers are tracking him."
"What about Harland?"
"Not here."
I closed my eyes.
Again.
He was always one step ahead.
I called Isabella and told her that Theo was alive. She broke down on the phone, repeating her son's name as though saying it enough times could bring him home.
"Where are the children?" she asked.
"With me."
"Don't let them out of your sight."
"I won't."
We moved the children into the police vehicle and drove toward the estate.
Nora fell asleep against my chest before we reached the main road.
Theo remained awake, watching every passing light.
At the estate, Rosa was waiting near the entrance.
The moment she saw Nora, she ran forward.
My chest tightened as mother and daughter embraced.
Rosa kissed Nora's hair, her face, her hands.
"I thought I'd lost you."
Nora wrapped her arms around her mother's neck.
"Mr. Luca found me."
Rosa looked at me over her daughter's shoulder.
I nodded.
Then she noticed Theo.
"Who is he?"
Before I could answer, Isabella appeared at the end of the corridor.
Theo saw her.
"Mama!"
She dropped to her knees.
He ran into her arms, and she held him as though she could never let go again.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Even the police officers turned away to give them privacy.
Then Isabella looked up at me.
"Did you find the trust?"
"Yes."
"And the confession?"
"Yes."
She closed her eyes in relief.
"Then we can stop him."
I wanted to believe that.
But Marcus approached with a new report.
"Sir, the police have located Dr. Voss."
"Good."
"He's dead."
The hallway fell silent.
"What?"
"His car was found beside the river. It appears to have crashed, but the investigators aren't convinced it was an accident."
Isabella covered her mouth.
I felt the old coldness return.
Another person connected to my father's death was gone.
"Did he leave anything behind?"
Marcus nodded.
"A voicemail sent to the police station less than an hour ago."
He played it.
Dr. Voss's voice sounded weak and desperate.
If anything happens to me, the person responsible is not Harland. Harland was taking orders from someone above him.
A pause followed.
Then the doctor whispered a name.
"Victor Sloane."
I recognized it immediately.
Sloane was the owner of Bellweather Holdings.
He had been trying to buy the northern property for years, offering increasingly absurd sums of money. I had refused every proposal.
Now I understood why he had been so determined.
The estate was worth eighty million dollars.
But my father's protected land, once developed, could be worth several times that amount.
The doctor had named a man who could destroy us financially.
And perhaps had already killed my father.
I looked at Marcus.
"Where is Sloane?"
"At his headquarters."
"Then we're going to pay him a visit."
Marcus shook his head.
"The police have another problem."
"What now?"
He showed me a document recovered from the hunting lodge.
It was a court order scheduled for the following morning.
A hearing had been arranged to determine whether the northern property should be transferred to Bellweather Holdings.
The document bore my signature.
And a witness signature from Isabella.
Both were forged.
At the bottom was a note written in red ink.
If the Moretti family fails to appear, the transfer proceeds automatically.
May you like
The hearing was at nine o'clock.
It was already midnight.
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