Chapter 5 - The greenhouse was empty.Too empty.
Lorenzo entered with Mason and Rachel behind him.
Rain hammered against the glass roof.
The smell of wet earth filled the room.
Emma's stuffed rabbit lay on the tiled floor.
There was blood on one ear.
Sophia stood against a shelf, shaking.
“I was only gone five minutes,” she whispered.
Lorenzo crouched.
He touched the blood.
“Is it hers?”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not enough to know.”
Mason searched the room.
“No forced entry.”
Lorenzo looked at the doors.
“They were locked.”
Sophia nodded.
“From inside.”
That changed everything.
Someone inside the estate had been involved.
Lorenzo turned toward his security team.
“Find every person who entered this property in the last six hours.”
Mason nodded.
“Already doing it.”
Rachel examined the rabbit.
“There's something inside.”
She carefully opened a seam.
A folded piece of paper fell out.
One sentence.
STOP LOOKING FOR ISABELLA.
Lorenzo stared at it.
Then another line appeared beneath the first.
OR THE NEXT BODY WILL BE EMMA'S.
Sophia collapsed into tears.
Lorenzo stood.
“Lock down the estate.”
He issued orders with cold precision.
No one leaves.
No one enters.
Every employee searched.
Vehicles inspected.
Phones confiscated.
Cameras checked.
Twenty minutes later, Mason returned.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found a blind spot.”
“Where?”
“North corridor.”
“How long?”
“Nineteen minutes.”
“Who accessed it?”
Mason hesitated.
“Vincent.”
Lorenzo's face went still.
“When?”
“Forty minutes before Emma disappeared.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Lorenzo slammed a hand onto the table.
“Find him.”
Mason left.
Rachel looked at Lorenzo.
“This isn't random.”
“No.”
“Whoever did this knows the estate.”
Lorenzo looked toward the security monitors.
“They know everything.”
The screens showed every hallway.
Every entrance.
Every garden.
Every blind angle.
Then one camera flickered.
Static.
Rachel leaned forward.
“Back.”
Mason rewound.
A figure crossed the hallway.
Small.
Three years old.
Emma.
She was walking calmly.
No struggle.
No crying.
Someone was holding her hand.
The camera angle was poor.
The adult was mostly hidden.
But one detail was visible.
A black coat.
Emma's mother had one.
So did Isabella.
And so did the woman from the warehouse.
Lorenzo froze the image.
Rachel zoomed in.
The adult bent toward Emma.
Then placed something in her hand.
Emma looked up.
And smiled.
Lorenzo's stomach dropped.
“Why is she smiling?”
Rachel did not answer.
The next camera showed the hallway door opening.
The figure vanished.
Emma's rabbit remained in the corridor.
No struggle.
No force.
No panic.
She had gone willingly.
Lorenzo replayed the footage.
Again.
And again.
Then he noticed something.
A shadow behind the adult.
Another person.
Tall.
Male.
Only for two seconds.
Mason returned.
“Sir, we have a vehicle.”
“Where?”
“A black sedan left through the north service road.”
“Driver?”
“Unknown.”
“Plate?”
“False.”
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
“Get me the camera outside the gate.”
Mason did.
The image sharpened.
The sedan passed.
The passenger window lowered.
For one frame, Lorenzo saw Emma.
She was holding something.
A silver chain.
His wife's necklace.
Lorenzo's heart stopped.
Rachel looked at him.
“That's Isabella's.”
“I know.”
Then the phone on the desk rang.
Unknown number.
Lorenzo answered.
Nothing.
Then a little girl's voice.
“Mr. DeLuca?”
“Emma?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
A pause.
Then Emma whispered:
“With Mrs. DeLuca.”
Lorenzo almost stopped breathing.
“Put her on.”
Silence.
Then Isabella's voice.
Weak.
Close.
Terrified.
“Lorenzo... don't come after us.”
He grabbed the phone.
“Where are you?”
“You have to listen.”
“I can protect you.”
“No.”
“Isabella, tell me where you are.”
Her breathing shook.
“I need you to trust me.”
“I do.”
“No, you don't.”
The line crackled.
Then Isabella whispered:
“Vincent isn't the only one.”
The call ended.
Lorenzo stared at the phone.
Rachel said nothing.
Mason slowly looked toward him.
“Sir...”
Lorenzo raised his eyes.
“What?”
“We just found something in Vincent's office.”
“What?”
“A safe.”
“Open it.”
Mason swallowed.
“We did.”
“And?”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Lorenzo looked at it.
His blood turned cold.
It was a picture of Isabella.
Alive.
Taken three days after the crash.
She was sitting in a chair.
Bruno was beside her.
May you like
And standing behind her...
was Lorenzo.
Related Stories
