Chapter 2 - The Envelope in the Case
Nobody spoke.
Three more knocks came.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Luciano raised one finger toward the nurses.
Silence.
He moved to the door.
“Who is it?”
“Daniel.”
Luciano recognized the voice.
Daniel Russo had worked for him for eleven years.
Luciano unlocked the door but kept his body between the opening and Kate.
Daniel stood outside, soaked from the rain.
“What are you doing here?” Luciano asked.
“Following you.”
“I ordered everyone to stay in New York.”
“That’s why I followed you.”
Luciano studied him.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You left without security carrying legal documents to a property nobody was supposed to know about. I thought it was reckless.”
“Who knew where I was going?”
“Your attorney. Me. Carlo.”
Luciano glanced back at the photograph.
Three names.
Already too many.
“Check the grounds.”
Daniel noticed the gun beneath Luciano’s coat.
“What happened?”
“Someone disabled communications.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“And the road?”
“Blocked.”
“I passed the tree.”
Luciano stared at him.
“Passed it how?”
“It fell after I came through.”
That meant the timing was precise.
Someone had waited until Luciano arrived.
Kate called from the bed.
“Luciano.”
He returned immediately.
Margaret was watching the monitor.
“The baby’s heart rate dipped.”
Luciano looked at the machine as though sheer force could keep the line steady.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Katherine needs calm.”
Kate gave a breathless laugh.
“That seems unlikely.”
Luciano sat beside her.
For the first time, his hand moved toward hers and stopped before touching.
Kate noticed.
After a moment, she placed her fingers into his palm.
Luciano closed his hand carefully.
“You should have told me,” he whispered.
“I wanted to.”
“When?”
“Every day.”
That answer struck him harder than accusation would have.
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because the first threat came from inside your house.”
Luciano stared at her.
“What?”
Kate closed her eyes.
“The photograph from the clinic wasn't the first thing.”
“Tell me.”
“The morning I left you, I found an envelope in my suitcase.”
Luciano remembered that suitcase.
He remembered standing at the foot of the stairs while Kate carried it toward the door.
He had been too proud to stop her.
“What was inside?”
“A copy of my medical records.”
“You weren't pregnant yet.”
“No. But there were fertility tests from months earlier.”
Luciano frowned.
They had never discussed those tests.
Kate had taken them privately after a year of trying unsuccessfully to conceive.
“How would anyone have gotten them?”
“That was what frightened me.”
Luciano understood.
Those records had been kept in a private clinic whose security his own organization had vetted.
Someone with access to his network could have obtained them.
“What did the message say?”
Kate hesitated.
“Katherine.”
“It said, ‘Leave him before you give him what he wants.’”
Luciano looked away.
He had spent seven months believing Kate left because she no longer loved him.
Now he wondered whether someone had engineered every step.
“Why didn't you show me?”
“Because that night we had already destroyed each other.”
“No.”
Kate looked at him.
“We argued,” Luciano said. “We failed each other. But somebody used that failure.”
Kate’s eyes softened briefly.
Then Margaret leaned over the monitor.
“Heart rate is stabilizing.”
Luciano exhaled.
Kate whispered, “There’s something else.”
He waited.
“The person knew about the baby before I told anyone.”
“Your doctor knew.”
“My doctor didn't know who the father was.”
“Your surname?”
“I registered as Katherine Hawthorne.”
Luciano’s eyes narrowed.
“Then someone followed you.”
“Yes.”
“Or someone at the clinic recognized you.”
“Maybe.”
Luciano looked toward Daniel.
“Call Matteo from the satellite phone in your vehicle.”
Daniel didn't move.
“Luciano.”
“What?”
“My satellite phone is gone.”
Silence.
“I left it locked in the SUV.”
Luciano stood.
“Who else came with you?”
“No one.”
“Then someone was waiting outside.”
Daniel nodded.
Luciano’s phone suddenly vibrated.
One bar of signal appeared.
A message arrived.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Luciano opened it.
YOU ALWAYS WERE SLOW WITH NUMBERS.
Attached was an ultrasound image.
Kate’s ultrasound.
Luciano showed her.
She recoiled.
“That was taken yesterday.”
“Who had access?”
“Margaret. Dr. Ellison. Me.”
Margaret looked over.
“And the machine stores digital copies.”
“Connected to what?”
“The house network.”
Luciano looked toward Daniel.
The network had been compromised.
That meant someone could be watching them.
He scanned the room.
Smoke detector.
Thermostat.
Television.
Security sensor.
Then he noticed something beneath the antique clock.
A tiny black dot.
Luciano crossed the room and ripped the device free.
A camera.
Kate covered her mouth.
Someone had been watching her bedroom.
Luciano crushed the device under his shoe.
His phone vibrated again.
Another message.
THAT WAS RUDE.
Daniel swore softly.
Luciano typed:
WHO ARE YOU?
The reply arrived immediately.
ASK YOUR BROTHER.
Luciano froze.
Kate watched his face.
“Carlo?”
Luciano didn't answer.
His younger brother had managed Aruri family operations during Luciano’s separation.
Carlo knew about the divorce.
Carlo knew Luciano’s movements.
And Carlo had repeatedly encouraged him to stop looking for Kate.
Luciano dialed.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Daniel said, “Carlo was at the townhouse when I left.”
“When?”
“Two hours ago.”
Luciano’s phone rang.
CARLO.
Luciano answered.
“Where are you?”
Static.
Then breathing.
“Carlo?”
A voice finally spoke.
But it wasn't his brother.
It was a woman.
“You finally found your wife.”
Luciano’s blood went cold.
“Who is this?”
“You don't remember me?”
Kate sat upright despite Margaret’s protest.
Luciano put the phone on speaker.
The woman laughed softly.
Then she said something nobody outside Luciano’s immediate family should have known.
“Ask Katherine why your mother visited her three days before she disappeared.”
Luciano turned toward Kate.
Kate’s face went white.
“You met my mother?”
Kate’s lips parted.
Luciano’s mother had been dead for eight years.
Kate whispered, “No.”
The voice on the phone laughed again.
“Not that mother.”
The call ended.
Luciano stared at the dark screen.
Then Daniel spoke from the doorway.
“There’s a car coming up the drive.”
“Whose?”
“No plates.”
Luciano looked toward Kate.
Headlights swept across the rain-soaked windows.
The car stopped directly beneath them.
May you like
A door opened.
And a woman stepped out carrying Carlo Aruri’s blood-covered coat.
