Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Never Died
“Take her.”
Luca's command left no room for argument.
Hannah held Sofia against her chest.
The baby startled at the alarm.
“Where do I go?”
Marco appeared from the hallway with a pistol.
“Safe room.”
Luca drew his own weapon.
The pounding stopped.
Silence.
Somehow that was worse.
Marco moved toward the door.
Luca pressed a panel hidden beside the fireplace.
A section of wall opened.
“Hannah.”
She stepped inside.
Luca caught her arm.
“If I don't come back, Marco gets you out.”
“Luca—”
“Whatever happens, don't let them take Sofia.”
The wall closed.
Darkness swallowed Hannah.
Emergency lights activated seconds later.
The safe room was larger than her apartment bedroom.
Monitors covered one wall.
Marco began cycling through camera feeds.
Garage.
Lobby.
Elevator.
Hallway.
Three armed men moved through the building.
None was Adrian.
“Who are they?”
“Professionals.”
“That isn't comforting.”
“It wasn't meant to be.”
Gunfire sounded beyond the wall.
Sofia began crying.
Hannah rocked her.
“Easy.”
Her voice shook.
“Daddy's here.”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Except Daddy wasn't here.
He was outside fighting men who had somehow entered one of the most protected buildings in Chicago.
The screens flickered.
Then a new image appeared.
A woman.
Blonde.
Thin.
Bruised.
Alive.
Elena Moretti looked directly into the camera.
Hannah stopped breathing.
A timestamp showed LIVE.
Elena sat in an empty room beneath a hanging bulb.
Someone had forced a card into her hand.
She raised it.
COME ALONE.
Luca entered the safe room moments later.
Blood covered his sleeve.
Not his.
He froze when he saw the monitor.
“Elena.”
The word broke out of him.
The image disappeared.
A phone rang.
Not Hannah's.
Not Luca's.
A black phone mounted beside the monitor.
Marco stared at it.
“No one has that number.”
Luca answered.
“Where?”
A voice spoke.
Hannah couldn't hear it.
Luca's face hardened.
“No.”
Pause.
“You touch her again and—”
The caller hung up.
Luca slammed the phone down.
“Where is she?” Hannah asked.
“An old Moretti warehouse.”
Marco shook his head.
“Trap.”
“I know.”
“You can't go.”
“I know.”
But Hannah knew he would.
“What do they want?”
Luca looked at her.
“My daughter.”
Hannah pulled Sofia closer.
“Why?”
Luca sat down for the first time.
The powerful mafia boss suddenly looked exhausted again.
“Elena discovered something during her pregnancy.”
He explained.
Years earlier, Luca's father had controlled an organization that lived somewhere between legitimate business and organized crime.
Luca had spent the last decade trying to pull the family out.
Less gambling.
No narcotics.
No trafficking.
No violence against civilians.
Those rules made him enemies.
His uncle, Vittorio Moretti, believed Luca had weakened the family.
Elena discovered Vittorio had secretly been using Moretti shipping companies to move narcotics.
She collected proof.
Shipping logs.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Then she gave birth.
Sofia arrived three weeks early at St. Agnes.
During the confusion, Elena told Maria Alvarez, a maternity nurse she trusted, where she'd hidden copies.
The night Elena disappeared, she was driving to meet a federal prosecutor.
Her vehicle never reached him.
“Vittorio took her?” Hannah asked.
“I believed so.”
“You didn't know?”
“I spent six weeks looking.”
“And Adrian?”
“Vittorio's fixer.”
“What about Dr. Kessler?”
“Hospital administrator. Paid by Vittorio.”
Hannah looked down at Sofia.
“So why do they need the baby?”
Luca's eyes darkened.
“They don't.”
A chill passed through her.
“Then why threaten her?”
“Because she is the one thing they know can control me.”
The warehouse meeting was scheduled for 4:00 a.m.
Luca prepared to leave.
Hannah blocked the hallway.
“You're walking into a trap.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't bother you?”
“It bothers me less than leaving my wife there.”
“What if she isn't really there?”
He stopped.
Hannah pointed toward the monitor.
“You saw a video. They could have recorded it earlier.”
“Timestamp was live.”
“A timestamp can be faked.”
Marco looked at her.
Luca did too.
Hannah continued.
“What did Elena hold?”
“A card.”
“Which hand?”
Luca frowned.
“Her right.”
“Is she right-handed?”
“No.”
“Wouldn't somebody terrified use whichever hand they were told?”
“Maybe.”
“Look at the bruises.”
Luca rewound the recording.
Hannah leaned closer.
Elena's cheek was bruised.
Her wrist too.
But her hair was clean.
Her clothes looked fresh.
And behind her, almost invisible, was a hospital curtain rail.
“That isn't a warehouse,” Hannah said.
Marco zoomed in.
Luca stared.
“Hospital.”
“St. Agnes?”
“Or somewhere made to look like it.”
Hannah remembered Maria's receipt.
She pulled out her notebook.
The night Maria came into Millie's, she had delivered a note.
What had Luca done immediately after reading it?
Checked the windows.
Then left.
“What did Maria's note say?”
Luca hesitated.
“Hannah.”
“What did it say?”
He finally answered.
DON'T TRUST THE BIRTH RECORD.
Hannah's pulse quickened.
“What did that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you check Sofia's records?”
“Yes.”
“Personally?”
His silence answered.
They contacted a private physician loyal to Luca.
Within an hour, he arrived at the penthouse and drew a tiny blood sample from Sofia.
Luca paced.
Hannah held the baby.
The results would take time.
Too much time.
Meanwhile Marco's team traced the broadcast.
Not the warehouse.
Not St. Agnes.
A private medical facility outside Evanston.
Owned through three shell corporations.
The final company belonged to Kessler Holdings.
Dr. Samuel Kessler.
Luca smiled without humor.
“There.”
Marco prepared the team.
Hannah expected Luca to order her to stay.
Instead he looked at Sofia.
Then Hannah.
“You're the only person in this room who Vittorio doesn't know.”
“That doesn't sound reassuring.”
“It means you may be safer than my people.”
“May be?”
His expression didn't change.
Hannah sighed.
“Fine.”
Sofia stayed with Luca's mother under heavy protection.
Luca, Marco, Hannah, and four men drove north.
Hannah had no weapon.
Marco handed her a phone.
“One button. Press it if separated.”
“What happens?”
“Everyone comes to you.”
“That's probably not good for whoever I'm with.”
“Exactly.”
They reached the medical facility before sunrise.
Abandoned from the outside.
Not inside.
Power hummed.
Security cameras moved.
Marco disabled one.
They entered through a service door.
Hannah smelled antiseptic.
They moved through dark corridors.
A woman's voice came from somewhere ahead.
“Luca?”
He stopped.
“Elena?”
“Luca!”
He ran.
Marco cursed and followed.
They reached a locked treatment room.
Luca smashed the window.
Inside, Elena Moretti stood barefoot with an IV taped to her arm.
Luca broke the lock.
For a moment neither moved.
Then Elena collapsed against him.
He held her as though letting go might make her disappear again.
Hannah turned away.
Some moments didn't belong to strangers.
Then Elena saw her.
“Who is she?”
“Hannah.”
“Why is she here?”
“She helped me find you.”
Elena's expression changed.
“Find me?”
She looked at Luca.
“You weren't supposed to find me yet.”
Silence.
Luca stepped back.
“What?”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“I ran.”
Luca stared.
“You were kidnapped.”
“At first.”
“What does that mean?”
Elena gripped his jacket.
“Vittorio took me after the crash. Maria helped me escape three days later.”
Luca's face went blank.
“Why didn't you come home?”
“Because the betrayal wasn't just Vittorio.”
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Marco raised his gun.
Elena whispered, “We have to leave.”
“Who betrayed me?”
May you like
She looked directly at Marco.
And before she could answer, every armed man in the hallway turned his weapon toward Luca.
