Chapter 5 - The Woman Luca Never Suspected
Luca did not move.
His mother, Caterina Moretti, closed the door behind her.
She was sixty-four.
Elegant.
Controlled.
A widow who had buried Luca's father and spent twenty years pretending she understood nothing about the business surrounding her.
Hannah had seen her holding Sofia in the penthouse.
Kindly.
Protectively.
Now federal agents stood on either side of her.
Caterina removed her gloves.
“Luca.”
His voice sounded unlike anything Hannah had heard from him.
“Tell me he's lying.”
Caterina looked at Elena.
Then Sofia.
Then her son.
“I can't.”
Elena stepped backward.
Luca's face emptied.
Caterina explained.
After Luca's father died, she discovered how deeply Vittorio had infiltrated the organization.
She feared Luca would be killed if he openly confronted his uncle.
So Caterina built a second operation.
Secret accounts.
Private investigators.
Loyal men.
She told herself she was protecting her son.
Then Elena discovered Vittorio's narcotics shipments.
Everything accelerated.
Caterina arranged for Elena's vehicle to be intercepted.
Not killed.
Removed.
Protected.
Forced underground.
“You kidnapped my wife to protect her?”
“I removed her before Vittorio could.”
“You let me believe she was dead.”
“I needed your grief to look real.”
Luca stared at her.
“You watched me bury an empty coffin.”
Caterina's voice cracked.
“I watched you survive.”
“You watched Sofia cry for her mother.”
“I did what I thought I had to do.”
Elena interrupted.
“Then why did your men hand me to Kessler?”
Caterina's face changed.
“They didn't.”
Silence.
Elena frowned.
“They took me from the road.”
“Yes.”
“They brought me to the safe property.”
“Yes.”
“Then Adrian came.”
“No.”
Caterina looked at Rachel.
“That wasn't supposed to happen.”
The truth finally separated.
Caterina had arranged the initial abduction.
Marco learned about it.
He leaked Elena's location to Vittorio.
Vittorio sent Adrian.
Elena escaped with Maria's help.
From that moment forward, Caterina lost track of her.
“So everyone lied,” Luca said.
No one answered.
His mother.
His best friend.
His uncle.
His wife, by necessity.
His employees.
His enemies.
Every person around him had created their own plan.
And Sofia had lived in the middle of it.
Hannah understood why Luca kept returning to Millie's.
It wasn't just anonymity.
It was the only place in his life where nobody knew enough to manipulate him.
Hannah had been a waitress.
Nothing more.
That made her safe.
Until she started saving receipts.
Vittorio agreed to cooperate in exchange for reduced charges.
He claimed Marco had become more dangerous than anyone realized.
Marco wasn't merely working for Vittorio.
He intended to replace both him and Luca.
But Marco was now in federal custody.
Or so everyone thought.
At 4:10 p.m., Rachel received another call.
Marco's transport vehicle had crashed.
Two agents injured.
Marco gone.
Adrian had disappeared with him.
The network wasn't collapsing.
It was reorganizing.
Rachel moved Elena and Sofia to a federal safe location.
Luca refused to go.
“You're a target,” Hannah told him.
“Good.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they come for me instead of them.”
“That is possibly the stupidest plan I've heard this week, and your family has had several.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
“You should go home.”
“So should you.”
“My home isn't safe.”
“Neither is mine now.”
That ended the argument.
Hannah stayed at Millie's that night under protection.
Normal customers still came.
Truckers.
Nurses.
A college student driving home.
Two deputies.
Life continued.
At 2:37 a.m., Hannah stood beside booth seven.
Empty.
She thought of the first night.
Luca rocking Sofia.
The raw ring mark.
The untouched coffee.
She realized he hadn't removed the wedding ring because his marriage was over.
He had probably removed it because every memory of Elena hurt.
The bell rang.
Hannah looked up.
Luca walked in alone.
No bodyguards visible.
“You're not supposed to be here.”
“Neither are you.”
“I work here.”
“I drink coffee here.”
She poured him a cup.
He sat at booth seven.
For several minutes they said nothing.
Then Luca asked, “Why did you help me?”
Hannah leaned against the booth.
“I didn't.”
“You lied to armed men.”
“I disliked them.”
“You went to St. Agnes.”
“Bad judgment.”
“You saved every receipt.”
Hannah looked at him.
“Because somebody needed to remember what happened.”
That silenced him.
She sat across from him.
“My father disappeared when I was sixteen.”
Luca waited.
“He wasn't kidnapped. He just left.”
She traced the table edge.
“My mother spent two years making excuses. Maybe he was sick. Maybe he'd call. Maybe there was a reason.”
“There wasn't?”
“He had another family in Arizona.”
Luca said nothing.
Hannah continued.
“I remember how it felt when every adult around me knew pieces of the truth and nobody thought I deserved the whole thing. So when you came in here with that baby, and those men started asking questions…”
She looked toward the window.
“I wasn't going to become another person hiding information from someone who deserved the truth.”
Luca studied her.
“You barely knew me.”
“I knew Sofia.”
“You met her twice.”
“She tipped better than you.”
He laughed.
A real laugh this time.
Brief.
Unexpected.
Then his phone rang.
The humor vanished.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What happened?”
Hannah watched.
“No. Keep Elena inside.”
He stood.
“I'm coming.”
“What?”
“Someone breached the safe-house perimeter.”
Hannah grabbed her coat.
“No.”
“I'm going.”
“You're staying here.”
“Luca.”
“I mean it.”
He reached the door.
Then stopped.
A package sat outside.
Small.
Brown paper.
No label.
Neither had seen anyone place it there.
Luca motioned Hannah back.
Security checked it.
No explosive.
Inside was a baby blanket.
Sofia's.
Elena had made it before the birth.
A note lay folded beneath it.
COME TO THE OLD MORETTI HOUSE.
MIDNIGHT.
ALONE.
OR THE NEXT THING WE SEND WILL BE SMALLER.
Luca's face became terrifyingly calm.
Hannah read the note again.
“Marco wants you angry.”
“He has my daughter's blanket.”
“That doesn't mean he has Sofia.”
“He got close enough.”
Hannah turned the paper over.
There was writing on the back.
Not typed.
Handwritten.
Three numbers.
2:37.
Luca looked at her.
Hannah's blood went cold.
May you like
Only a handful of people knew why that time mattered.
And one of them was inside federal protection with Elena.
