Chapter 7 - THE TICKET TO NOWHERE
I stared at the yellowed ferry ticket in Teresa’s trembling hand.
DESTINATION - ROME.
“What is this?” I whispered, my voice cracking.
Teresa gently placed the ticket over the ledger in my hands. “When your brother pulled my husband from that burning wreckage, Antonio knew he was dying. And he knew Marco would blame Thomas to cover his own tracks.”
Margaret Sullivan limped forward on her cane, placing a warm hand on my shoulder. “Antonio called me from the side of the road, Claire. With his dying breath, he ordered me to protect Thomas.”
I looked between the two elderly women, my mind spinning. “You protected him? But everyone said he ran. The police, the news... they all said he was a fugitive.”
“We had to make it look that way,” Teresa said, a tear finally escaping her eye. “If Marco thought Thomas was alive and protected by us, he would have hunted him down. We gave Thomas a new identity, a new passport, and a one-way ticket out of the country.”
“He’s alive?” The words tore from my throat. “My brother has been alive this whole time? While Toby and I grieved? While Toby grew up without a father?”
Teresa nodded slowly. “He wanted to contact you. Every single day. But Marco’s spies were watching you, Claire. If Thomas reached out, Marco would have found him. And he would have killed you and Toby to punish him.”
I collapsed against the edge of the dining table, burying my face in my hands. Eleven years of grief, of anger, of feeling abandoned, washed over me in a suffocating wave.
Luca stepped closer. He didn't touch me, but his presence was a steady anchor in the chaotic room.
“My mother hired you, Claire, not just to watch over you, but to keep you under our family’s protection,” Luca said softly. “As long as you were inside these walls, Marco couldn't touch you.”
Before I could process the magnitude of what they had done, Dante burst back into the dining room. He looked at Luca, a wide grin spreading across his battered face.
“Boss,” Dante panted. “We found her. The little girl, Mia. She was at Marco’s hunting cabin upstate. She’s safe. Our boys are bringing her here now.”
Vanessa let out a cry so loud and pure it made my chest ache. She buried her face in the Persian rug, thanking God over and over again.
Arthur Vance, who was still handcuffed in the corner, scoffed. “Great. A happy family reunion. What about me?”
Luca didn't even blink. “Dante. Put Mr. Vance in the trunk of the sedan. We’ll let the police deal with his ten years of fraud.”
As Dante dragged Arthur away, the front door of the mansion opened.
Footsteps echoed in the marble foyer. Heavy, hesitant footsteps.
Luca looked at his mother. Teresa nodded, dabbing her eyes with a lace handkerchief.
“Claire,” Teresa said gently. “Turn around.”
I slowly turned away from the table.
Standing in the arched doorway of the dining room was a man. He looked older, his face weathered, his hair graying at the edges. He wore a simple coat, his hands stuffed nervously into his pockets.
May you like
But I knew those eyes. I would know them anywhere.
“Thomas?” I breathed.
