Chapter 3 - THE BURNER PHONE
The heavy oak doors of the study felt like the walls of a cage.
Luca stood by the window, clutching the tarnished silver watch. The rain beat aggressively against the bulletproof glass, mirroring the tension suffocating the room.
“Marcus was my blood,” Luca said, his voice barely above a rasp. “When the police found his car at the bottom of the ravine, it was completely incinerated. They told us the watch melted in the fire. They lied.”
“Or whoever ran him off the road took it as a trophy before setting the fire,” I said gently.
Luca turned to face me. The realization was a terrifying thing to witness.
“Vanessa didn’t kill my brother,” Luca said coldly. “She doesn’t have the stomach for a car bombing. Someone else pulled that trigger. Someone who gave her this watch to prove they own her.”
“Blackmail,” I deduced.
Before Luca could answer, the heavy double doors swung open.
A tall man with a jagged scar across his jawline walked in. Silas. Luca’s head of security.
“Boss,” Silas said, his eyes darting to me with clear distrust. “The estate is locked down. Nobody in or out. But we have a problem.”
“What?” Luca snapped.
“Dr. Aris,” Silas said grimly. “I sent two men to his clinic to bring him in for a conversation. The clinic is empty. And the Chicago PD just pulled a body out of the river near Navy Pier. It’s him. Shot twice in the back of the head.”
The room went dead silent.
The doctor was dead. The only man who could testify that Vanessa had been given insulin instead of vitamins was at the bottom of the river.
“It’s a cleanup operation,” I said, my nursing instincts shifting into triage mode. “Whoever is paying Vanessa just cut their loose ends. Which means they are accelerating the timeline.”
Silas glared at me. “Why is the nurse still in the room discussing family business, Luca? She needs to leave.”
“Emma stays,” Luca ordered.
Silas stiffened. “With all due respect, she’s an outsider. For all we know, she planted that insulin pen to frame Vanessa.”
“She saved my life ten minutes ago,” Luca growled. “Which is more than I can say for my security team who let my fiancée poison me for three months.”
Silas’s jaw clenched. He took a step toward me, his hand resting on his belt. “I think the nurse needs to wait in the guest house. Now.”
It wasn’t a request. It was an escalation.
Silas was trying to separate me from Luca.
Luca didn’t yell. He simply reached into his desk drawer, pulled out a heavy black handgun, and set it on the polished wood.
“Touch her, Silas, and you won’t leave this room with your hands.”
Silas froze. He raised his palms slowly in surrender, stepping back.
“Go to the east wing,” Luca commanded. “Bring Vanessa back here. I’m going to find out exactly who is holding her leash.”
Silas nodded tightly and left the room.
I looked at Luca. “You don’t trust him.”
“I don’t trust anyone right now,” Luca said, holstering the weapon. “Except you.”
We waited. Five minutes passed. Then ten.
Suddenly, a loud, muffled crash echoed from the hallway, followed by a woman’s scream.
Luca and I rushed out of the study and sprinted toward the east wing.
We reached the locked guest room. The door was wide open. The guards Rocco and Silas were nowhere to be seen.
Inside, the room was a wreck. A lamp was shattered on the floor.
Vanessa was gone.
But she hadn’t left empty-handed.
Lying in the center of the bed was Vanessa’s expensive leather handbag, slashed completely open.
May you like
And resting on the torn leather was a small, cheap, plastic burner phone.
It was ringing.
