Chapter 6 - The Child’s Drawing and the Hidden Safe
Carlo’s daughter was in the house.
I lowered the heavy brass candlestick, my mind struggling to process the impossible reality standing in front of me. Sophia wasn't in Seattle. She wasn't held hostage by a headmaster. She was standing in the guest bedroom of the man her father had just tried to kill.
I raised my hands, keeping my movements slow and gentle so I wouldn't startle her.
Your dad is safe, I signed back. He is downstairs. But Sophia, how did you get here? Did Vanessa bring you?
Sophia shook her head vigorously, stepping out of the shadows.
No. Vanessa sent men to take me from school three days ago. They put me in a car. But they didn’t get far.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. She handed it to me.
I unfolded it. It was a child’s drawing—a rough sketch done in crayon. It showed a large stone house with a massive oak tree in the front. But what caught my eye wasn't the house; it was the bottom corner.
There was a wax seal stamped onto the paper. A deep crimson seal bearing the Morelli family crest.
An old man stopped the car, Sophia signed, her eyes wide with remembered awe. He had white hair and a walking stick. He didn't speak. He just handed the men a piece of paper with that stamp on it. The men looked at it, looked at him, and they let me go. He brought me here.
Antonio.
Antonio had known. He had intercepted the kidnapping before dinner.
He hid me in this room, Sophia continued. He told me to stay quiet until he came to get me.
“He knew,” I whispered aloud, the pieces violently clicking together.
Antonio had orchestrated this entire night. The video, the burner phone, the photograph of the mechanic. He hadn’t just come to dinner to confront his grandson; he had come to dismantle Vanessa’s entire empire and save the children she used as pawns.
But what about Maya?
I held up the silver bluebird bracelet I had found in the bag.
Sophia, do you know who this belongs to? I signed, my hands shaking again.
Sophia’s face softened in recognition. Yes. Maya. She is my roommate.
Is she safe? Did the old man bring her too?
Sophia hesitated, biting her lip. Then she shook her head.
No. Maya didn’t get in the car with Vanessa's men. Maya ran.
The air left my lungs.
Ran where? I asked frantically.
I don't know. The headmaster tried to grab her, but Maya fought him. She dropped the bracelet when she slipped out the back door into the woods. The old man picked it up when he came to get me.
My fifteen-year-old Deaf sister was running through the woods of the Pacific Northwest, alone, at night, hiding from mafia enforcers.
I had to get to Nico.
I grabbed Sophia’s hand. Come with me. We are going to your dad.
I threw open the bedroom door and marched down the hallway, pulling Sophia behind me. We reached the top of the grand staircase just as a loud crash echoed from the dining room below, followed by the terrifying sound of shattering glass.
I hurried down the stairs, Sophia clinging tightly to my apron.
Carlo was standing outside the dining room doors, holding his shoulder, breathing heavily. When he looked up and saw the girl beside me, he froze.
“Sophia?” he choked out.
Sophia broke away from me and flew down the remaining stairs, throwing herself into her father’s arms. Carlo collapsed to his knees, burying his face in her hair, sobbing uncontrollably.
I pushed past them and threw open the dining room doors.
The room was in chaos. The engagement table was overturned. Crystal glasses were shattered across the Persian rug.
Vanessa was standing near the broken window, holding a jagged shard of glass against Antonio’s neck.
Nico was standing ten feet away, his hands raised in surrender, his face pale with raw terror.
“Back off, Nico!” Vanessa screamed, pressing the glass tighter. A thin line of blood appeared on Antonio’s collar. “I told you, I am not leaving here empty-handed. You’re going to open the wall safe behind the painting, and you’re going to give me the ledger.”
“Let him go, Vanessa,” Nico said, his voice deadly quiet. “You take the ledger, you destroy this family. My grandfather has nothing to do with it.”
“He has everything to do with it!” she shrieked. “He’s the one who found out who I really am!”
I stepped into the room.
Vanessa saw me. “Lock the doors, maid! Do it now!”
I didn't move. I looked at Antonio. Despite the glass at his throat, he was perfectly calm. He caught my eye and subtly nodded his head toward the overturned table.
Underneath the table, hidden from Vanessa’s view, was Nico’s discarded suit jacket. And sticking out of the pocket was the heavy brass handle of a hidden wall safe.
Vanessa didn't want money. She wanted the documents inside.
But why did she think they were in the safe?
Because Antonio had placed a child's drawing on the table earlier—a drawing that looked exactly like the wall panel concealing the safe.
May you like
He was baiting her.
“Elise,” Nico said, not taking his eyes off the glass at his grandfather’s throat. “Do what she says. Open the safe.”
