Chapter 8 - The Cold Morning and the Empty Cot

At 5:45 AM, a scream tore through the east wing of the Romano estate.

It was a mother’s scream—raw, jagged, and filled with unbearable terror.

Alessandro was already dressed in his charcoal suit when the sound echoed through the high ceilings. He threw open the door of his study just as Clara came stumbling down the hallway, her hair wild, her face drenched in tears, clutching a small piece of folded paper.

"She’s gone!" Clara wailed, collapsing against the wall near the grand staircase. "My baby is gone! Lily isn't in her bed!"

Enzo and four armed guards came running from the lower security station. "What happened? What’s going on?"

"Her bed is cold!" Clara sobbed hysterically, grabbing Alessandro’s lapels without caring about who he was. "The window on the ground floor was unlatched! She took her coat... she left a drawing... oh God, Alessandro, she’s gone!"

Alessandro snatched the paper from Clara’s shaking fingers.

It was a sheet of white printer paper from his desk. On it, drawn with the blunt red crayon, were three stick figures: one tall woman, one tiny girl with a rabbit, and a big black box labeled HOUSE.

Across the bottom, the child had written with Clara’s help from days prior, scrawled in crooked, uneven toddler letters:

BYE BYE MISTER BOSS. PLS LET MAMA STAY.

On his desk inside the study, sitting neatly on top of the two-million-dollar shipping ledger, was Poppy the rabbit.

Lily had left her only treasure behind so she wouldn't take anything that belonged to the house.

Alessandro looked at the rag rabbit. He looked at the ragged ear sewn on with cheap thread.

And in that fraction of a second, the iron fortress around Alessandro Romano’s soul shattered into a million pieces.

"When was she last seen on the perimeter cameras?" Alessandro’s voice was dangerously low, vibrating with an intensity none of his men had ever heard before.

Enzo was already on his radio. "Gate four camera picked up a small silhouette moving past the service exit at 4:18 AM. Heading toward the south highway. Boss... that was an hour and a half ago."

Outside, thunder rumbled across the sky.

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A torrential November rain began to slam against the high arched windows, freezing and merciless.

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