Chapter 3 - THE BROTHER WHO STOLE THE TRUTH
“The brakes were cut?” I whispered. “They told me my sister lost control in the rain.”
Luca stood beside the safe, holding a report that could change everything I believed about Natalie's death.
For ten years, I had pictured my sister making one terrible mistake on a wet Philadelphia highway.
For ten years, I had told Sophie that accidents happened, even to good people.
Now I was staring at proof that someone had interfered with her mother's car.
“Who investigated this?” Luca asked.
I swallowed.
“State police. They said the car struck a barrier on Route 291. Natalie died before the ambulance arrived.”
“Did you see the vehicle?”
“No.”
“Did you receive photographs?”
“Only the belongings they recovered.”
Luca examined the report.
The official conclusion read mechanical failure, cause undetermined.
But beneath it was an inspection photograph.
Someone had circled a damaged brake hose.
Beside the photograph, a handwritten notation read:
Damage inconsistent with ordinary wear.
Luca's jaw tightened.
“That finding never reached the final report.”
I looked up.
“Your father had this for ten years?”
“Yes.”
“And you never knew?”
“No.”
I wanted to believe him.
But my sister was dead.
My daughter was missing.
And every answer seemed to lead back to the Moretti family.
“Why should I trust you?”
Luca lowered the report.
“Because I'm going to find Sophie whether she turns out to be mine or not.”
His words were quiet.
But I heard something underneath them.
A promise he intended to keep.
He checked his watch.
We had only minutes before Celeste's deadline.
Andre appeared in the library doorway.
“Sir, Vincent left through the east service gate. His security credentials were used to override the exit.”
“Disable them.”
“Already done.”
“Where's Celeste's SUV?”
“We're tracing the estate vehicles now. One camera caught a black Escalade heading toward the west access road.”
My chest tightened.
“That's the road toward the river.”
Andre nodded.
“There's an old shipping entrance beyond the orchard.”
Luca looked back at the safe.
“What was removed from here?”
Andre examined the empty compartment.
“Mr. Moretti's blue ledger. I remember your father carrying it.”
“Who knew the combination?”
“You. Vincent. Your father.”
Luca leaned closer.
The velvet lining was marked by fresh scratches.
At the back of the compartment lay a tiny piece of torn blue leather.
“He opened this before tonight,” Luca said.
Andre frowned.
“Who?”
“Vincent.”
I stared at the safe.
“Then why did Celeste want you to open it?”
“Because she didn't know he'd already taken what she wanted.”
That changed everything.
Celeste and Vincent weren't acting together anymore.
One of them had betrayed the other.
And Sophie was trapped between them.
Luca took a photograph of the empty compartment and sent it to Celeste with a single sentence.
Vincent took the ledger. I can't give you what I don't have.
Her response arrived almost immediately.
Then find him before I do.
A second message followed.
You have no idea what that book is worth.
Luca turned to Andre.
“Get the vehicles ready.”
I caught his sleeve.
“I'm coming.”
“Emily—”
“Don't tell me to stay here while my daughter is out there.”
He studied my face.
Then nodded.
“Stay beside me.”
We left through the garden entrance.
The night air was cold enough to sting my lungs.
Andre drove the first SUV.
Luca and I followed in the second.
As we approached the west gate, I noticed something near the roadside.
A flash of purple against the dark pavement.
“Stop!”
Luca braked.
I opened the door before the vehicle had completely settled.
On the ground lay a small bracelet made from purple plastic beads.
Three white beads spelled SOPHIE.
I had made it with her on her ninth birthday.
She wore it whenever she felt nervous.
I picked it up.
The elastic had snapped.
“She was here,” I whispered.
Luca stepped beside me.
He looked down the road.
A tire mark curved sharply toward the river entrance.
“There's something else.”
He pointed to the dirt.
Two sets of tire tracks overlapped.
One vehicle had stopped.
Another had pulled alongside it.
I closed my fingers around Sophie's bracelet.
“Someone met Celeste.”
Luca contacted Andre.
“Check the old river road. Two vehicles, possibly more.”
We continued toward the abandoned shipping entrance.
Beyond the trees stood a small concrete guardhouse.
A black Escalade was parked behind it.
Its headlights were off.
The rear passenger door hung partly open.
I ran toward the vehicle.
“Sophie!”
Luca caught up to me.
“Emily, stay behind me.”
I ignored him.
The back seat was empty.
A child's pink hair ribbon lay on the floor.
Then I heard movement.
Celeste was lying across the third row.
Her wrists had been bound with plastic cable ties.
Blood marked the corner of her mouth.
For one wild second, I thought she was dead.
Then her eyes opened.
“Get me out.”
I grabbed the doorframe.
“Where is Sophie?”
Celeste turned away.
I seized her shoulder.
“Where is my daughter?”
Luca reached past me and cut the ties with a small folding tool from the emergency kit.
Celeste sat up, gasping.
“He took her.”
“Who?” Luca demanded.
“Vincent.”
My whole body went cold.
Celeste rubbed her wrists.
“He met us at the road. I thought he was bringing the ledger so we could finish this.”
“Finish what?” Luca asked.
“The transfer. The documents. We were supposed to leave Philadelphia tonight.”
Luca stared at her.
“You were going to steal eighteen million dollars and disappear?”
Celeste lifted her chin.
“It was never supposed to happen like this.”
I almost laughed.
“You kidnapped a child.”
Celeste looked at me.
“I know what I did.”
“No, you don't.”
My voice broke.
“You don't know what it's like to hear your daughter asking for you and not be able to reach her.”
For the first time, Celeste looked ashamed.
But shame wouldn't bring Sophie back.
“Where did Vincent take her?”
Celeste hesitated.
Luca crouched beside the open door.
“Whatever Vincent promised you, it's over. Tell us the truth.”
“He has your father's ledger.”
“We know.”
“He found out something inside it. Something about Sophie.”
“What?”
Celeste wiped her mouth.
“Your father created a private trust after Natalie's death. Vincent believed the money was supposed to be his.”
Luca frowned.
“My father left Vincent a controlling interest in our shipping company.”
“That's what Vincent thought. The trust changes things.”
“Then why steal eighteen million dollars?”
“Because Vincent found out the money had been set aside for people who could challenge the family. He wanted control of it before anyone asked questions.”
I stared at her.
“People like Sophie?”
Celeste didn't answer.
That was enough.
Luca stood.
“Where is he?”
Celeste looked toward the river.
“The old Mercer shipping pier.”
Luca's expression changed.
“That's where Natalie was going the night she died.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know that?”
He hesitated.
“Because she was coming to meet me.”
I felt as though he'd struck me.
“You said she left you.”
“I thought she had. I was supposed to meet her that night, but my father told me she'd canceled.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“Vincent said he would make you remember what happened.”
My grip tightened around Sophie's bracelet.
“Remember what?”
Celeste began crying.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just two silent tears as she looked toward the abandoned pier.
“He said the first woman should never have been in that car.”
Luca went still.
Celeste looked directly at him.
“And he said if you don't give him control of the Moretti accounts, he's going to finish what happened ten years ago.”
I grabbed Luca's arm.
“She's only ten.”
Celeste looked at me.
Then she whispered something worse.
“Vincent doesn't care how old she is. He knows she's Natalie's daughter.”
She reached beneath the seat and pulled out Sophie's blue inhaler case.
The zipper was open.
The inhaler was missing.
“He took this away from her,” Celeste said. “She was having trouble breathing.”
I could barely hear her next words.
“He told her that if she wanted to see her mommy again, she needed to stop crying.”
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And when Celeste finally looked at Luca, her voice trembled.
“Vincent is taking Sophie to the same place where your father made Natalie disappear.”
