Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE WITHOUT CLOCKS
“Rachel Bennett is alive.”
Luca said the words slowly, as though speaking them aloud might make them less impossible.
Marco placed the enlarged security photograph beside Rachel's old driver's license.
The faces matched.
Older now.
Silver hair instead of dark brown.
But the same eyes.
The same mole.
The same slight curve of her mouth.
Luca had carried Rachel's coffin alongside three other men.
He remembered Isabella standing at the graveside, barely able to remain upright.
He remembered Sofia's disappearance.
Then Isabella's death.
Then the silence that followed.
One terrible loss after another.
And now one of those losses had been a carefully constructed lie.
“Why would Rachel pretend to be dead?” Emma asked.
Marco checked the information on his laptop.
“Her accident occurred on a rural highway. The identification was handled through a contracted medical examiner.”
Luca looked at him.
“Contracted by whom?”
“Anthony Bellini's company.”
Vanessa pressed a hand to her forehead.
“My father told me Rachel was killed because she knew too much.”
Luca turned.
“And you believed him?”
“I was twenty-three. I didn't know what was happening.”
“You're thirty now.”
Vanessa flinched.
He continued.
“For the past month, you've known my daughter was alive. You hid photographs, medical records, and a child's coat inside a wedding box.”
“I hid them because my father searched my apartment twice.”
“Then you should have come to me.”
Vanessa looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“Luca, your security chief reported directly to my father for years.”
The room became very quiet.
Marco looked up.
“That was before I worked for Mr. Moretti.”
“I know,” Vanessa said. “But I didn't know who could be trusted.”
Luca watched Marco carefully.
The older man had served him faithfully for almost a decade.
He had helped search for Sofia.
He had stayed beside Luca during Isabella's funeral.
And he had never once stopped looking for answers.
“Marco,” Luca said, “were you involved?”
Marco met his eyes.
“No, boss.”
“Did Anthony Bellini ever ask you to stop searching?”
Marco hesitated.
“Yes.”
Luca's expression changed.
“When?”
“Three months after Sofia disappeared. He claimed the investigation was putting innocent families in danger.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I did. You were in the hospital with Isabella. I told your father instead.”
Luca remembered that period only in fragments.
His father's worried face.
Hospital corridors.
The sound of machines.
And Isabella whispering Sofia's name in her sleep.
“Get the vehicles ready,” Luca said.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Luca, please don't go in there angry.”
He looked at her.
“My daughter has been missing for six years. Emma's daughter has been taken today. Anger is the least dangerous thing I'm feeling.”
Emma stood.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“Mr. Moretti—”
“Your ankle is injured.”
“My daughter is inside that building.”
Luca paused.
Emma's voice steadied.
“I know when she's frightened. I know how she reacts when she feels a seizure coming. She needs someone familiar.”
Luca studied her.
Then he turned to Marco.
“Arrange a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. Emma comes with our medical team, but stays outside until it's safe.”
Emma nodded.
It wasn't what she wanted.
But it was better than being left behind.
Forty minutes later, they approached the private medical complex.
The building stood behind old iron gates and a row of bare oak trees.
White brick walls.
A covered entrance.
Long windows.
No visible clocks.
Emma stared through the windshield.
“Mia drew this place.”
Luca saw the three windows above the entrance.
The red-brick chimney.
The black gate.
Exactly as the child had drawn it.
Marco studied the security feed obtained with assistance from state investigators.
“Fourteen patients are registered here. Six are children.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“Where are Sofia and Mia?”
“Second floor. East wing.”
A detective named Claire Donovan approached their vehicle.
She was a woman in her fifties with short gray hair and a calm expression.
“Mr. Moretti, I'm Detective Donovan with the Illinois State Police. We have a child-abduction investigation underway.”
Luca got out.
“My daughters are inside.”
Donovan glanced at Emma.
“Both are your daughters?”
“One is mine. The other belongs to Ms. Wilson.”
Emma spoke from the passenger seat.
“My daughter's name is Mia. She's eight. She needs medication for seizures.”
Donovan nodded.
“We'll coordinate with the medical personnel. No one is going to rush the building while children are in danger.”
Luca didn't like the delay.
But he knew she was right.
A few minutes later, an employee approached the front entrance.
She was carrying two empty food trays.
Marco identified her from the facility directory.
“Nurse Helen Price.”
Donovan went to meet her.
The nurse's expression changed when she saw the officers.
Then she quietly handed Donovan a folded piece of paper.
Donovan returned to Luca.
“This was found beneath one patient's breakfast tray.”
She unfolded it.
The paper contained a child's drawing.
A man with dark hair stood beneath a bright yellow sun.
Two girls held his hands.
At the bottom, written in careful letters, was a message.
DADDY, I'M STILL HERE.
Luca touched the paper.
“Sofia.”
Emma noticed another detail.
One girl held a small pink backpack.
“Mia drew the rabbit,” she whispered.
Beside the backpack was a white rabbit with one bent ear.
Her daughter's favorite toy.
Donovan turned the page over.
There was another message.
PLEASE DON'T HURT AUNT RACHEL.
Luca stared.
“Aunt Rachel?”
Donovan looked at him.
“Does your daughter know this woman?”
“She knew her when she was little. Rachel was my wife's sister.”
“Then we need to understand why Sofia is protecting her.”
A voice interrupted them.
“She protects Rachel because Rachel kept her alive.”
Everyone turned.
Vanessa had stepped out of the second vehicle.
Her face was pale.
Luca approached her.
“Explain.”
Vanessa looked at the building.
“My father wanted Sofia transferred somewhere she would never be found. Rachel refused. She took her to this facility instead.”
“Then why didn't Rachel bring her home?”
“Because someone convinced her you were responsible for Isabella's death.”
Luca stared at her.
“What?”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“My father showed Rachel hospital records. He told her Isabella discovered something about your business and you had her silenced.”
Luca felt physically sick.
“I loved my wife.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you believe him?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I didn't. But Rachel did.”
A police radio crackled.
A guard had opened the east-wing emergency door.
Inside, officers found medical equipment and several children's rooms.
But Sofia and Mia were gone.
Luca looked toward the building.
“Where?”
Donovan listened to her radio.
Then her face tightened.
“They've located a private treatment suite behind the rehabilitation wing.”
Emma gripped the wheelchair arms.
“Are the girls there?”
Donovan hesitated.
“We found a child's bracelet.”
She held up a sealed evidence bag.
Inside lay a small silver bracelet with a butterfly charm.
Luca recognized it immediately.
Sofia's fifth-birthday gift.
But something else had been placed beside it.
A photograph of Isabella.
May you like
On the back, written in Isabella's familiar handwriting, were six words.
LUCA, YOUR FATHER KNOWS THE TRUTH.
