Chapter 4: The Price of a Little Girl's Life
Lucas Moretti had spent most of his adult life teaching people what happened when they threatened his family.
But when he saw Lily Carter's photograph, something inside him changed.
The little girl who had pressed her inhaler against his lips was sitting on a concrete floor, her pink pajamas dirty, her small hands tied in front of her.
Victor Romano stood behind her.
And he was smiling.
Lucas stared at the photograph until the screen went dark.
Then he looked at Elias.
“Find her.””
“We're tracing the number now.””
“I don't want a trace. I want a location.””
“Boss, give me five minutes.””
Lucas grabbed his jacket.
Daniel stood near the piano, clutching his wooden airplane. He had been watching his father with frightened eyes.
“Daddy?””
Lucas stopped.
The boy looked so much like Isabella that it hurt.
“Are you leaving again?””
Lucas crouched in front of him.
“I'm going to bring Lily home.””
Daniel's eyes filled.
“Is she going to die?””
“No.””
“Uncle Victor said people disappear when they make him angry.””
Lucas gently held his son's shoulders.
“Listen to me, Daniel. You are never going to be alone with him again. And neither is Lily.””
“But he said you couldn't stop him.””
Lucas looked into his son's eyes.
“Your uncle Victor has spent three years making you believe that I was dead. He has spent three years making me believe you were dead.””
He paused.
“People who lie for that long eventually forget what the truth looks like.””
Daniel swallowed.
“Will you bring Mommy too?””
Lucas couldn't answer immediately.
He brushed a strand of hair away from his son's forehead.
“I'm going to find her.””
It was a promise.
And Lucas Moretti intended to keep it.
The first call came from the security room.
Elias had managed to isolate the photograph's transmission signal. It had passed through three encrypted servers, but one small mistake had exposed the origin.
An abandoned textile warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Lucas entered the security room with his jacket buttoned and his expression unreadable.
“Show me.””
Elias displayed a satellite image.
“The building belongs to a company that dissolved six years ago. The property was purchased through a shell corporation.””
“Who owns the corporation?””
“Victor.””
Lucas stared at the screen.
“Of course.””
Elias enlarged the image.
“There are two entrances, a loading bay, and a service road behind the building. Our cameras picked up three vehicles arriving in the last hour.””
“How many men?””
“Possibly twelve.””
Lucas turned toward the armed guards.
“No shooting unless necessary. The child comes out unharmed.””
Elias nodded.
“And Victor?””
Lucas's eyes turned cold.
“I want him breathing.””
A guard approached.
“Sir, what about the police?””
“Not yet.””
“Understood.””
Lucas checked his phone.
There was another message.
This time, it contained no photograph.
Only a sentence.
*Come alone if you want the girl to see tomorrow.*
Elias read it over his shoulder.
“It's a trap.””
Lucas put the phone away.
“Of course it's a trap.””
“You can't walk into that building alone.””
“I'm not planning to.””
“Then what are you planning?””
Lucas looked at him.
“To let Victor think he's finally won.””
At the warehouse, Lily sat beneath a flickering fluorescent light.
Her hands were tied loosely enough to let her move her fingers, but tightly enough to frighten her.
She had been crying for nearly an hour.
Victor stood beside a metal table, checking his watch.
“Stop crying.””
Lily wiped her nose with her sleeve.
“Can I have water?””
Victor looked at the plastic bottle near his feet.
“Drink.””
She reached for it, but her tied hands made it difficult.
Victor sighed, picked it up, and held it toward her.
“Here.””
Lily took a small sip.
“Where's my mommy?””
“She's coming.””
“Is Mr. Lucas coming too?””
Victor's expression hardened.
“Why are you so interested in him?””
“Because he's nice.””
Victor laughed.
“Nice?””
Lily nodded.
“He promised to get me a new inhaler.””
Victor crouched until his face was level with hers.
“Do you know who that man really is?””
Lily shook her head.
“He's a bad man, sweetheart. He just pretends to be nice.””
Lily looked at him carefully.
“Then why were you standing there when he couldn't breathe?””
Victor's smile disappeared.
“What?””
“You were there before I came.””
He stared at her.
Lily continued.
“I saw you. You were looking at him.””
Victor slowly stood.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he turned toward one of his men.
“Take her into the other room.””
The man hesitated.
“Why?””
“Because I said so.””
Lily began to cry again.
“I want my mommy!””
Victor walked toward the door.
“Then perhaps you should have stayed where you belonged.””
But as he stepped into the corridor, his phone rang.
He answered.
“I'm listening.””
A man's voice came through.
“Boss, we have a problem.””
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“What problem?””
“The Moretti guards are moving.””
Victor looked through the small window in the warehouse door.
A black SUV had stopped near the loading entrance.
Then another.
And another.
He smiled.
“So he came.””
Lucas entered through the main loading bay.
He wore no tie, carried no visible weapon, and had only one man beside him.
Elias.
The warehouse smelled of oil, damp cardboard, and rust.
Somewhere in the building, a metal door slammed.
Victor emerged from the shadows.
“Lucas.””
Lucas stopped.
“Victor.””
The two men stared at each other.
Three decades of friendship had once stood between them.
Victor had been sixteen when Lucas first met him. He was the son of a family associate, a skinny teenager with a broken nose and a talent for getting into trouble.
Lucas had helped him when nobody else would.
They had grown up together.
Fought together.
Built an empire together.
And now Lucas was standing across from the man who had stolen his wife, his son, and three years of his life.
“Where is Lily?”” Lucas asked.
Victor smiled.
“Straight to business. You haven't changed.””
“Where is she?””
“Safe.””
“Bring her out.””
Victor shook his head.
“You always did think the world worked according to your orders.””
Lucas stepped closer.
“You have five seconds.””
Victor laughed.
“Do you know what your problem is?””
“No.””
“You think people love you because you're Lucas Moretti. You think loyalty is something you can buy with protection and expensive gifts.””
Lucas's face remained still.
Victor continued.
“I spent twenty years standing beside you. I watched you inherit everything. The name.
The money. The mansion. The loyalty of every captain.””
“And?””
“And I was always the man standing behind you.””
Lucas studied him.
“You could have asked for more.””
Victor's expression twisted.
“Asked?””
He laughed bitterly.
“I asked for respect. I asked for authority. I asked you to trust me with the family. And you gave me scraps.””
“I gave you my life.””
“You gave me your errands.””
Lucas looked at him for a long moment.
“Is that why you killed Isabella?””
Victor's smile vanished.
The warehouse seemed to become colder.
“You still don't understand,” Victor said.
“Then explain it.””
Victor looked toward the ceiling.
“Your wife was a problem.””
Lucas's jaw tightened.
“She was a woman who played piano.””
“She was a woman who wanted to take you away from the family.””
“She wanted me to be a father.””
“She wanted you weak.””
Lucas stepped forward.
Victor raised one hand.
Two armed men emerged from behind the loading equipment.
Elias immediately shifted position.
Victor smiled again.
“Careful.””
Lucas stopped.
“Where is Lily?””
Victor nodded toward the corridor.
“She's fine. For now.””
Lucas looked directly at him.
“You're going to let her go.””
“Perhaps.””
“What do you want?””
Victor reached into his jacket and removed a small black folder.
“Your signature.””
Lucas looked at it.
“What is it?””
“Your resignation from the family businesses. Your voting rights. Your controlling interests in the legitimate companies. Everything that gives you power.””
Lucas almost smiled.
“You kidnapped a six-year-old girl for paperwork?””
“I kidnapped a six-year-old girl because you finally started asking the right questions.””
Victor opened the folder.
“Sign, and I give you the girl.””
Lucas looked toward the corridor.
“Bring her here first.””
Victor shook his head.
“Sign first.””
“Then we have nothing to discuss.””
Victor's eyes hardened.
“You always were stubborn.””
“And you always were impatient.””
For the first time, Victor looked genuinely angry.
He stepped forward and grabbed Lucas by the lapel.
“You have no idea what I sacrificed for you!””
Lucas didn't move.
“Let go.””
Victor shoved him backward.
“Three years ago, I gave you a chance to disappear. I gave you a chance to live quietly while I handled the family.””
“You arranged the warehouse attack.””
Victor said nothing.
Lucas's voice dropped.
“You sent me away from my wife and son.””
“I did what was necessary.””
“And the funeral?””
Victor smiled.
“That was the clever part.””
Lucas felt something inside him break.
But before he could respond, a small voice came from the corridor.
“Mr. Lucas?””
Everyone turned.
Lily stood in the doorway.
One of her pink socks was missing.
Her cheeks were wet.
And she was holding something in her hand.
Her inhaler.
“Mr. Lucas, I can't find Mommy.””
Lucas took one step toward her.
“It's okay, sweetheart.””
Victor immediately moved behind the child.
He placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Don't come any closer.””
Lucas stopped.
Lily looked between them.
Then she spoke the words that changed everything.
“Mr. Lucas?””
“Yes, sweetheart?””
“Why does that man have the same picture as my mommy?””
Victor went completely still.
Lucas looked at Lily's hand.
She was holding a small photograph.
It showed Isabella standing beside Victor.
But that wasn't what made Lucas's blood run cold.
The photograph was dated three years earlier.
And Isabella was holding a newborn baby.
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A baby wearing a hospital bracelet with the name:
*DANIEL MORETTI.*
