Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO NEVER CAME HOME|
We returned to the country house just before sunset.
Camilla was waiting in the living room. Her eyes were red, and a small suitcase sat beside her.
I wanted to be angry. I was angry.
But when I saw her, I also remembered the woman who had sat beside me through Lily's first fever, who had helped me move apartments, who had brought groceries when I couldn't afford them.
"Start talking," I said.
Camilla nodded.
She explained that she had met Isabella while volunteering at a pediatric clinic in Chicago. Isabella had been living under a different name and was frightened of anyone connected to the Fioraldi family.
She had a newborn daughter.
She told Camilla that Giovanni's father had declared the child dead because he believed a daughter would make Giovanni vulnerable.
Isabella feared the baby would be taken if she returned to the family.
"Why did she trust you?" I asked.
"Because I helped her when she had nowhere else to go. She knew I had worked with children. She asked me to find a family who could raise Sofia without knowing her identity."
"And you did?"
Camilla nodded.
"An older couple in Wisconsin. They couldn't have children. They loved her immediately."
Giovanni stood near the window.
"Why didn't Isabella come back?"
"She did. Once. Three years ago. She wanted to tell you the truth, but she said someone was following her. She asked me to keep Sofia safe while she found evidence against your father."
"My father was already dead."
"She didn't know that."
Giovanni turned.
"Who was following her?"
Camilla shook her head.
"She thought it was Rossi."
I looked at the suitcase.
"Why are you leaving?"
"Because I received a message this morning. Someone told me they knew where Sofia lived."
Giovanni's security chief stepped forward.
"Show me."
Camilla handed him her phone.
The message contained a photograph of a modest white house. A little girl stood in the garden holding a yellow toy.
Sofia.
Beneath the image were the words:
Bring the Fioraldi ledger to the old harbor. Midnight. Or the girl disappears.
Giovanni took the phone.
"He's using her as leverage."
"Then we don't give him the ledger," I said.
Giovanni looked at me.
"Without it, we don't know what Rossi has."
"With it, you might give him everything he wants."
He paced once across the room.
"I need to get Sofia out."
"Then do that first."
He turned toward Marco.
"Find the family. Get them to a safe location. Don't approach the child until they confirm it's safe."
Marco left immediately.
I looked at Camilla.
"Did Isabella ever tell you why she chose me?"
Camilla wiped her face.
"She said you were the kind of woman who would protect a child even if it cost you everything."
I felt my throat tighten.
"She barely knew me."
"She watched you at the clinic. You were helping a little boy who had been abandoned by his parents. You stayed with him long after your shift ended."
I remembered that boy.
He had been terrified of hospitals.
I had sat beside his bed and read the same story six times until he finally slept.
Camilla continued.
"Isabella believed that if something happened to her, you would understand Sofia's fear."
Giovanni approached.
"Jessica, I won't ask you to do anything dangerous. But I need your help."
"What kind?"
"Rossi has requested a meeting at the old harbor. I believe he wants the ledger, but I suspect he's also planning to move Sofia."
"Then we don't go to the harbor."
"We have to make him believe we're coming."
I looked at him.
"You're going to use yourself as bait."
"I'm going to end this."
I thought about Lily upstairs.
I thought about Sofia in a house she believed was safe.
And I thought about the woman who had hidden her daughter from an entire crime family.
"Then we do it my way," I said.
Giovanni raised an eyebrow.
"Your way?"
"No one uses a child as bait. No one trades a ledger for a little girl's life. We get Sofia out first. Then we deal with Rossi."
Giovanni studied me.
Finally, he nodded.
"Your way."
But at that moment, Marco returned with a grim expression.
"The family in Wisconsin is gone," he said. "The house is empty."
May you like
He looked at Giovanni.
"And there's blood on the kitchen floor."
