Chapter 10 - THE ORDER
They moved Elena into a guarded guest room near Lucia's hospital ward. Bell arranged protection while the threat was investigated.
Elena hated the locked doors, the unfamiliar bed, the way every footstep made her sit up.
Protection felt too much like being placed somewhere she hadn't chosen.
Lorenzo found her sitting on the floor, mending the torn birthday card with clear tape.
“Who is he?”
“My foster brother. Ben.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don't know. We lost each other after his last move. I kept changing addresses, too.”
He sat against the opposite wall.
“I could look.”
“You could ask if I want you to.”
He absorbed that.
“Do you?”
She looked at the crooked paper seam.
“Someday. When this is over.”
Bell interrupted with news of Doran's arrest at a bus terminal.
His phone held deleted messages investigators had begun recovering. His lawyer had approached them about cooperation.
By evening, Bell had enough to explain the plan.
Vittorio had learned Sofia stored evidence in the pendant. He needed it back before Lorenzo discovered it. The kidnapping would also create a crisis he could use to gain control of the businesses.
Doran claimed the original order was to keep Lucia hidden until Lorenzo signed the authority papers.
Then Rosa fought him. The hotel became risky. Doran called for instructions.
The new message was blunt.
Leave the child for the morning collection. Bring the lion. Make it look like the DeLucas.
Doran put Lucia in the dumpster but forgot the pendant while a patrol car passed the alley entrance. When he returned, Elena had already taken her.
He lied to Vittorio, claiming he'd hidden the necklace elsewhere.
That lie had sent men searching Elena's apartment while their employer tried to learn what Lorenzo knew.
Lorenzo covered his mouth.
“He wanted me grieving. Angry. Starting a war.”
“And signing whatever he put in front of you,” Bell said.
“Can you prove the messages came from him?”
“We're working on that. A saved contact name isn't proof.”
Elena stood.
“Then let him think the necklace is still missing.”
Lorenzo looked up.
“What are you suggesting?”
May you like
She held his gaze.
“Let him offer to buy it from me.”
