Chapter 7 - THE TRAITOR INSIDE
Ellie kicked.
Hard.
The man whispered into her ear.
“Quiet.”
She bit his hand.
“Damn it!”
He released her.
Ellie spun around.
It was Daniel Cole, one of Adrian’s security men.
The nice one.
The one who had brought her hot chocolate that afternoon.
She stared at his wrist.
A red crown tattoo.
“You’re bad.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Listen to me.”
Ellie screamed.
Daniel grabbed her.
A door burst open.
Hannah came running.
“ELLIE!”
Daniel pulled a gun.
Hannah stopped.
Everything went silent.
“Don’t,” Daniel said.
Hannah slowly raised her hands.
“Put her down.”
“I can’t.”
“She’s four years old.”
“I know.”
Ellie was crying now.
“Mommy.”
Hannah’s voice broke.
“I’m right here, baby.”
Daniel backed toward the service hallway.
“Give me your phone.”
Hannah placed it on the floor.
“Kick it over.”
She did.
Daniel picked it up.
“You’re coming too.”
Across Brooklyn, Adrian’s SUV approached the freight terminal.
Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
Nothing.
Then Hannah’s voice.
“Adrian.”
He sat straighter.
Something was wrong.
“Hannah?”
“We have a problem.”
Daniel’s voice came next.
“Turn your cars around.”
Adrian’s face went dead.
“Who is this?”
“You know who.”
Daniel.
Marco heard it.
His eyes widened.
Adrian said nothing for two seconds.
Then, “If you hurt them—”
“Save the movie speech. Your brother wants the girl.”
Luca.
There it was.
Not suspicion anymore.
Fact.
“Where?”
“Come back to the estate.”
“You’re inside my house?”
“Not for long.”
Ellie yelled in the background.
“Mr. Moretti!”
Adrian’s hand tightened around the phone.
Daniel continued.
“You have ten minutes.”
The call ended.
Marco cursed.
“We turn around.”
Adrian looked out the window.
“No.”
Marco stared at him.
“They have Ellie.”
“And they expect us to panic.”
“She’s a kid.”
“I know.”
Adrian pulled up the estate security layout.
“If Daniel wanted to leave, he’d already be gone.”
Marco understood.
“He’s waiting for somebody.”
“Luca.”
Adrian called the estate’s secondary security team.
No answer.
He tried another.
Nothing.
Marco frowned.
“They cut internal communications.”
Adrian looked at the freight terminal ahead.
A trap in front.
A hostage situation behind.
Someone had coordinated both.
“Split the convoy.”
“Boss—”
“You take two cars back. I go to the warehouse.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“I’m not.”
Adrian pointed toward Marco’s phone.
“Call Reyes.”
Marco paused.
Detective Sofia Reyes.
NYPD Organized Crime.
A woman Adrian had spent years avoiding.
“You want the police?”
“I want someone Luca doesn’t own.”
Marco called.
Back at the estate, Daniel dragged Hannah and Ellie through the service tunnel beneath the mansion.
Hannah had never known it existed.
“Where are we going?”
“Keep moving.”
Ellie clutched Rosie.
Her tears had stopped.
That scared Hannah more.
At the end of the tunnel, a steel door opened.
Luca Moretti stood on the other side.
Hannah stared at him.
“You.”
Luca smiled.
“Sorry about the family drama.”
Ellie looked at him.
“You have the same watch.”
Luca’s smile disappeared.
Because the four-year-old had just confirmed exactly what everyone feared.
May you like
She could identify him.
And Luca quietly raised his gun.
