Chapter 3 - Where Is Emma?
Alessandro hit the alarm button mounted beside the kitchen door.
A siren exploded through the estate.
“Lock every gate!”
Security chief Nathan Cole’s voice came through the radio.
“What happened?”
“Emma’s missing.”
Everything changed instantly.
Guards moved across the property.
The iron gates locked.
Cars were stopped.
Every room was searched.
Teresa stood in the kitchen crying.
“She wouldn’t leave by herself.”
“I know.”
“What if Isabella—”
“Don’t.”
Alessandro crouched beside Rosie.
Emma never went anywhere without that rabbit.
That scared him more than the open door.
He picked it up.
Something crackled inside.
Alessandro frowned.
Rosie had been repaired dozens of times.
One seam near the rabbit’s back looked newer.
He pressed it.
Something hard was inside.
“Teresa, scissors.”
She brought them.
Alessandro carefully opened the stitching.
A tiny object fell into his palm.
A flash drive.
Teresa stared.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
Before Alessandro could examine it, Nathan rushed inside.
“Sir.”
“Tell me you found her.”
“Not yet.”
Alessandro’s face hardened.
“What about the cameras?”
“That’s the problem.”
Nathan held up a tablet.
“The rear kitchen camera went offline at 8:42.”
“When?”
“Three minutes before Emma disappeared.”
Alessandro’s stomach dropped.
“Who can shut them off?”
“Me. You. The control room.”
“And?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Mr. Romano…”
“Say it.”
“Your cousin Enzo has administrator access.”
Teresa whispered, “Enzo?”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
Enzo Romano had grown up beside him.
More brother than cousin.
Chief financial officer of Romano Holdings.
Best man at his upcoming wedding.
“He’s at the office.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No, sir.”
“What?”
“He came onto the property twenty minutes ago.”
Alessandro’s expression went cold.
“Where is he now?”
“We don’t know.”
Nathan’s radio suddenly crackled.
“Chief, we found something near the greenhouse.”
Everyone ran.
Alessandro reached the greenhouse first.
A child’s shoe lay beside the gravel path.
Pink.
Small.
Emma’s.
Teresa covered her mouth.
“Oh God.”
Alessandro picked it up.
Then he saw tire tracks leading toward the old service road behind the property.
“Which vehicle left?”
Nathan checked his tablet.
“One.”
“Whose?”
Nathan looked at Alessandro.
“Enzo’s.”
Alessandro immediately called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
A third time.
Voicemail.
“Track his car.”
Nathan began working.
Teresa suddenly grabbed Alessandro’s arm.
“The flash drive.”
He had forgotten it was still in his pocket.
They hurried into his study.
Alessandro plugged it into an offline laptop.
A folder appeared.
No name.
Inside were seven video files.
He opened the first one.
The screen showed the estate kitchen.
The date was from six days earlier.
Emma’s angle.
Low to the ground.
Apparently she had hidden a phone somewhere.
Isabella stood at the counter.
A man entered.
His face remained outside the frame.
Isabella whispered, “It has to look natural.”
The man answered.
Alessandro recognized the voice immediately.
Enzo.
“We don’t need him dead yet.”
Isabella crossed her arms.
“Then when?”
“After the wedding.”
Alessandro went still.
Enzo continued.
“Small doses first. Make him sick. Make him dependent. Once you’re his wife, we finish it.”
Teresa began crying.
Alessandro’s hands curled into fists.
Then Isabella asked the question that changed everything.
“And the girl?”
May you like
Enzo’s answer came without hesitation.
“If Emma talks, she disappears too.”
