Chapter 5 - The Attack on the Mansion Proved Someone Wanted Sophia Alive, and Mia Was the Only Person Who Knew Where to Hide HerThe attack began at 12:52.
The first bullet struck the foyer window.
The second hit the chandelier.
Security returned fire.
Alessandro reached the nursery.
Sophia was crying.
Mia stood beside the crib.
She wasn't scared.
“Mia.”
She pointed under the crib.
“Hide.”
Alessandro crouched.
A small compartment was hidden beneath the floor.
He lifted the panel.
A crawlspace.
“Who showed you this?”
Mia smiled.
“Mommy.”
Alessandro froze.
He carried Sophia into the passage.
Mia followed.
Richard sealed the entrance behind them.
They crawled through darkness.
Gunfire echoed above.
The tunnel led to an old wine cellar.
Alessandro emerged first.
He turned.
Mia was carrying Mabel.
Sophia was still crying.
Mia touched her hand.
“Shh.”
The baby stopped.
Alessandro stared.
“How do you do that?”
Mia shrugged.
“She knows me.”
They waited twenty minutes.
The attackers withdrew.
Six were arrested.
Two escaped.
The leader left a message.
THE LITTLE GIRL KNOWS WHERE SHE IS.
Alessandro read it.
“Where who is?”
Mia whispered:
“Mommy.”
That night, Alessandro finally understood the stakes.
Someone wasn't trying to kill Sophia.
They were trying to find Isabella.
And Mia somehow knew where Isabella had hidden.
The next morning, a federal investigator arrived.
She introduced herself as Agent Sarah Bennett.
“We've been watching the Moretti organization for months.”
Alessandro stared.
“Why?”
“Because your father's network is bigger than we thought.”
She opened a file.
“Your mother, your wife, Victor, Rose.”
Alessandro interrupted.
“Rose is Isabella's sister.”
Sarah nodded.
“We know.”
He froze.
“You know where Isabella is?”
“We think so.”
“Where?”
Sarah looked toward Mia.
“She knows.”
Alessandro stared.
“Mia?”
“Yes.”
“She's three.”
“We've seen her identify locations that adults couldn't.”
“How?”
Sarah shook her head.
“We don't know.”
Mia approached.
She looked at the photograph in Sarah's hand.
“That place.”
“What place?”
Mia pointed.
“The blue house.”
Sarah stared.
“It's one of our safe houses.”
Alessandro's expression changed.
“Why would she know that?”
Sarah asked:
“Mia, who lives there?”
Mia smiled.
“Mommy.”
They drove there.
The house was empty.
But inside they found paintings.
Photos.
A child's room.
And on the wall, a drawing.
Mia had drawn it.
The same blue house.
Behind it, another building.
A hospital.
Sarah compared the drawing to old maps.
“There's an underground tunnel.”
Alessandro stared.
“He built tunnels everywhere.”
They went down.
At the bottom, they found a room.
A bed.
Medical supplies.
Photographs of Isabella.
She had been alive.
She had survived.
But she was gone.
A note lay on the bed.
Alessandro, I couldn't risk coming home.
Someone inside your family is still watching.
Protect Sophia.
Protect Mia.
Elena knows the truth.
Alessandro turned.
Elena stood behind him.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I was going to tell you.”
“Tell me now.”
She took a breath.
“Isabella didn't only ask me to protect Sophia.”
“What else?”
“She asked me to protect Mia.”
Alessandro frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Mia was there.”
“Where?”
“The night Isabella was attacked.”
“She saw who did it.”
Alessandro looked at Mia.
“What did she see?”
Elena knelt.
“Mia doesn't understand what she sees.”
“She sees people after they leave.”
“She sees reflections.”
“She sees things hidden.”
“She remembers voices.”
Alessandro stared.
Mia wasn't seeing ghosts.
She was remembering.
A child with extraordinary memory.
A child who had been exposed to danger and processed it differently.
Elena continued:
“Isabella believed Mia could identify the killer.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
Alessandro froze.
“Victor?”
“He wasn't the one who ordered it.”
“Then who?”
Elena whispered:
“Your grandfather's lawyer.”
Alessandro stared.
The lawyer had been dead for twenty years.
But he had a son.
A man named Charles.
Charles Moretti.
Alessandro's cousin.
A trusted family attorney.
And the current keeper of the trust.
Everything came together.
Charles had been manipulating the family.
Victor had helped.
Rose had tried to stop them.
Isabella had discovered the truth.
She had escaped.
Now they were trying to find her.
The question became simple.
Where was Isabella?
Mia answered before anyone else could.
She pointed toward Chicago.
“Mommy is there.”
“Where?”
May you like
Mia smiled.
“Where Daddy doesn't look.”
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