Chapter 6 - The Voice on the Recording
The next thirty minutes became a nightmare.
Lorenzo returned to the estate with every available man.
The security system had been disabled from inside.
That meant the kidnapper had help.
Clara couldn't breathe.
"Rosie."
Lorenzo caught her shoulders.
"We'll find her."
"What if—"
"No."
"You don't know that."
"I know my daughter."
He pulled her close.
"She's coming home."
Matteo found the first clue in Rosie's room.
A stuffed rabbit.
Placed neatly on the pillow.
Clara recognized it immediately.
Rosie never went anywhere without it.
Inside the rabbit was a recording device.
They played it.
A man's voice filled the room.
"Clara, if you're hearing this, you finally opened the pendant."
Clara covered her mouth.
Her father's voice.
Her father was speaking to her from the past.
"I knew they would come after you. I knew Daniel would use my daughter if he couldn't get to me."
The recording continued.
"There is a ledger. The names inside it will destroy the people responsible."
Lorenzo looked at Matteo.
"Where?"
"I hid it where no one would search."
A pause.
Then:
"At the place where Clara learned to walk."
Clara whispered:
"My grandmother's house."
Her father's voice continued.
"Trust Lorenzo."
Clara looked at Lorenzo.
"He will protect you."
Then the recording ended.
The room was silent.
Lorenzo's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Where is my daughter?"
A man's voice laughed.
"Your daughter?"
Lorenzo's expression became murderous.
"Give her to me."
"Come alone."
"Where?"
"Warehouse seventeen."
The call ended.
Clara grabbed his arm.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"She's my daughter."
"And she's mine."
Clara stared at him.
"I won't sit here while you risk your life."
"Clara—"
"You promised you'd show me."
He froze.
She continued.
"So show me."
Lorenzo stared at her for a long moment.
Then nodded.
They went together.
Warehouse seventeen was empty.
Too empty.
Lorenzo knew immediately.
"It's a trap."
A light turned on.
Daniel Bennett stepped out.
Clara's uncle.
He held Rosie in his arms.
The child was frightened but unharmed.
Clara whispered:
"Daniel."
He smiled.
"Hello, sweetheart."
"You killed my father."
"He made mistakes."
"You took my daughter."
"I borrowed her."
Lorenzo stepped forward.
Daniel raised a gun.
"One more step and the little girl gets hurt."
Lorenzo stopped.
Daniel smiled.
"You know, Lorenzo, your family and mine aren't so different."
"They are nothing alike."
"Oh, please."
Daniel looked at Clara.
"Your father trusted the wrong people."
"Like you?"
"Like everyone."
Rosie began crying.
Lorenzo's face changed.
"Let her go."
Daniel shook his head.
"First, give me the ledger."
"We don't have it."
Daniel laughed.
"You have the pendant."
Clara touched her necklace.
"You knew."
"I've always known."
Suddenly, a loud crash came from the far side of the warehouse.
Daniel turned.
Lorenzo moved.
Everything happened at once.
Matteo's men stormed through the side entrance.
Daniel grabbed Rosie.
Clara screamed.
Lorenzo lunged.
A gun fired.
Rosie fell.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then Lorenzo caught her.
There was blood.
Not hers.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
He had shielded her.
Rosie cried into his chest.
"Daddy!"
Lorenzo held her tighter.
Daniel ran.
Matteo chased him.
Clara dropped beside Lorenzo.
"You've been shot."
He looked at Rosie.
"She's okay."
"You're bleeding."
"I've had worse."
She touched his face.
"You scared me."
His eyes met hers.
"I thought I lost her."
"You didn't."
He looked at Clara.
"I almost lost you once."
She whispered:
"Not again."
May you like
And somewhere in the darkness outside, Daniel disappeared with the one thing they needed most.
The ledger.
