Chapter 4 - The Vanishing
The penthouse on Lake Shore Drive was dead silent when Luca returned at midnight.
He poured himself three fingers of scotch, leaving the glass untouched on his glass-topped desk while he stared out at the dark, churning expanse of Lake Michigan. His jaw still throbbed from the sheer restraint it had taken not to pull Amelia into his arms on the sidewalk.
He hated the cold. He hated that he had left her there. But the Blackstone was crawling with Silvano’s informants, and if anyone had overheard her mention Hannah Reed, eight years of careful, bloody leverage would have evaporated in a single evening.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Gabriel.
It went straight to voicemail.
Luca frowned, setting the phone on the desk. Gabriel never missed a call. Even off-duty, the man responded within two rings.
He dialed the lead driver’s line.
"Signor Moretti," the driver answered instantly.
"Where is Gabriel?" Luca demanded. "Is Amelia in her room?"
"Signor Vance took the Mrs. from the Blackstone forty minutes ago," the driver replied, hesitation creeping into his tone. "He told us he was taking her to the secondary residence in Oak Brook to avoid the press."
Luca’s blood ran cold instantly. "Oak Brook? I didn't order a transfer to Oak Brook."
"He said... he said it came directly from you, sir. He had the security override codes."
Luca slammed his hand down on the glass desk, the sound echoing through the empty apartment like a gunshot. "Get a team to the Oak Brook house now! And find out why Gabriel’s personal tracker just went dark!"
He ended the call, his heart hammering against his ribs with a sudden, violent terror he hadn't felt in a decade. He ran to his private safe, threw open the heavy steel door, and reached for the back compartment where the master hard drives were kept.
The compartment was empty.
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The Hannah Reed files, the land titles, the original police ledgers—everything was gone. And on the velvet lining where the drives had rested lay a single, plain silver ring.
Amelia’s wedding band.
