Chapter 16 - THE SECOND ABDUCTION
Lorenzo called Father Gabriel.
No answer.
He called the estate guards.
No answer.
Antonio was already moving.
“Helicopter.”
They reached Connecticut in nineteen minutes.
Lorenzo spent every second watching the live feed on his phone.
The masked man lifted Lucia from the crib.
The baby began crying.
Then the camera died.
Lorenzo felt eight months of grief returning all at once.
Not again.
Never again.
The estate gates were open.
Two guards lay unconscious.
Alive.
Inside, Father Gabriel was tied to a chair.
“Lucia.”
Lorenzo cut him free.
“They took her.”
“How many?”
“One.”
“What?”
Gabriel coughed.
“One woman.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Woman?”
“She knew every security code.”
“She knew where the cameras were.”
“She wore a mask.”
Antonio searched the room.
“She left something.”
A white carnation rested inside the crib.
Isabella's favorite flower.
Lorenzo picked it up.
Attached was a note.
BRING THE LEDGER TO ST. AGNES.
COME ALONE, BELLA.
Lorenzo immediately called Isabella.
She answered before the first ring finished.
“They took Lucia.”
Silence.
Then Isabella asked, “Where?”
He read the note.
Isabella stopped breathing.
“St. Agnes.”
“You know it?”
“My mother used to take me there.”
“Before she disappeared.”
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
“Elena.”
“No.”
“Isabella.”
“No.”
But Isabella's voice was shaking.
St. Agnes was an abandoned Catholic school in Yonkers.
They arrived separately.
Elena came with Isabella.
Lorenzo watched her.
“You knew about the church.”
Elena nodded.
“My husband stored documents there.”
“Who else knew?”
“My sister.”
Isabella turned.
“You never told me you had a sister.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Her name was Adriana.”
“Was?”
“She died thirty years ago.”
Lorenzo almost laughed.
“I'm getting tired of dead people refusing to stay dead.”
Inside the church, candles burned along the aisle.
A woman stood near the altar.
Silver hair.
Black coat.
Lucia in her arms.
She removed her veil.
Elena gasped.
“Adriana.”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, sister.”
Isabella stared.
Her aunt had supposedly died before Isabella was born.
Adriana kissed Lucia's forehead.
“You all think Salvatore started this war.”
“He didn't.”
Lorenzo stepped forward.
“Give me my daughter.”
Adriana looked at him.
“Your father killed my husband.”
“Your father killed my son.”
“Your family buried everyone I loved.”
Isabella held up the ledger.
“You want this?”
Adriana smiled.
“No.”
She looked at Lucia.
“I want the last generation of your families to disappear.”
Then fuel began dripping from the church rafters.
May you like
Lorenzo smelled gasoline.
Adriana struck a match.
