Chapter 7 - THE BOY IN THE BLUE HOUSE
The house stood at the end of a narrow country road, surrounded by pine trees and an old stone wall. It was smaller than any home Lucas had ever owned. Its porch needed paint. A bicycle lay on its side in the grass.
A woman opened the door before Lucas could knock.
“Mr. Moretti,” she said. “I’m Rose Bennett. Isabella’s former music student.”
Lucas studied her. “You have my son?”
Rose stepped aside.
A little boy sat at the kitchen table, drawing a ship with a blue marker. His hair was longer than Lucas remembered. A small scar crossed his chin. But when he looked up, Lucas saw Isabella’s eyes.
“Daniel?”
The marker slipped from the boy’s fingers.
“Dad?”
Lucas crossed the room and dropped to his knees. Daniel ran into his arms. Lucas held him so tightly that the boy squeaked.
“I thought you were gone,” Daniel whispered.
“I know, buddy. I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t come.”
The words cut deeper than anything Victor had done.
Lucas pulled back enough to look at him. “I was looking. I never stopped.”
Rose explained that Thomas had brought Daniel to her after the fire. She had been Isabella’s piano teacher years earlier, before a family illness forced her to leave the city. Thomas trusted her because she had no connection to the Moretti organization. She had kept Daniel under a different surname and moved twice when unfamiliar cars appeared near the house.
“Why didn’t you contact me?” Lucas asked.
“Victor’s men watched the hospital and the funeral homes. Isabella believed you were being monitored. She thought any attempt to reach you would lead them straight here.”
Daniel touched the photograph on the table. It showed him with Isabella beside a piano.
“Mom said she would come back when it was safe.”
Lucas struggled to answer. “She’s waiting for you.”
Daniel stood very still. “Is she real?”
Lucas took out his phone and showed him a recent picture of Isabella. Daniel stared at it, then pressed the screen against his chest.
“I want to go home.”
“You will.”
On the drive back, Daniel sat beside Lucas, holding his hand. He asked about the mansion, the piano, and whether the old wooden horse was still on the mantel. Lucas answered every question. When Daniel asked if there were still bad men, Lucas did not lie.
“Yes,” he said. “But we’re going to stop them.”
At the mansion, Isabella waited in the sunroom. The moment Daniel entered, she covered her mouth. He ran to her, and she fell to her knees.
“Mom!”
She gathered him into her arms, rocking him as if he were still a baby. Lucas stood by the doorway, letting them have the first moments he had imagined for three years.
Lily watched from behind Elena.
“Is that your little boy?” she asked.
Daniel nodded. “Are you the girl who helped my dad breathe?”
“I used my inhaler,” Lily said, as if that explained everything.
Daniel considered this. “Then you’re a hero.”
Lily blushed.
For one evening, the mansion sounded like a home again. Daniel played with Lily in the hall. Isabella sat at the piano. Elena helped prepare dinner, and Lucas found himself setting plates instead of issuing orders.
Then Marco entered with a tablet.
“Boss, the ledger has a problem.”
Lucas followed him into the study. A new message had arrived from an unknown number. It contained a photograph of the mansion’s front gate, taken minutes earlier.
Under it were six words:
YOU BROUGHT THE BOY BACK. THANK YOU.
Lucas looked at the security feed.
May you like
A black car was parked across the street.
Its headlights were off.
