Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO WOULD NOT TAKE THE MONEY
Hannah was discharged from the hospital the following afternoon.
Her thigh had required eleven stitches. The cuts on her forearms were shallow but numerous, and the doctor warned her not to put weight on her right leg for several days. She was given antibiotics, pain medication, and strict instructions to return if the wound became hot, swollen, or painful.
Luca was waiting outside her room.
Hannah stopped when she saw him.
“You didn't have to come.”
“I wanted to.”
He had brought a small paper bag from the hospital café and a folded coat. Behind him stood a woman in a charcoal suit whom Hannah did not recognize.
“This is Elena,” Luca said. “She works with my family office. She'll take you wherever you want to go.”
“I can get a taxi.”
“You can. But you shouldn't have to manage it while you're injured.”
Hannah looked at Elena. “I don't want to be taken somewhere I can't leave.”
Luca's expression softened slightly.
“You choose the destination. She drives. If you'd rather take a taxi, I'll pay for it and have Daniel follow at a distance.”
“I don't need someone following me.”
“Then no one will.”
He stepped back to give her room.
Hannah appreciated that more than she wanted to admit.
She chose her small apartment on the north side of the city, where her brother Noah was staying while attending community college. The building had a narrow staircase and no elevator. Elena helped her up slowly while Luca carried the bag.
When Noah opened the apartment door, his face drained of color.
“Hannah? What happened?”
“I'm okay.”
He looked at the bandage beneath her skirt, then at the gauze on her arms.
“That is not okay.”
Luca set the bag on the kitchen table.
“Your sister helped save my daughter. She was injured doing it.”
Noah stared at him, recognition dawning.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Luca nodded.
Noah stepped aside.
The apartment was small but clean. A secondhand sofa sat against the wall. Textbooks covered one end of the dining table. A photograph of Hannah and Noah as children stood beside a jar of wooden spoons.
Luca noticed the unpaid electricity notice beneath the fruit bowl. He said nothing.
Hannah eased herself onto the sofa.
“Thank you for bringing me home.”
“Do you have everything you need?”
“Yes.”
“Food? Medication? Someone to help you?”
“My brother is here.”
Noah crossed his arms. “And I'm not leaving.”
Luca nodded. “Good.”
He placed a card on the table. “This is a direct number for the family office. If you need medical help, transport, or anything related to the investigation, call.”
Hannah glanced at the card.
“I don't want money.”
“I didn't offer you money.”
“You were about to.”
“I was going to offer to cover the medical costs.”
“The hospital already treated me.”
“And you lost wages.”
“I have sick leave.”
Luca studied her. “You shouldn't have to pay a price for saving Lily.”
Hannah's expression tightened.
“Please don't make this about a reward. I did what anyone should have done.”
Luca looked at her for a long moment.
“Not everyone did.”
He left soon after.
Noah waited until the door closed before turning to his sister.
“You saved a little girl from a locked room and then argued with a billionaire about a hospital bill?”
Hannah leaned back carefully.
“I don't want to owe him.”
“You don't owe him. He owes you.”
She said nothing.
That evening, Lily asked Luca if they could visit Hannah.
The doctor had approved a short visit as long as Lily stayed calm and did not overwhelm her. Luca hesitated only long enough to make sure Hannah wanted company.
When she heard Lily was asking for her, Hannah said yes.
Luca arrived with Lily, Dr. Patel's instructions, and a small bouquet of yellow daisies.
Lily ran toward the sofa, then remembered Hannah's injured leg and slowed abruptly.
“Miss Hannah!”
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Lily climbed onto the sofa beside her and held out a drawing. It showed a big house, a little girl, a broken picture frame, and a woman with a hammer.
“I made you this.”
Hannah smiled. “It's beautiful.”
“I made your hammer very big.”
“I noticed.”
Lily looked at the bandage on Hannah's cheek.
“Does it hurt?”
“A little.”
“I'm sorry.”
Hannah shook her head. “You don't have to be sorry.”
Lily leaned forward and kissed the edge of the bandage.
Luca looked away for a moment.
Noah brought tea. The visit was awkward at first, but Lily quickly filled the room with questions about the daisies, the rabbit she had left at the mansion, and whether Hannah could come back to read stories.
“Not yet,” Hannah said gently. “I need to get better first.”
“Then I'll wait.”
It was such a simple promise that Hannah felt her throat tighten.
After twenty minutes, Luca said it was time to go.
Lily hugged Hannah carefully.
At the door, Luca paused.
“I need to tell you something about the investigation.”
Hannah's smile faded.
“What?”
“The phone messages suggest someone knew you had heard Vanessa. They discussed preventing you from speaking to me.”
Hannah went still.
“Before she cut me?”
“Yes.”
“So it was planned.”
“We're still establishing the full sequence.”
Hannah looked toward Noah. He had heard enough to understand.
“Does that mean they're going to come here?”
“No,” Luca said. “The police have assigned protection while the investigation is active. I won't send anyone into your home without your permission.”
She nodded, but her fingers had tightened around the blanket.
Luca continued. “Detective Ellis wants to interview you again when you're well enough. You can have a lawyer or support person with you.”
“I'll tell her what I heard.”
“Good.”
He opened the door, then stopped.
“Hannah, I know you don't want to owe me anything. But please understand that protecting you now is not a transaction. It is my responsibility.”
She looked at him.
“Because I'm your employee?”
“Because you're a person who was hurt in my home.”
For the first time, she believed he meant it.
The next morning, Detective Ellis arrived at Hannah's apartment with a female officer and a recorder. Noah stayed in the kitchen while Hannah gave her statement.
She described the conversation near the pantry corridor, the knife, the cut phone line, and Vanessa's threat. She was careful to separate what she had seen from what she had inferred.
Ellis thanked her.
“Your statement may help us establish who was directing the operation.”
“Do you think Vanessa planned to take Lily?”
“We have evidence that she intended to place the child in a private facility. We are still investigating who funded it and who helped arrange the documents.”
Hannah swallowed.
“Will Lily be safe?”
Ellis gave her a steady look.
“We're working to make sure of that.”
After the detective left, Hannah tried to rest. But around noon, an unknown number called.
She ignored it.
It called again.
Then a message appeared.
You should stop telling stories about people you don't understand.
Hannah's skin went cold.
She showed the message to Noah and called the number on Luca's card.
Daniel answered.
“Don't reply,” he said. “Take a screenshot. Keep the phone. An officer will come by.”
Within fifteen minutes, the building's entrance was covered by plainclothes security.
Luca arrived shortly after.
He read the message, and the muscles in his jaw tightened.
“Did you recognize the number?”
“No.”
“Have you received anything else?”
“No.”
He handed the phone back.
“I'm sorry.”
Hannah looked at him. “You didn't send it.”
“No. But someone used my world to frighten you.”
She studied him.
“Then fix your world.”
The words came out more sharply than she intended.
Luca did not take offense.
“I intend to.”
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Hannah said, “You should go. Lily needs you.”
He nodded.
But as he turned toward the door, his phone rang. Daniel's name flashed on the screen.
Luca answered.
“We found Peter Sloane,” Daniel said. “He checked into a private hotel outside Milwaukee under a false name. Police are on the way.”
Luca looked back at Hannah.
“Tell them to take him alive,” he said.
And for the first time since the portrait shattered, Hannah saw something in his expression that was not anger.
Hope.
After the visit, Hannah's brother walked Luca to the apartment door. Noah was protective, and he did not try to hide it.
“She trusts people too easily,” Noah said. “Especially when they have power.”
Luca accepted the criticism without protest. “Then I won't ask her to trust me. I'll give her reasons to decide for herself.”
May you like
Noah studied him for a moment, then nodded toward the stairs. “That's a better answer than I expected.”
On the drive back, Luca kept thinking about the conversation. He had spent years believing that loyalty could be measured by obedience. Hannah had shown him that the most important kind of loyalty sometimes meant disobeying an order, breaking an expensive object, and risking everything because a child needed help.
