Chapter 6
By sunrise, Dominic Moretti’s private residence had become a command center.
Men moved quietly through the hallway.
Phones buzzed.
Maps covered the dining table.
Ethan sat on the sofa with Lily, both of them wrapped in blankets, watching adults speak in low voices and pretend the world was under control.
It wasn’t.
I could feel it in every face.
Dominic stood near the window, speaking to a woman named Agent Claire Reeves.
She was FBI.
Early forties.
Sharp eyes.
Gray suit.
No fear in her posture when she looked at Dominic.
That alone made me trust her a little.
She listened while Marco explained the cake, the missing footage, Bianchi, Vincent, Sofia, and Lily’s memory of the bell.
Then she looked at me.
“Your daughter witnessed the suspect?”
I nodded.
“She’s three.”
“I understand.”
“She is not a tool.”
Dominic glanced at me.
Agent Reeves did not look offended.
“She’s a child who needs protection,” she said. “Nothing else.”
I breathed a little easier.
Then she turned to Dominic.
“You should have called me hours ago.”
He did not smile.
“You should have answered faster.”
“I answered on the first ring.”
“Then we agree the delay was before that.”
Her eyebrow lifted.
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Agent Reeves spread the map wider.
“The old ferry terminal is a nightmare. Multiple entrances. Water access. Rail line nearby. If Sofia is there, Falcone will expect Moretti men, not federal agents.”
Dominic folded his arms.
“He expects me.”
“Yes. Which is why you’re not going in first.”
The room chilled.
Marco looked like she had insulted a saint.
Dominic’s voice stayed calm.
“My niece is inside.”
“And if you storm in, she may die before you reach the door.”
That shut everyone up.
Even Dominic.
Agent Reeves pointed to the map.
“We use Vincent’s scheduled meet. We let Falcone believe Dominic is coming to negotiate. Meanwhile, my team surrounds the terminal.”
“What about Sofia?” I asked.
“We need confirmation she’s inside before the raid.”
Dominic looked at Vincent’s last location on Marco’s tablet.
“Vincent can get that.”
“If he’s alive,” Marco said.
The room went quiet.
Lily stirred beside Ethan.
“Mommy?”
I went to her.
“What, baby?”
“The cake man had a phone.”
“I know.”
“It had a sticker.”
Agent Reeves crouched immediately but kept her distance.
“What kind of sticker?”
Lily rubbed her eyes.
“A moon.”
Marco frowned.
“Bianchi’s phone?”
“No,” Lily said. “The man at the cold room. He called the ding-dong place. His phone had a moon.”
Agent Reeves looked at Marco.
“Did you recover Bianchi’s phone?”
Marco nodded and made a call.
Ten minutes later, a guard brought it upstairs in an evidence pouch.
Plain black phone.
No sticker.
Lily looked once and shook her head.
“Not that one.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
“Then Bianchi wasn’t the man she saw.”
My stomach dropped.
“But she identified him.”
“She saw him later,” Dominic said. “Running. Looking guilty.”
Agent Reeves nodded slowly.
“Could be part of it, but not the cake man.”
Marco swore under his breath.
Dominic turned on him.
“Find the moon phone.”
Marco started issuing orders.
Every guest.
Every driver.
Every staff member.
Every image from every camera that had not been erased.
Search for a phone with a moon sticker.
For the next hour, we waited.
Waiting was its own kind of torture.
Ethan asked if Sofia was cold.
No one answered fast enough.
So I sat beside him.
“When Lily was a baby,” I said, “we lost power during a snowstorm. I wrapped her in two sweaters and three blankets. She looked like a marshmallow.”
Lily giggled sleepily.
Ethan tried to smile.
“Sofia hates being cold,” he said.
“Then she’s probably very annoyed right now.”
His eyes flicked to me.
“Annoyed?”
“Very. She’s probably planning what she’ll yell when she gets out.”
That made him smile for real, just a little.
Dominic watched from across the room.
Something unreadable crossed his face.
Maybe gratitude.
Maybe grief.
Maybe the realization that his son had needed ordinary comfort more than armed men.
At 8:12 a.m., Marco rushed in.
“We found it.”
Dominic turned.
“Who?”
Marco looked sick.
“Isabella.”
Rosa gasped.
Dominic did not move.
“Show me.”
Marco placed a tablet on the table.
The image was from the ballroom just before the cake was served.
A woman in a black gown stood near the service corridor, holding a phone.
On the back was a silver crescent moon sticker.
I recognized her immediately.
Everyone did.
Isabella Moretti.
Dominic’s sister-in-law.
Vincent’s wife.
Sofia’s mother.
Ethan whispered, “Aunt Isabella?”
Rosa sat down hard.
Dominic stared at the image.
His face went completely blank.
Agent Reeves leaned closer.
“She’s the mother of the kidnapped child?”
“Yes,” Dominic said.
“Where is she now?”
“No one has seen her since the party,” Marco answered.
I felt cold all over.
“Why would Sofia’s mother help poison Ethan?”
Dominic looked at the screen.
“Because maybe Sofia was never taken from her.”
Before anyone could answer, Marco’s phone rang.
He listened.
Then his face changed.
“Boss. Vincent just called.”
Dominic grabbed the phone.
“Put it through.”
Vincent’s voice came in broken and breathless.
“Dom, it’s a setup.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Isabella?”
A sob.
“She said Sofia is safe if I cooperate. She said Falcone promised us protection after you were gone.”
Ethan began to cry silently.
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“Where is Sofia?”
“At the terminal. I heard her crying. Isabella is with her.”
Agent Reeves signaled her team.
Dominic asked, “Where are you?”
“They have me in a car outside. I’m supposed to bring you in alone.”
“Stay alive.”
“Dom—”
The call cut.
Agent Reeves stood.
“We move now.”
Dominic reached for his jacket.
She pointed at him.
“You stay back until I say otherwise.”
He looked ready to argue.
Then Ethan grabbed his hand.
“Please, Dad. Don’t make me lose you too.”
Dominic’s face cracked.
He knelt and held his son.
“I’m coming back.”
“You promise?”
Dominic looked at Lily.
Then hooked his pinky with Ethan’s.
“I promise.”
I thought that would be the end.
Then Lily slid off the sofa and walked to Dominic.
She lifted her tiny finger too.
“Pinky promise for Sofia.”
Dominic swallowed.
May you like
Then he hooked his finger around hers.
“For Sofia.”
