Chapter 2
Vittorio had the east service gate checked immediately.
The lock was old.
Mechanical.
No electronic access record.
That irritated him.
Everything else on the estate had been modernized.
The east garden had been ignored because no one used it.
Apparently someone had found that useful.
Daniel Reed, Vittorio’s security chief, crouched beside the gate.
“No damage.”
“Could Lucy have locked herself in?”
“Not from inside.”
Vittorio looked toward the stone path.
The garden was narrow, surrounded by ivy-covered walls.
A maintenance shed stood at the far end.
Mud covered the ground near an irrigation line.
Exactly the kind of mud on Lucy’s clothes.
Emma stood beside the house.
“She was sitting there.”
She pointed toward a wooden bench.
“Crying?”
“No.”
That surprised Vittorio.
“What was she doing?”
“Just sitting.”
Emma swallowed.
“She looked exhausted.”
Lucy was now upstairs with Vittorio’s older sister, Theresa, who had arrived after Emma called her.
Vittorio had never been grateful that Theresa ignored his schedule before.
That morning he was.
Daniel inspected the shed.
Unlocked.
Inside were gardening tools, old patio cushions, fertilizer bags, and a metal shelving unit.
Nothing obvious.
Then Emma noticed something.
“The blanket is gone.”
Vittorio turned.
“What blanket?”
“There was an old gray moving blanket on the shelf last week.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You’re sure?”
“I helped the gardener put it there.”
Vittorio stared at the empty shelf.
“When did you last see it?”
“Friday.”
It was Tuesday.
Daniel stepped outside and called two guards.
Vittorio remained with Emma.
“You found Lucy at six.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
Emma’s face tightened.
“I tried.”
“What?”
“I called the council-room line.”
Vittorio remembered.
His council meeting had started at six fifteen.
He had left his phone upstairs because Marcus insisted they needed no interruptions.
“I told the guard outside that I needed to speak to you.”
“Who?”
Emma hesitated.
“Marcus.”
Vittorio went completely still.
“Marcus was outside the council room?”
“For a few minutes.”
“What did he say?”
“That Lucy was fine. He said Bianca had already told him she’d had another tantrum and wandered outside.”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
“And you believed him?”
“No.”
Emma looked ashamed.
“But he told me not to interrupt you unless it was life-threatening.”
Vittorio looked away.
He had built that rule.
No interruptions during council meetings unless someone was dying.
Marcus had simply used it.
Emma continued.
“That’s why I kept my phone with me.”
“For what?”
“To record.”
“Because you expected Bianca to do something?”
Emma said nothing.
Vittorio turned back.
“Emma.”
“She’s been punishing Lucy for weeks.”
His voice dropped.
“What kind of punishment?”
“Standing in corners.”
“Taking toys?”
“Yes.”
“Food?”
Emma looked toward the house.
“Sometimes.”
Vittorio felt cold.
“How long?”
“Maybe a month.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I tried twice.”
“When?”
Emma reminded him.
One afternoon outside his office.
Another time after dinner.
Both times Vittorio had been on the phone.
Both times Marcus had stepped in.
“He told me Bianca was trying to establish rules before the wedding.”
Vittorio closed his eyes.
The pieces were beginning to form.
Not into an answer.
Into a pattern.
That afternoon Daniel found the missing gray blanket.
It was stuffed behind a row of hedges outside the garden wall.
There was dried mud on it.
And something else.
A child-sized plastic cup.
Lucy’s.
Vittorio recognized the faded rabbit sticker.
He had seen her use it at breakfast every morning.
May you like
Someone had brought Lucy into that garden deliberately.
And whoever did it had carried one of her cups with them.
