Chapter 16 - The Traitor Within
Luca threw the mercenary back into the steel chair, his mind racing with terrifying speed.
If Arthur Sterling was alive, and if he had been orchestrating the destruction of the Moretti family for years, then the security breach at the estate last night wasn't a failure of their exterior defenses. The photograph of Sophia sleeping in her bed couldn't have been taken by an outside intruder.
The call was coming from inside the house.
Luca burst out of the interrogation room, grabbing Hannah by the hand and sprinting up the hidden staircase toward the main floors of the mansion.
"Elias!" Luca roared, his voice echoing violently through the grand hallways. "Lock down the entire estate! Nobody leaves! Nobody enters!"
Elias materialized from the corridor, his hand resting on his holstered weapon. "Boss, the perimeter is locked. What is happening?"
"We have a mole," Luca barked, his eyes darting toward the grand staircase leading to Sophia’s playroom. "Someone inside this house took that photograph last night. Someone who had access to the private family wing."
Hannah’s heart plummeted. Only a handful of fully vetted, heavily trusted staff members were ever allowed near the private family quarters. The maids, the private chefs, and the elite inner circle of guards.
"Where is Sophia?" Hannah asked frantically, her maternal panic rising fast.
"She is in the library with Maria, the head nanny," Elias responded instantly.
Luca and Hannah ran down the luxurious hallway, their footsteps completely silent on the thick Persian runner rugs. They reached the heavy mahogany doors of the grand library. Luca didn't knock. He shoved the doors open with explosive force.
The library was empty.
The toys were scattered across the floor. The fireplace was crackling warmly. But Sophia and Maria were nowhere to be seen.
Hannah let out a desperate, shattered gasp, rushing into the room. "Sophia! Sophia!"
Luca’s eyes scanned the room with the precision of a predator. He noticed the heavy velvet curtains near the rear balcony swaying slightly in the cool breeze. The glass door leading out to the secondary driveway was cracked open.
Luca sprinted to the balcony, looking down at the courtyard.
Maria, the trusted nanny who had lived with the family for five years, was rapidly dragging a terrified, crying Sophia toward a running black SUV waiting at the edge of the service gate.
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"Let her go!" Luca roared, vaulting over the stone railing and dropping fifteen feet directly onto the manicured lawn below.
👉 The traitor is attempting to deliver Sophia directly to the Syndicate, but how will Luca unleash his full, terrifying wrath to save his daughter?
