Chapter 10 - THE PRICE OF A FATHER'S LIFE|
Luca didn't speak for almost ten minutes after the van disappeared.
He stood on the porch, staring at the empty driveway.
Rain began falling across the lake.
Rafael contacted Detective Serrano and local law enforcement while the other security officer checked the property.
I remained beside Luca.
"He's alive," I whispered.
Luca didn't move.
"Voss needs him alive to get whatever he wants."
Finally, Luca turned toward me.
"You don't know that."
"No," I admitted.
"But your father is stronger than Voss thinks."
Luca looked at the photograph in his hand.
"He told me to protect you."
I swallowed.
"He knew you'd come after him."
A terrible expression crossed Luca's face.
"The man who killed Daniel Price has my father."
I caught his arm.
"Then don't give Voss another victim."
"Let the police help us get him back."
For several seconds, he stared at me.
Then he nodded.
"I promised Dad I would listen."
We returned to Chicago while investigators searched for the van.
The records from Elena's cabinet were secured and copied for Evelyn's legal team and the detectives.
They provided evidence of Voss's older financial arrangements, though investigators still needed to establish the full connection to the current crimes.
By late afternoon, Luca's phone rang.
Vanessa.
He answered immediately.
"Where is my father?"
Her voice shook.
"I didn't know Elias was going to take him."
"Don't insult me."
"I'm telling you the truth."
"Then tell me where they are."
There was a pause.
"Meet me alone."
Luca's face hardened.
"No."
"Luca, please."
He looked toward Detective Serrano.
The detective quietly indicated that he should keep Vanessa talking.
Luca replied, "You can tell the police everything you know."
Vanessa began crying.
"You don't understand what he'll do to me."
Luca's voice grew cold.
"Then tell me what he's planning to do to my father."
For a moment, I thought she would hang up.
Instead, she whispered, "He wants Frank to sign away the trust protections."
Evelyn leaned forward.
"That wouldn't make a coerced transfer valid," she said quietly.
Luca repeated her warning.
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
"Do you think Elias cares whether the paperwork survives in court?"
"He wants enough time to move the assets and disappear."
"Why are you helping him?"
Vanessa remained silent.
Then she said something I hadn't expected.
"Because I thought I deserved the life you had."
Luca stared at the phone.
"What?"
"I grew up watching men like you buy everything they wanted."
"My father worked himself into an early grave."
"My mother died with medical bills she couldn't pay."
"And Elias told me that the world only respects people who take what they want."
Her voice broke.
"He helped me when nobody else would."
"That doesn't explain why you tried to destroy my father."
"I know."
It was the first time I had heard Vanessa acknowledge wrongdoing without immediately making an excuse.
She continued.
"At first, Elias wanted information."
"Then he wanted access to your household records."
"When you married me, he said we could finally recover what the Morettis owed him."
Luca closed his eyes.
"You married me for my family's property."
Vanessa didn't deny it.
"I wanted the money."
"I wanted the house."
"I wanted to be someone nobody could humiliate."
I felt sick listening to her.
She had humiliated Frank because she feared being powerless herself.
She had threatened me because she couldn't tolerate anyone who refused to fear her.
And she had mistaken cruelty for strength.
"Where is my father?" Luca asked again.
Vanessa's breathing became uneven.
"I think Elias took him to the old warehouse on South Halsted."
Luca looked up sharply.
"The property he stole from us?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Because that's where he took the notary."
Detective Serrano immediately began coordinating with other officers.
But Vanessa wasn't finished.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Elias told me your father wasn't supposed to survive the final transfer."
My knees weakened.
Luca gripped the desk.
"Say that again."
Vanessa began sobbing.
"He said once Frank signs the papers, there won't be any reason to keep him alive."
The room became silent.
I looked at Luca.
His expression was so empty that it frightened me more than his anger.
Then Vanessa whispered, "I never agreed to murder him."
Luca answered quietly.
"You agreed to erase him."
The words struck her harder than shouting could have.
After a long silence, she spoke again.
"I can help you get him back."
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because Elias knows I called you."
A loud crash sounded through the phone.
Vanessa gasped.
Then a man's voice spoke in the background.
"Who are you talking to?"
The line went dead.
Luca stared at his phone.
Seconds later, a message arrived.
A photograph showed Frank sitting in a chair beneath a hanging industrial light.
His hands were resting on a document.
Beside him stood Elias Voss.
May you like
The message contained only one sentence.
Come to South Halsted before midnight, or your father signs his last document.
