Chapter 5 - THE VOICE IN THE DARK
I bit the hand over my mouth.
The man cursed.
His grip loosened.
I drove my elbow backward.
Something cracked.
He stumbled into the table.
Leo screamed.
“Run!” I shouted.
I couldn't see him.
Then I heard Mrs. Bell.
“This way, Leo!”
A door slammed.
The attacker lunged again.
His fingers caught my cardigan.
Fabric tore.
I grabbed the nearest object.
A heavy brass candlestick.
I swung.
He ducked.
The candlestick struck the wall.
Sparks burst from an outlet.
For one second, I saw his face.
Black mask.
Pale eyes.
A scar beside his mouth.
Then the emergency lights flickered on.
He ran toward the service stairs.
I chased him three steps.
Vincent appeared at the landing.
“Emma!”
“Kitchen stairs!”
He signaled Marco.
Two guards ran past.
Vincent caught my arms.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
My voice broke.
“Leo.”
“Where is he?”
“Mrs. Bell took him.”
Vincent released me.
We searched the kitchen.
The pantry stood open.
Mrs. Bell sat on the floor.
Leo was tucked behind sacks of flour.
Arthur rested in his lap.
He looked up.
“Emma?”
I dropped beside him.
He wrapped his arms around my neck.
I held him until my breathing slowed.
Vincent knelt on the other side.
“Are you all right, son?”
Leo nodded.
Then shook his head.
“He wanted Arthur.”
Vincent brushed hair from his forehead.
“He won't get him.”
Mrs. Bell covered her mouth.
“I should have told you sooner.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Tell me now.”
She stared at the bear.
“Isabella made two.”
“One for Leo,” I said.
“And one for Vincent.”
Leo sat up.
“Dad had a bear?”
Mrs. Bell gave a sad smile.
“Not exactly.”
She explained.
Isabella had stitched a second bear from the same blue blankets.
It looked identical.
But its left paw had a hidden pocket.
She kept it in the kitchen pantry.
One night, three years ago, Daniel came searching.
He overturned shelves.
He threatened to fire Mrs. Bell.
She gave him the bear.
“The wrong one,” Mrs. Bell whispered.
Vincent stared.
“You switched them.”
“Yes.”
“Where is the real one?”
Mrs. Bell shook her head.
“Isabella took it.”
I looked at Arthur.
The torn seam.
The missing eye.
The repaired paw.
“Then which bear is this?”
Mrs. Bell reached for the ribbon.
She inspected the stitching.
Her eyes filled.
“The decoy.”
Leo made a small sound.
“Mom lied to me?”
“No,” Mrs. Bell said.
“She was protecting you.”
Vincent held out his hand.
“Then where did she hide the real one?”
Mrs. Bell glanced toward the pantry wall.
“There's something I need to show you.”
She pushed aside a flour barrel.
A narrow panel appeared.
Behind it was a wooden box.
Mrs. Bell opened the lid.
Inside lay a child's drawing.
A blue house.
A yellow sun.
Three stick figures holding hands.
On the back, Isabella had written:
WHEN THE BELLS RING, LOOK UNDER THE STARS.
Leo touched the paper.
“That's my drawing.”
“Where did you make it?” I asked.
“At the lake house.”
Vincent went still.
“The lake house burned down.”
Mrs. Bell nodded.
“Two weeks after Isabella died.”
“Daniel arranged the repairs,” Vincent said.
Mrs. Bell looked at him.
“There were no repairs.”
She pulled another paper from the box.
An insurance claim.
The fire had destroyed the upper floor.
But the basement remained intact.
I felt hope rise.
Then fear.
“Someone could still be there.”
Vincent turned to Marco.
“Get the cars.”
Marco shook his head.
“Boss, we have another problem.”
He held up a phone.
Security footage filled the screen.
The masked attacker ran across the courtyard.
He reached the gate.
Then a black SUV pulled beside him.
A window lowered.
I saw a familiar profile.
Sabrina.
She handed the man an envelope.
Then the vehicle drove away.
Vincent stared at the screen.
“Find her.”
Marco's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found Daniel's car.”
“Where?”
“Near the river.”
“Daniel?”
Marco swallowed.
“Not inside.”
The next words chilled the room.
“There's blood on the driver's seat.”
Vincent took the phone.
He listened.
Then ended the call.
“Someone wants us to think Daniel is dead.”
Mrs. Bell whispered, “Maybe he is.”
Vincent looked at her.
“No.”
He picked up Isabella's drawing.
“My brother wouldn't leave without Leo's inheritance.”
I studied the three figures.
The mother.
The father.
The child.
Then I noticed a fourth shape beneath the sun.
A tiny blue square.
Not a window.
A door.
“Leo,” I said.
“Did you draw this?”
“Yes.”
“What is that square?”
He looked surprised.
“That's where Mom put the treasure.”
Vincent crouched.
“Which treasure?”
Leo looked at him.
“The birthday present.”
“What birthday present?”
Leo's voice dropped.
“The one she said would tell us why she had to disappear.”
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
“Disappear?”
Leo nodded.
“Mom told me she might have to go away.”
Vincent's face drained.
“Leo, when did she tell you that?”
“The night before the crash.”
Vincent looked at the drawing.
Then at Mrs. Bell.
“Get everyone ready.”
We left before midnight.
Snow mixed with the rain.
I sat beside Leo in the back seat.
Vincent rode in front.
Two security vehicles followed.
The city lights faded behind us.
Dark woods crowded the road.
Leo slept against my shoulder.
Arthur rested between us.
I kept thinking about the masked man.
His scar.
His pale eyes.
Something about him felt familiar.
Then I remembered the photograph in Vincent's office.
A family Christmas.
Vincent.
Isabella.
Leo.
Daniel.
And a man standing behind them.
A man with a scar beside his mouth.
I leaned forward.
“Vincent?”
He turned.
“What is it?”
“The attacker.”
I swallowed.
“I've seen him before.”
“Where?”
“In your family photograph.”
Vincent stared at me.
“Who?”
“Your father's old driver.”
His expression changed.
“Thomas Reed?”
I nodded.
Vincent reached for his phone.
Before he could dial, the lead vehicle braked.
Our driver swore.
Headlights appeared through the trees.
A truck blocked the road.
Marco's voice crackled over the radio.
“Ambush. Turn around.”
The driver shifted into reverse.
Another truck emerged behind us.
We were trapped.
Vincent reached for Leo.
“Get down.”
Gunfire shattered the windshield.
I threw myself over the boy.
Glass rained across my back.
Vincent shouted orders.
The engine screamed.
Then a voice came through the car speakers.
A voice I had heard only in old family videos.
Soft.
Warm.
Impossible.
“Vincent, don't take Leo to the lake house.”
Vincent froze.
The voice continued.
“If you love our son, listen carefully.”
Leo lifted his head.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Mom?”
The speaker hissed.
Then Isabella said:
May you like
“Daniel isn't the one you should fear.”
MASTER TITLE: THE MAFIA BOSS'S SON HID HIS DEAD MOTHER'S SECRET IN A TEDDY BEAR—THEN A WOMAN WITH HER FACE RETURNED
