Chapter 9 - The Price of a Son
Silas didn’t speak for ten seconds.
Then he said, “Let me hear him.”
The distorted voice laughed.
“Your son can’t hear you.”
Silas’s grip tightened around the phone.
“But you can hear me.”
Silence.
“Touch him again,” Silas said quietly, “and there will not be a country far enough away.”
Khloe watched the nurses freeze around him.
The voice replied, “Two hours. Transfer controlling shares to Helena Costello. Victor knows how.”
The call ended.
Silas turned.
“Find him.”
Victor was already moving.
He pulled hospital security footage, staff rosters, vehicle logs.
Khloe returned to Matteo’s room.
Something bothered her.
The note.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LANDED.
They had landed.
Maybe the message meant somewhere else.
Or something else.
She picked up the paper.
Cheap printer stock.
A faint blue line across one edge.
Hospital form?
No.
Airline catering inventory.
Khloe froze.
She held it under the light.
A tiny printed code was still visible at the bottom.
She knew those forms.
“This paper came from our jet.”
Victor looked over.
“What?”
“The kidnapper used paper from the aircraft.”
Silas stared.
Khloe continued.
“Whoever took Matteo was on the plane.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“One of the crew?”
Gemma.
The captain.
Copilot.
Security.
Khloe’s stomach dropped.
“Gemma.”
She ran.
Gemma had been transported to another hospital for observation after the emergency landing.
Victor called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
They pulled her employment record.
Address.
Emergency contact.
Then Victor found something else.
“She joined six weeks ago.”
Khloe stared.
“I thought she’d been with the company longer.”
“Background was clean.”
Silas said, “Nothing is clean.”
Victor looked deeper.
“Her real name isn’t Gemma Pryce.”
Khloe felt cold.
“Who is she?”
Victor turned the screen.
“Gemma Rossi.”
Silas’s face changed.
Khloe asked, “Who’s Rossi?”
Silas whispered, “Rosa.”
The nanny.
Victor nodded slowly.
“Rosa Rossi.”
Khloe stared.
“Her sister.”
Everything shifted.
Maybe Gemma wasn’t working for Helena.
Maybe she was trying to expose her.
Silas said, “Find her.”
They located Gemma’s phone ping near an abandoned freight terminal outside Pittsburgh.
Silas headed for the door.
Federal agents blocked him.
“You’re not leaving.”
“My son was kidnapped.”
“We’re handling it.”
Silas laughed bitterly.
“You’ve handled enough.”
The lead agent stepped closer.
“If you interfere, we arrest you.”
Silas leaned in.
“Then arrest me after I find him.”
Khloe followed.
The agent grabbed her arm.
“You’re not going.”
She pulled free.
“That child trusts one person who can communicate with him right now.”
The agent stared.
Then released her.
Victor drove.
Silas sat beside him.
Khloe was in the back, staring at the last video she had taken of Matteo signing.
He had been frightened.
But brave.
Twenty minutes later, they reached the freight terminal.
Empty warehouse.
Broken windows.
One SUV outside.
Silas drew a gun.
Khloe stopped him.
“He’ll be terrified if he sees that.”
Silas hesitated.
Then handed the gun to Victor.
Inside, they heard a woman crying.
“Matteo?”
Khloe ran.
They found Gemma tied to a chair.
Blood on her temple.
No child.
Silas cut her free.
“Where is he?”
Gemma gasped.
“They took him.”
“Who?”
“My sister found proof. Before she died.”
Silas crouched.
“Proof of what?”
Gemma looked at him.
“That your mother didn’t just poison Matteo.”
Silas went still.
Gemma whispered:
May you like
“She killed your father too.”
---
