HIDDEN

Chapter Seven

“HELL NO!”, was Luca’s response.

He stood up and quickly walked towards the stairs, he wasn’t going to listen to anything else that his father had to say. He surely wasn’t going to do what he had asked of him, even if he begged him to. Pretend to be married to that woman will be like an insult to himself. He couldn’t stand being next to Mia Conti, now he will have to pretend to be married to her and to even share his home with her. There’s no way that he will be able to agree to this madness. His home was his sanctuary where he hides away from life storms and stresses, there’s no way that he could share it with anyone especially that woman whose family was as dangerous as a time bomb!

“ Think about your brothers Luca. Think about the hospital where you work, all of this will be taken away from us. Your project to help less fortunate children with heart conditions will all be gone ”, he heard his father say as he reached the stairs.

Luca stopped, he couldn’t believe that his father will start to play the mind games. He didn’t like people manipulating him to do things that he didn’t want to. The desperate tone of his father’s voice echoed in his head as he hurried up the stairs. He walked onto the balcony and he gripped the wooden railing tightly. He was furious with his father, he should have refused to help him in the first place but now was too late for any regrets. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was caught between a rock and a hard place and he hated being in those sorts of dilemmas.

Maybe I should just do it but on my own terms. If Lorenzo loses the hospital all of my plans and dreams for those kids will vanish into thin air, dad knew exactly how to attack me and that was below the belt…Luca said to himself as he opened his eyes. He wanted to scream to get rid of that anger that raged inside him uncontrollably. He had stayed away from his father’s dark world so that he wouldn’t get caught up in any of his dangerous webs. He knew that with the anger and sadness that he still feels inside of him because of his past wounds, he would have turned into his father and dig everywhere to uncover the person who murdered his mother and avenge her death. Even if he was told that his mother had cancer, he didn’t believe that. He had observed so many things which he couldn’t forget and as a teenager he had come up with his own conclusion.

Maybe this is the opportunity to get closer to that world to find out who killed my mother. I will be doing it with my own intentions… Finding the truth to the one thing that has been hunting me for your years. I feel bad that I have to break my promise to Master Chi, but I have no choice. Everything happens for a reason…eventually it will reveal itself…Luca thought as he focused on the trees dancing in the breeze.

He gently tapped his fingers on the railing and then he took out his phone before he changed his mind he quickly typed a message, pressed send, and walked down the stairs towards his car.

Lorenzo sat at his desk, with his head bent and his hands resting on the table. He was thinking about his son. He knew Luca too well, the way he had walked out of the room reminded him of the day he had walked out of the house and had gone abroad to study. His son had stayed away from everyone for a good six years. Their sole form of communication was over the phone and his son will be brief, straight to the point and then he will hang up the phone without asking about his health or even his brothers. He was scared that what he had asked him to do will now cause a rift between them. He was getting old and he didn’t want for him and his son to fight anymore.

Maybe I should have held my tongue! I shouldn’t have asked Luca to do that… Lorenzo sadly said to himself but it was too late the words had already been spoken.

His phone vibrated indicating a new message. Lorenzo glanced at his phone, he hesitated before he picked it up and unlocked it to read the message. He had to read the message twice for him to realize that he wasn’t in some sort of daze, that the message was indeed from his son.

Bring her to the house…But things will be according to my own terms!

The world of the Conti’s family had been turned upside down and time was slipping away from them like sand in an hourglass. There were dozens of police officers lingering around their residence and Elena was really annoyed with their presence. She had this feeling that they were looking for something more than her missing daughter. She felt like they were being treated as if they were the culprits instead of the victims. They had reviewed the video footage of that fateful night over and over again, but they couldn’t find any clue to link this incident to anyone. Elena had sat down and racked her brain, who could have done this dreadful thing to her daughter, who would have wanted to destroy her family. For what seemed like hours, so many names had flashed through her mind and one name, in particular, was stuck on her mind and she couldn’t get rid of the idea that he could be the culprit. This particular person was well known for his swift and clean jobs. He didn’t leave one mess behind for you to be able to pinpoint that the crime was his doing. His men were perfectly trained snipers who could get away with any murder. She had grabbed her phone in anger and had dialed his number. Her heart had pounded as anger burned through her body  as she listened to the phone ringing “ Pick up the damn phone”, she had shouted and when she didn’t get a response, she had thrown her phone across her bedroom almost hitting Marcos who was walking in.

“ Hey! What’s wrong?”, Marcos asked picking up her phone which had broken into pieces.

“ It’s those damn police officers! Why are they here, they are really getting on my nerves!”, Elena lied.

Elena blamed her sudden outburst on the presence of the police officers. Her husband sat next to her on the bed and held her hands. His wife had stayed in her bedroom the whole day and had refused to see anyone. The police officers who came to take her statement had to leave without exchanging one single word with her. Elena looked at her husband she noticed that her husband had believed her lie.

She didn’t want her husband to know that she was actually upset because Lorenzo Costa-Lastra didn’t answer her phone call. This man always had this way of rejecting her, in every way. She couldn’t mention his name to Marcos otherwise he will surely take things in his hands and she didn’t want that.Those two men hated each other’s guts.She wanted to face Lorenzo herself. After all those years she wanted him to see her face to face. Their last encounter was an unpleasant memory, she had threatened him that she will make him pay for what he did to her and it took her a few years to be able to take her revenge. If she ever finds out that he had something to do with her daughter’s tragedy, she will surely sink Lorenzo, his whole family, and everything he owns. For now, she would rather concentrate on finding her daughter, all she wanted to know was her whereabouts or at least her body.

“ Marcos, where could she be? What did they do with her body?”, Elena said as tears filled her eyes. Every time she will talk to someone about Mia, her tears would come voluntarily.

Her husband hugged his wife. He was also upset that the police officers were still around their home, they couldn’t take this up in their one way. He had made a few calls, got the best private investigators around for them to investigate the disappearance of his daughter. He was willing to pay a lot of money to anyone who will bring him concrete information about what had happened to his daughter and he was willing to give even more money to find out who was the mastermind behind the attack on his home. He picked up the photo frame which was face down on the bed next to Elena and he looked at it. It was a picture of Mia on her graduation day. She looked so happy, her smile was like a ray of sunshine which could easily warm any heart. He stood up and placed the photo frame on Elena’s bedside table and walked to the windows. He looked down towards the garden, the decorators were pulling the decors down and cleaning up the venue with the police officers supervising their every move.

“ By tomorrow I don’t want those officers around our home. We need to start taking things in our own hands, the police will not do anything for us”, Marcos said.

“ The best thing is to put a price on the head of the culprit. Everyone has a price, regardless of how loyal one can be, a large sum of money could easily destroy loyalty. I’ll call Melissa later and tell her that I agree to do the interview with her tv network. I’ll announce the amount for the reward tomorrow for anyone who has concrete information. You will see, we will find out what happened to Mia”, Elena said with determination and her husband turned and looked at her with a soft smile and he nodded in agreement. He loves that woman because she sees things in the same way as him.

Everyone has a price and what they will have to find out was , what it is.