Chapter 8 - Janelle’s Door

Maya’s blood went cold.

“Where is Janelle?”

Luca was already calling the estate.

Marco grabbed Maya’s phone, photographed the messages, and signaled one of the guards.

“Rosa,” Luca said when someone answered. “Put Janelle on.”

His expression changed.

“What do you mean she left?”

Maya stepped toward him. “Left where?”

Luca held up a hand.

“When?”

A pause.

“Send me the gate footage.”

He ended the call.

Maya’s voice came out thin. “Tell me.”

“Janelle got a message from her manager saying the pharmacy was short-staffed. She left twenty minutes ago.”

“She wouldn’t go alone.”

“She refused a driver.”

“That sounds like her.”

Marco was already tracking her phone.

“Signal moving south on Lake Shore.”

Maya exhaled.

“Still moving,” Marco said. “Good.”

Then the signal disappeared.

Nobody spoke.

Maya grabbed her coat.

Luca blocked the doorway. “No.”

“My best friend is out there because of me.”

“And if you run into the street, there will be two people to recover.”

“Move.”

“No.”

She shoved him.

He barely moved.

“Maya.”

“Do not use my name like that.”

Victor stepped between them. “Both of you stop.”

Marco’s phone rang.

He answered, listened, then said, “Her rideshare was found abandoned on Wabash. Driver unconscious but alive.”

Maya closed her eyes.

Luca turned to Marco. “Lock down every property connected to Bell, Harbor Bridge, Falcon.”

Victor said, “Dominic will expect that.”

“Then give me something he won’t expect.”

Maya looked at the text again.

Now your roommate pays.

“It’s too direct,” she said.

Luca turned. “What?”

“If they wanted to hurt Janelle, they wouldn’t need to announce it. This is pressure.”

“To make you do what?” Marco asked.

Maya thought of the red door.

“Give them something.”

Her phone rang again.

Unknown number.

This time Marco put it on speaker.

A distorted voice said, “Bring Isabella’s drive to the old Saint Vincent laundry at six. Maya comes alone.”

Luca’s face went murderous.

The voice continued. “No police. No Moretti men. If we see anyone else, Janelle dies.”

Maya asked, “Let me hear her.”

A rustle.

Then Janelle’s voice, shaking but alive.

“Maya, do not do anything stupid.”

Maya nearly cried from relief.

“You okay?”

“My head hurts. These people have terrible customer service.”

Someone struck something near the phone.

Janelle gasped.

Maya’s hands clenched.

The distorted voice returned. “Six.”

The call ended.

Luca said, “You are not going.”

“I am.”

“No.”

“Then she dies.”

“We can fake the drive and track you.”

“That’s still me going.”

Marco looked at Luca. “She’s right.”

Luca’s eyes flashed. “I am surrounded by people who enjoy telling me that today.”

Victor stepped closer to the table. “Saint Vincent laundry closed ten years ago. Brick building, three exits, rail line behind it.”

Marco pulled up blueprints.

Maya studied them. “They’ll watch the obvious approaches.”

“We have thermal drones,” Marco said.

“If they’re prepared, they’ll watch for those too.”

Luca looked at her. “You are not planning this operation.”

“I’m the person they demanded.”

“That does not make you qualified.”

“No. Studying criminal investigations for three years helps.”

He stared at her.

Maya softened her voice. “Luca, they already know you react with force. If we give them exactly what they expect, Janelle becomes collateral.”

His eyes dropped to the table.

“What do you propose?”

Maya pointed at the rail line.

“Make them think I’m alone. Put your people where they don’t expect Moretti security to be.”

Victor leaned in. “Freight tunnel.”

Marco nodded slowly. “Old service access from the north.”

Luca looked between them.

“You’re all enjoying this too much.”

“No one is enjoying it,” Maya said.

His gaze met hers.

For the first time, she saw not authority but fear.

Not for his empire.

For another person he could not control enough to keep safe.

“I bring the drive,” Maya said. “They take me inside. Marco’s team enters through the tunnel after visual confirmation on Janelle.”

Luca said, “And if they search you?”

“They will.”

Marco reached into his pocket and placed a tiny ceramic tracker on the table.

“Not detectable by ordinary scanners.”

Maya picked it up.

Luca’s voice lowered. “If anything changes, you walk away.”

“No.”

“Maya.”

“If anything changes, we adapt.”

He looked furious.

She added, “That’s what your daughter needed last night.”

Silence.

Luca finally nodded once.

“Then we bring Janelle home.”

Before leaving for Saint Vincent, Maya went upstairs to see Alessia. She did not explain the hostage exchange. She only said Janelle needed help.

Alessia studied her face. “Are you scared?”

“Yes.”

“Papa says brave means not scared.”

“Your papa is wrong about at least one thing.”

From the doorway, Luca said, “Apparently several.”

Maya looked back at him.

Then she told Alessia, “Brave means scared, and still choosing carefully.”

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Alessia nodded as if filing the definition away for later.

Before she entered the laundry, Maya checked the frayed cuff of her coat sleeve and thought of Alessia sleeping somewhere behind locked gates. Fear stayed with her. So did the promise.