Chapter 9 - Mia Had Seen Julian Searching
Three-year-olds remember strange things.
Not dates.
Not context.
Pictures.
Sounds.
While we packed to leave the mansion temporarily, Mia pointed toward the doorway.
“Uncle Julian came here when you were sleeping.”
I stopped.
“When?”
She shrugged.
“Before.”
“What did he do?”
“Looked.”
“For what?”
“My duck.”
My heart accelerated.
“Did he take it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was hugging him.”
The duck.
Mia had slept with it every night.
Julian could not search it without waking her.
That meant he knew something had been hidden inside.
Or suspected it.
I finally decided to tell Luca.
Before I could reach him, the mansion went into lockdown.
Someone had fired from the garden.
A bullet shattered the gold-framed mirror in Luca’s bedroom.
Luca shoved Mia behind a heavy dresser.
I dropped to the floor.
Then a man stepped through the interior doorway.
Gun raised.
Julian.
Luca stared at him.
Not rage.
Not yet.
Something worse.
Disbelief.
Julian said:
“Drop the gun, Luca.”
Mia slipped from behind the dresser.
She was holding the yellow duck.
I whispered:
“Mia, stay there.”
She did not listen.
She opened the torn seam.
Pulled out the folded paper.
And said:
“Mr. Luca… Uncle Julian dropped this.”
Julian’s face changed.
May you like
For the first time since I had known him—
he looked afraid.
Related Stories
