I slowly unfolded the paper.

It was old, the creases worn soft from being folded and refolded a hundred times.

It was a drawing of a car.

A black car, flipped on its roof.

Red crayon was smeared near the front window.

My stomach twisted into a violent knot.

“Sophie,” I whispered. “What is this?”

“I drew what I saw,” she said softly.

Luca turned around. He saw the paper in my hands and his face went completely pale.

“You weren’t there,” Luca said to his daughter, his voice breaking for the first time. “You were at school.”

“No, Daddy,” Sophie said. “Mom picked me up early. We were driving to the train station.”

The entire dining room was paralyzed.

Thirty powerful men, completely silenced by a ten-year-old girl in a velvet dress.

“You were in the car?” Luca asked, dropping to his knees so he was eye-level with her.

Sophie nodded, tears streaming down her face.

“I was in the backseat. Mom buckled me under the blankets so nobody would see me.”

She pointed a small finger at the drawing in my hand.

“When the car crashed, I was trapped under the coats.”

Luca’s hands were shaking as he took the drawing from me.

He stared at the red crayon.

Then, he looked closer at the edge of the paper.

Drawn in heavy, dark black crayon was a figure standing outside the wrecked car.

A man.

He wasn’t helping. He was just standing there.

And on the man’s face, Sophie had drawn a jagged, purple line.

A scar running down his cheek.

Luca’s breath stopped.

I looked up.

At the far end of the table, Carlo Bellini sat perfectly still.

A deep, jagged scar ran down his left cheek.

“Marcus didn’t crash the car on accident,” Sophie whispered. “He stopped it on the bridge. And the man with the scar walked up to Mom’s window.”

Carlo didn’t panic.

He slowly reached inside his tailored suit jacket.

“Vanessa,” Carlo said, his voice echoing in the silent room. “I told you the child was a loose end.”

Every guard in the room drew their weapon.

But they didn’t aim at Carlo.

They aimed at Luca.

Half the men in the room belonged to the Bellini family.

Luca realized the trap instantly.

He pulled Sophie behind him, shielding her entirely with his body.

Vanessa backed away, sobbing. “I didn’t know he was going to kill her, Luca! I just wanted her out of the picture!”

Carlo smiled coldly.

He pulled a heavy object from his pocket and tossed it onto the table.

It clattered against the fine china.

It was Sarah’s missing gold necklace.