🐰 The Stuffed Rabbit and the Mafia Boss’s Secret Ledger

Chapter 12 - The Estate Turns Against Him

For the first time since Hannah had met Sebastian Vale, he looked truly dangerous.

Not angry. Anger was common. Anger shouted and struck and revealed where it was soft.

This was different.

This was a door closing inside him.

Matteo watched his brother’s face and said quietly, “Seb.”

Sebastian did not look at him.

“He has a child in my house.”

“Our child,” Hannah said.

That made him turn.

She stood in the Red House kitchen with snow in her hair, Daniel’s red file pressed against her chest, and fear doing battle with a ferocity that could have burned down mountains.

“Nori is not leverage,” she said. “Not yours. Not his. Not anyone’s.”

Sebastian held her gaze. “No.”

Something passed between them then. Not romance. Not yet. Something better for the moment: agreement.

They drove back in silence broken only by Jasper giving instructions into three phones and Matteo murmuring old access codes Sebastian thought no one alive remembered.

Evelina called twice.

Sebastian did not answer.

On the third call, Hannah took the phone from his hand.

He looked at her.

“She is your mother,” Hannah said. “And she may be frightened enough to tell the truth.”

He let the call connect.

Evelina’s voice came through, lower than usual. “Sebastian?”

“Are you with him?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you bring him into my house?”

Silence.

Hannah closed her eyes.

Evelina said, “He told me he had Matteo.”

“You knew Matteo was with us.”

“I knew Matteo was alive. I did not know where he was.”

“Mother.”

“I opened the gate because Owen said Carlo was coming for the child.”

Sebastian’s hand tightened around the steering wheel though Jasper was driving.

“Carlo is dead.”

“No,” Evelina whispered. “He is not.”

At the estate, the front gates stood open.

That alone felt obscene.

Men loyal to Sebastian remained outside, not entering. Jasper explained why in two words: “Gas sensors.”

Owen had triggered a false chemical alert in the west wing. Staff had been evacuated. Security systems rerouted. Cameras looped. For seven minutes, the estate belonged to the man who had kept Sebastian’s books.

Seven minutes was enough to take a child.

But not to leave.

Mrs. Alvarez had hidden Nori in the old dumbwaiter shaft behind the pantry, a place no adult could reach without crawling and no elegant criminal would think to check while wearing cashmere.

Owen did not have Nori.

He had only Bunny.

Nori emerged from the pantry into Hannah’s arms sobbing not for danger, but for her rabbit. Children choose the exact knife that cuts deepest.

“Bunny gone,” she cried.

Hannah held her so tightly Sebastian looked away.

Owen Pierce stood in the library with Evelina seated beside him and a silver revolver resting on the table between them. He had always dressed well. Tonight he looked immaculate enough to be buried.

“You disappoint me, Sebastian,” he said.

Sebastian entered with empty hands visible. “I often do.”

Owen smiled. “Where is Matteo?”

“Dead, according to your paperwork.”

The smile thinned.

Hannah stepped into the doorway behind Sebastian.

Owen’s eyes brightened. “The widow. You caused a great deal of trouble, Mrs. Carter.”

“My husband caused it,” she said. “I just survived him.”

Owen laughed softly.

Then a voice from behind the bookcase said, “Daniel was always better at numbers than all of us.”

Owen turned.

Too late.