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

Chapter 09 - The Girl They Used as Bait

Sebastian moved before thought became language.

Jasper had Nori in his arms and Hannah behind him within three seconds. Evelina’s security men, who had always been more decorative than useful, scrambled toward the front hall with the stunned urgency of men realizing a painting had turned into a knife.

By the time Sebastian reached the window, the sedan was already rolling away.

Matteo did not speed.

That was the insult.

He left like a man who had delivered a message and trusted it to hurt.

“He knows about Nori,” Hannah said.

Sebastian turned. Her voice was steady. That frightened him more than panic would have.

“Yes.”

“Why would he care about my daughter?”

No one answered quickly enough.

Hannah looked at Evelina.

“Tell me.”

Evelina’s gaze dropped to the rabbit.

“I think Daniel hid more than a key.”

Sebastian said, “Mother.”

“Don’t mother me now.” Evelina rose, brittle dignity snapping back into place. “Your brother believes Daniel Carter left evidence that can destroy everyone who helped keep him alive and angry. If he cannot find all of it, he will use the child to force the widow to search.”

Hannah held Nori tighter.

“Then he thinks I know where it is.”

“Do you?” Sebastian asked.

“No.”

“Think.”

Her eyes flashed. “Do not speak to me like I misplaced your favorite cufflinks.”

He deserved that.

“Sorry,” he said.

The apology landed awkwardly in the room. Jasper blinked. Evelina looked briefly entertained despite the danger.

Hannah did not smile.

She looked at the rabbit instead.

“Daniel used to tell Nori stories when she was a baby,” she said slowly. “She couldn’t understand them. He would hold her and talk because he said numbers made more sense out loud.”

“What stories?”

“Made-up ones. A rabbit who carried keys. A train station that remembered lost fathers. A red house on a hill.”

Sebastian’s attention sharpened.

“A red house?”

“Yes.”

Evelina whispered something in Italian.

Sebastian looked at her.

“The Red House,” she said. “Your father’s old lodge near Aspen.”

“I sold it after he died.”

“No. Carlo did. On paper. It passed through three companies and ended in a trust.”

“Whose trust?”

Evelina did not answer.

She did not need to.

Matteo.

They left the townhouse under cover of a florist van Evelina kept for charity events and, apparently, emergencies. Hannah sat with Nori in the back. Sebastian sat across from them, the red file on his knees.

Nori had stopped crying. Children often moved through disasters in little rooms: terror in one, curiosity in the next, hunger in a third.

“I need toast,” she announced.

Jasper, driving, said, “We can do toast.”

Sebastian glanced at him.

Jasper kept his eyes on the road. “Emergency toast.”

Hannah laughed.

It came out broken and surprised, but it was still laughter.

Sebastian looked at her and felt something in his chest move in a way he did not appreciate.

At his estate, security doubled. Windows locked. Staff restricted. Mrs. Alvarez wept over Nori, then fed everyone eggs with the ferocity of a woman who believed protein could defeat organized crime.

By evening, Sebastian had a plan to reach the Red House before Matteo.

By midnight, the plan changed.

A package arrived at the gate.

Inside was one yellow sock.

Nori’s missing sock from the study chair.

Hannah covered her mouth.

Sebastian lifted the note beneath it.

The handwriting was burned into the paper, harsh and uneven.

Bring the rabbit to the Red House.