CHAPTER 5 Can You Buy This Painting?” Billionaire Mafia froze because He Thought the Woman in the Painting Was Dead—Until Three Starving Triplets Asked Him to Save Their Mother
CHAPTER 5 — THE PRISONER
The rain began just after midnight.
Heavy drops battered the windows of the old Moretti estate, turning the sprawling mansion into a dark silhouette against the storm. Lightning flashed over the surrounding forest, revealing wrought-iron gates, armed guards, and security cameras that watched every inch of the property.
To anyone passing by, it looked like the home of an old Boston family.
To Rose...
It was a prison.
She had counted the hours.
Twenty-six.
That was how long she had been away from her mother, Lily, Daisy...
And her father.
The word still felt new.
Father.
She smiled faintly.
Only yesterday she hadn't known he existed.
Now she missed him more than anyone.
She sat quietly on the edge of the enormous bed.
The bedroom was beautiful.
Too beautiful.
Fresh flowers were replaced every morning.
Warm food arrived three times a day.
Books covered the shelves.
There were dolls, puzzles, and teddy bears arranged neatly around the room.
Victor Moretti wanted her comfortable.
Rose knew why.
Comfort made prisons harder to recognize.
The bedroom door opened.
Victor entered alone.
No guards.
No gun.
Only a silver tray carrying two cups of hot chocolate.
He smiled.
"Good morning."
Rose didn't answer.
He placed one cup in front of her.
"You should eat."
Silence.
"I had the chef make pancakes."
Nothing.
Victor sighed dramatically.
"You're as stubborn as your mother."
Rose looked up.
"My mommy says talking to bad people doesn't make them good."
Victor chuckled.
"And what makes me bad?"
"You stole me."
The answer came instantly.
Victor nodded slowly.
"Fair point."
He took a sip from his own cup.
"What if I said I brought you here to keep you safe?"
Rose frowned.
"That's a lie."
"How do you know?"
She tilted her head.
"Because safe places don't lock children inside."
Victor's smile faded for the first time.
He had negotiated with senators.
Manipulated judges.
Destroyed rival families.
Yet somehow...
A six-year-old girl had dismantled his lie in a single sentence.
Across town...
Deep beneath Russo Tower...
The atmosphere inside Dante's command center was tense.
A digital map of Massachusetts covered the largest screen.
Every known Moretti warehouse, safe house, business, and abandoned property glowed red.
Nico stood beside the operations table.
"We've searched eleven locations."
"No sign of Rose."
Another captain spoke.
"Our informants have gone silent."
"They're scared."
"They know Victor is expecting us."
Dante studied the map without speaking.
Then his eyes stopped on one location.
The old Moretti summer estate.
Everyone else had already crossed it off.
Too obvious.
Too heavily guarded.
Too visible.
Victor would never keep his most valuable hostage there.
Would he?
Dante remembered something Elena had once told him years ago.
"Victor always hides the truth inside the place nobody believes he'd use."
He looked toward Nico.
"I want satellite surveillance."
"We already checked."
"Again."
Nico nodded.
Within minutes, high-resolution images appeared across the screen.
Nothing unusual.
Then...
One analyst frowned.
"Wait."
He zoomed closer.
"There."
Near the eastern garden stood three tiny snowmen.
In the middle of summer.
No...
Not snowmen.
White garden statues.
One taller.
Two smaller.
Dante stared.
Three figures.
Standing hand in hand.
Exactly like the drawing Rose had sent.
His heartbeat slowed.
"Magnify."
The image sharpened.
One statue had something tied around its neck.
A pink ribbon.
The same ribbon Daisy had worn the night of the warehouse attack.
Rose had left another clue.
She wasn't just waiting.
She was communicating.
Back at the estate...
Rose sat by the bedroom window, pretending to color in a picture book.
The hidden camera inside the teddy bear followed her every movement.
She knew it was there.
So she smiled.
She hummed softly.
She acted like an ordinary little girl.
But every few minutes...
She glanced toward the garden.
Toward the pink ribbon she had secretly tied around the statue when the maid wasn't looking.
Daddy will see it.
She believed that with all her heart.
Victor watched the surveillance feed from his study.
His chief of security entered.
"Sir."
"What is it?"
"Russo's men have been searching all over the city."
Victor nodded.
"As expected."
"They haven't found us."
"They won't."
The guard hesitated.
"There is one concern."
Victor looked up.
"The child."
"What about her?"
"She doesn't cry."
Victor leaned back.
"No."
"She thinks her father is coming."
He smiled faintly.
"I almost admire that."
The guard frowned.
"Should we... discourage her?"
Victor's expression hardened instantly.
"No."
"Hope is far more useful than fear."
That evening...
Rose was allowed into the mansion's library.
Two guards remained outside the door.
She wandered between towering bookshelves.
Thousands of books.
History.
Art.
Science.
Novels.
One shelf caught her attention.
Painting.
Her mother's favorite subject.
She gently pulled out an old sketchbook.
Most pages were blank.
An idea formed.
She quietly tore out one sheet.
Then another.
Using a tiny pencil hidden inside her sock, she drew a map.
Not perfect.
Just enough.
A curved driveway.
A fountain.
Three oak trees.
The east garden.
She folded the paper into the shape of a bird.
As she returned the book...
She accidentally—
"Oops!"
The paper bird slipped beneath a bookshelf.
One of the guards looked inside.
"You alright?"
Rose smiled sweetly.
"I dropped my bookmark."
"I'll get it."
The guard bent down.
But the paper bird had slid much farther underneath than he expected.
He couldn't reach it.
"It's fine."
"I'll tell housekeeping."
Rose nodded politely.
"Thank you."
As they walked away...
She smiled to herself.
Housekeeping came every morning.
And one of the maids...
Always emptied the library trash into bags collected outside the estate.
Someone would find it.
Maybe.
If not...
She would think of something else.
At Russo Tower...
Lily couldn't sleep.
She wandered quietly through the empty hallways until she found Dante standing alone in the chapel built into the old building.
He wasn't praying.
He was simply sitting.
Thinking.
She climbed onto the bench beside him.
"You miss her too."
Dante looked down.
"I do."
Lily swung her little legs.
"I keep hearing her laugh."
"So do I."
After a long silence, she whispered,
"Are you scared?"
Dante answered honestly.
"Yes."
She seemed surprised.
"I thought dads weren't scared."
He smiled sadly.
"The brave ones are."
"They just don't stop because of it."
Lily thought about that.
Then she reached into her pocket.
"I made this."
She handed him a folded piece of paper.
Inside was a crayon drawing.
A family of five.
Above them she had written:
Our first family picture.
There were no fancy details.
Just stick figures holding hands.
But Dante stared at it longer than he had stared at million-dollar contracts.
It was the first picture anyone had ever drawn of him as a father.
He carefully folded it.
"I'll keep this forever."
Lily smiled.
"I know."
Just before dawn...
A young maid pushed a garbage cart through the Moretti estate.
As she emptied the library bin...
Something fluttered onto the wet stone path.
A folded paper bird.
She picked it up.
Curious.
Before she could unfold it—
A black SUV rolled through the front gate.
The maid quickly slipped the paper into her apron pocket.
She didn't know why.
She only knew one thing.
The little girl upstairs had looked at her with pleading eyes.
And somehow...
That was enough.
High above, behind the barred bedroom window, Rose watched the maid disappear toward the service entrance.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment.
Another clue had escaped the prison.
Now she could only hope it reached the right hands.
Because somewhere beyond the storm, she believed her father was already looking.
And this time...
May you like
She intended to help him find her.
END OF CHAPTER 5
