Chapter 3 - The Room Behind the Library
Lorenzo reached the estate in eleven minutes.
The east gate was damaged.
Two guards were unconscious.
The cameras were dead.
The house was silent.
“Sophie!”
He ran through the hall.
Nothing.
Library.
Empty.
Kitchen.
Empty.
Guest room.
Empty.
His heart pounded.
“Find her!”
Nolan and six guards scattered.
Lorenzo refused to believe the worst.
He returned to the library.
He stared at the tiny crayons.
The yellow sweater.
The picture Sophie had been drawing.
A house.
A black circle.
Then he saw something else.
A small red door in the drawing.
He crouched.
“What is this?”
A memory surfaced.
The estate's original floor plan.
There was an old service corridor behind the library.
A passage built by Lorenzo's grandfather during Prohibition.
Hidden entrance.
Lorenzo moved a bookcase.
Nothing.
He tried a second.
A click.
The wall opened.
Inside was a narrow passage.
And at the end—
Sophie.
Alive.
Sitting beside a flashlight.
Holding her bear.
Lorenzo stopped breathing.
She looked up.
“Hi.”
He dropped to his knees.
“What are you doing here?”
“Door was open.”
He pulled her into his arms.
She hugged him tightly.
“I knew you'd find me.”
Lorenzo held her.
For the first time in years, he felt tears burn his eyes.
“Who brought you here?”
“No one.”
“Then how did you get inside?”
“Mommy showed me.”
He froze.
“When?”
“Before.”
“Before what?”
“Before the rain.”
She pointed toward the tunnel.
“Mommy said this place is safe.”
Lorenzo looked at Nolan.
“Did anyone know about this passage?”
“No.”
“Then how did Elena?”
Ray's words echoed in his mind.
Elena had worked for his father.
She knew secrets.
Lorenzo picked up the little drawing.
“Sophie, what does the black circle mean?”
“The man.”
“Which man?”
“The bad one.”
“What does he look like?”
“Like Daddy.”
Lorenzo's blood ran cold.
“Your father?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Uncle.”
Thomas Moretti.
Lorenzo immediately called Nolan.
“Find my uncle.”
“We're on it.”
“Alive.”
“Yes.”
“And find anyone matching the man Sophie described.”
They spent the night searching.
Thomas's abandoned house was empty.
But they found blood.
A woman's shoe.
And a photograph of Elena standing beside Luca Moretti.
Lorenzo stared.
Luca.
His dead brother.
The picture had been taken only six months before Luca's death.
Impossible.
Lorenzo turned it over.
A date.
A location.
Blackpine Lodge.
The same place where Mateo had been murdered.
He felt the old wound open.
Luca hadn't died by accident either.
Something connected his brother, Elena, Mateo, and the secret his father had died protecting.
At dawn, Lorenzo returned to Sophie.
She was asleep on the library couch.
He sat beside her.
She opened her eyes.
“Mommy?”
“Not yet.”
“Did you find her?”
“No.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
He expected tears.
Instead, she reached into her bear.
Lorenzo watched.
A zipper ran across the bear's stomach.
Sophie opened it.
Inside was a small black object.
A memory drive.
He stared.
“Where did you get that?”
“Mommy gave me.”
“When?”
“Before.”
“Before the storm?”
“Yes.”
She handed it to him.
“Mommy said Mr. Lorenzo would know.”
He took it.
His fingers tightened.
Nolan brought the drive into a secured room.
They connected it.
Folders opened.
Financial records.
Photos.
Audio files.
Video.
One file was labeled LUKA.
Lorenzo stopped.
He opened it.
His brother appeared on screen.
Alive.
Angry.
Talking directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, Lorenzo, it means Elena didn't make it.”
Lorenzo went still.
Luka continued.
“You were always stubborn.”
He smiled faintly.
“I know you'll think this is about money. It's not.”
The video changed.
A folder appeared.
Project Saint.
Lorenzo leaned forward.
“Your father found out that someone was laundering money through children's charities.”
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
“Thomas knew.”
A second person appeared on the screen.
Gideon Cross.
Then Thomas.
Then Elena.
Luca continued.
“Elena saw the transaction.”
“She became a liability.”
The video froze.
A final line appeared.
Protect the child.
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
“Saint.”
Nolan whispered, “What's that?”
“A project my father never told me about.”
He opened another file.
It contained names.
Donors.
Companies.
Children's shelters.
Doctors.
And at the top, one name.
Moretti Foundation.
Someone had been using Lorenzo's family's charity to move millions.
But the most shocking name was at the bottom.
A police commissioner.
David Kane.
Lorenzo stood.
“Get me Kane.”
Nolan nodded.
An hour later, Kane walked into the estate.
He looked calm.
Too calm.
Lorenzo put the photograph of Elena on the table.
“You know her.”
Kane glanced at it.
“No.”
“Lie again.”
Kane stared at him.
Then smiled.
“You shouldn't have found the drive.”
Lorenzo raised his gun.
Kane didn't flinch.
“You're the one.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Kane laughed.
“The woman you're trying to rescue.”
Lorenzo's expression changed.
“You're saying Elena is working with them?”
“Yes.”
“You killed Mateo?”
“No.”
“You killed my brother?”
Kane shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Kane looked at him.
“Ask Sophie.”
Lorenzo's blood froze.
“What does she know?”
Kane stood.
“Everything her mother taught her.”
Before Lorenzo could move, the room lights went out.
A gunshot cracked.
When emergency lights returned, Kane was gone.
And Sophie was standing in the doorway.
Holding her bear.
She looked at Lorenzo.
“Mommy said don't trust the man in the blue suit.”
Lorenzo slowly turned toward the empty doorway.
Kane had been wearing a blue suit.
And suddenly the entire story changed.
May you like
Elena might not have disappeared because she was being hunted.
She might have disappeared because she was hunting someone herself.
