Chapter 6 - The Warehouse Was Empty Except for Seven Cribs and a Recording of Someone Admitting They Had Been Selling Children for YearsThe children were gone.
We searched.
Nothing.
Then a speaker came alive.
Gideon's voice.
“You're too late.”
Dante clenched his fists.
“Show yourself.”
“No.”
“You're a coward.”
Gideon laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
The lights turned on.
Seven cribs.
Empty.
Photographs.
Files.
And one video.
It showed a man meeting Victor.
Money changed hands.
Documents.
Child transfers.
Medical records.
Everything.
The video ended with a list.
Seven names.
One had been crossed out.
Tommy.
The others remained.
Dante stared.
“Why was Tommy crossed out?”
I looked.
He had been marked:
RECLAIMED.
Dante's face changed.
“You never wanted to kill him.”
“No,” Gideon's voice said.
“We wanted to control him.”
“Why?”
“Because he's my brother's grandson.”
Dante froze.
Gideon continued.
“Your father created Program Nine.”
“I thought you did.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“To continue his work.”
Dante looked at me.
The Calvetti empire had been built on leverage.
Children were the ultimate leverage.
Gideon believed he was preserving the family.
He didn't see himself as a villain.
That made him more dangerous.
The video showed Ruth.
She was alive.
Not years ago.
Recently.
Weeks earlier.
She looked exhausted.
Dante's face went white.
“She survived.”
I stared.
“My sister?”
“Yes.”
A voice came through the speaker.
“She was kept alive because she knew where the other children were.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Where is she?”
“Come find her.”
The recording ended.
We followed clues.
A private clinic.
A warehouse.
An abandoned church.
Finally, a farmhouse.
Inside, we found Ruth.
Alive.
Weak.
Barely conscious.
I ran to her.
“Ruth.”
She opened her eyes.
“Olivia.”
I cried.
Dante stood behind me.
Ruth looked at him.
Then smiled.
“My husband.”
Dante froze.
“You know me.”
“You've been searching for Tommy.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“He's safe.”
“Where?”
“With Clara.”
Dante stared.
“Clara?”
“She is your niece.”
Another secret.
Another child.
Then Ruth whispered:
“Gideon will come.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“He needs Tommy to sign something.”
“A five-year-old can't sign.”
“Not legally.”
She grabbed my hand.
“Blood.”
My stomach turned.
“The boy's blood unlocks the family trust.”
Everything clicked.
Gideon wanted the Calvetti inheritance.
Tommy's bloodline was necessary.
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He didn't need Tommy to sign.
He needed him alive.
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