Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Locked Office
Camila had always understood power.
It was not about weapons.
It was about leverage.
Her father had taught her that before she was old enough to drive.
Never ask for what you can make someone give.
Never threaten what you can simply remove.
And never allow another woman to become more important to your husband than the alliance that built your position.
Rafe had never loved her.
Camila accepted that.
Love had never been part of the arrangement.
But respect mattered.
Control mattered.
Status mattered.
And Josie was disrupting all three.
Camila entered Rafe's private office one evening.
She knew where the hidden files were.
She had known for years.
She opened a cabinet.
Nothing.
Another.
Nothing.
Then she found a locked drawer.
She used the spare key she had stolen from his desk months earlier.
Inside were photographs.
Josie.
Her sister.
Her father.
The grain elevator.
October 17.
Camila stared.
Rafe had been investigating the same mystery.
But then she found another photograph.
It showed her father, Warick Sutcliffe, standing beside a dockworker.
She recognized the dockworker.
Her father had told her he died years ago.
Her hands trembled.
She flipped the picture.
On the back:
3:14.
Camila sat down.
For the first time in her life, she realized her father may have built their entire marriage alliance around a secret.
She continued searching.
A second envelope.
Inside was a medical report.
A name.
Nico Castellano.
Camila stopped breathing.
Rafe's missing brother.
The report had been written seventeen years earlier.
It stated that Nico survived the incident that everyone believed had killed him.
Camila stared at the page.
No.
That was impossible.
Nico had disappeared.
The family had held a funeral.
Rafe's mother had never recovered.
Camila turned the next page.
The final notation read:
Patient transferred under private authorization to Sutcliffe-controlled facility.
Camila stood.
Her hands were shaking.
Her father had Rafe's brother.
For seventeen years.
Why?
She suddenly heard footsteps.
She put the documents back.
The office door opened.
Rafe stood there.
Camila turned.
“You're home early.”
“Where were you?”
“Here.”
He looked at her.
Then at the drawer.
His eyes narrowed.
“What were you doing?”
“Looking for something.”
“What?”
Camila smiled.
“Answers.”
Rafe closed the door.
“What did you find?”
She should have lied.
Instead, she asked:
“Did you know Nico was alive?”
Rafe froze.
“What?”
Camila repeated the question.
“Your brother.”
His face became completely still.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“In your files.”
Rafe moved toward the desk.
“Show me.”
Camila handed him the report.
He read it once.
Then again.
His hands began to shake.
“This is fake.”
“Maybe.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Your office.”
He looked at her.
Camila's voice softened.
“I didn't know.”
Rafe didn't respond.
He grabbed the phone.
“Sunny.”
A voice answered.
“Get everyone.”
He hung up.
Then his eyes returned to the report.
Seventeen years.
Seventeen years of grief.
He had blamed himself.
He had believed his brother died.
And now someone was saying he had survived.
Josie entered the room.
She stopped when she saw them.
“What happened?”
Rafe handed her the document.
Josie read it.
Her face went pale.
“Sutcliffe.”
Rafe nodded.
Josie whispered, “That means Camila's father knew.”
Camila looked at her.
“You've been investigating him too.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My father.”
Camila closed her eyes.
“My father knew about your father.”
Rafe looked between them.
The three people standing in that room were tied together by something far older than any of them had understood.
A hidden operation.
A missing child.
A warehouse fire.
And fifteen years of falsified records.
They began searching every old Sutcliffe facility.
Two days later, they found one.
An abandoned medical center.
Inside were patient records.
Not many.
But one carried Nico's birth name.
Rafe entered the room alone.
He found an old photograph.
A boy.
Twelve years old.
Alive.
The back read:
Transferred to Graybridge Children's Home.
Rafe dropped the photograph.
He couldn't breathe.
Josie found him.
“He was alive.”
Rafe nodded.
His eyes were wet.
She had never seen him cry.
He whispered, “I left him there.”
“No.”
“I was supposed to protect him.”
“You were sixteen.”
“I should have known.”
She stepped closer.
“You were a child too.”
He looked at her.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand more than you think.”
She pulled back her sleeve.
For the first time, Rafe saw the burn scar on her left arm.
He stared.
“My father died in that fire.”
“I know.”
“He pushed me through a window.”
Rafe looked at her.
“He saved me.”
She lowered the sleeve again.
“We spent seven years thinking we were responsible for surviving.”
Rafe didn't know how to answer.
He touched her wrist.
Very gently.
“You didn't cause it.”
Neither did you.
The words stayed between them.
Later that night, Rafe and Josie drove to Graybridge.
The children's home had closed years ago.
But one former administrator still lived nearby.
She gave them a file.
Nico had arrived at age twelve.
He had stayed for fourteen months.
Then someone came for him.
A man.
Tall.
Scar on his chin.
Driving a dark sedan.
Rafe knew the description.
Gideon Vale.
An associate of his father.
Rafe had trusted him for years.
The administrator gave them one final piece of paper.
A handwritten note.
Please don't tell Rafferty where I am.
He will come looking.
Rafe stared at the words.
His brother had known.
He had deliberately stayed hidden.
“Why?” Josie asked.
“I don't know.”
They were leaving when the administrator suddenly grabbed Josie's arm.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
She looked frightened.
“The man who came for Nico wasn't alone.”
“Who was with him?”
The woman whispered:
“Warick Sutcliffe.”
Josie stopped.
Camila had been right.
Her father was at the center.
But there was one problem.
Warick had died eight years earlier.
May you like
Which meant someone had been maintaining his operation long after his death.
And that someone had access to the Castellano family.
