Chapter 2 - The Woman in the Red Dress
The security room was buried beneath the east wing of the mansion, behind a steel door that most employees were never allowed to see.
I had cleaned around it hundreds of times.
I had never been inside.
The first thing I noticed was the wall of monitors.
Every hallway.
Every entrance.
Every garage.
Every service corridor.
The second thing I noticed was the silence.
Luca stood in front of the largest screen while Marco replayed the footage from earlier that afternoon.
There I was.
Pushing Mrs. Moretti's wheelchair toward the service elevator.
Two men in dark uniforms stood behind me.
One grabbed the wheelchair.
I pulled it back.
The second man caught my arm.
I tried to scream.
Then everything happened at once.
The first man shoved me against the wall.
My elbow struck the metal frame.
I still remembered the pain.
I still remembered Mrs. Moretti shouting.
Luca watched without blinking.
“Pause.”
Marco froze the frame.
The face of the man who had grabbed me was partially visible.
Luca leaned closer.
“Zoom.”
The image sharpened.
A small tattoo showed above the man's collar.
Three black dots surrounding a narrow line.
Marco's expression changed.
“You know it?”
Luca nodded.
“It's a Santoro mark.”
I frowned.
“Who are the Santoros?”
Luca looked at me.
“A family that has been trying to destroy mine for fifteen years.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why would they want your mother?”
“They wouldn't.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“They'd want what she knows.”
Before I could ask what that meant, another screen flashed.
Marco had pulled up the medical transport.
The driver's face was clear.
Luca's jaw tightened.
“I know him.”
Marco swore quietly.
“Raymond Pike.”
“Who is that?”
“My mother's former attorney.”
The room seemed to become colder.
Luca grabbed his phone and called his mother.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then another camera alert appeared.
A small red icon blinked near the west side of the property.
“What's that?” I asked.
Marco answered.
“The old garden entrance.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Bring it up.”
The video showed a woman standing near the gate.
Her face was hidden beneath a hood.
She held a small black bag.
Then she looked directly into the camera.
She lifted one finger to her lips.
Silence.
The feed went black.
Marco stood.
“Someone hacked the camera.”
Luca didn't answer.
He was staring at the black screen.
Then he looked at me.
“What did my mother tell you before she disappeared?”
I remembered her trembling hands.
Her whispered warnings.
And one strange sentence.
“She asked me if you'd ever told me about your father.”
Luca went still.
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
“Good.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because my father died thirteen years ago.”
“I know.”
“No, Sophie.”
His expression hardened.
“You don't know how he died.”
I waited.
Luca walked to a cabinet and unlocked it.
Inside were old files.
He pulled one out.
“Officially, my father died in a car accident.”
He handed me a photograph.
A burned black sedan.
“Unofficially?”
“He was murdered.”
My fingers tightened around the photograph.
“By the Santoros?”
“We believed so.”
“But you don't anymore.”
“No.”
He opened another folder.
“This case was closed because the evidence disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“The witness vanished. The surveillance recordings were altered. The detective assigned to the case resigned.”
I looked at him.
“Then why are you showing me this?”
“Because my mother spent the last six months trying to reopen the investigation.”
I remembered her whispers.
Her fear.
Her obsession with locked drawers and old documents.
“She found something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Luca didn't answer.
Marco stepped closer.
“Boss.”
He held up a small envelope.
“We found this hidden inside the wheelchair cushion.”
Luca took it.
The front had one word written in blue ink.
SOPHIE.
My heart stopped.
“That’s my name.”
Luca opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A woman standing outside a hospital twenty-nine years ago.
She held a newborn baby.
I recognized the woman immediately.
My mother.
But I had never seen the baby.
On the back, a date was written.
September 18.
And beneath it:
SHE DIDN'T DIE. SHE WAS TAKEN.
My breath caught.
“What does that mean?”
Luca looked at me.
“You tell me.”
I shook my head.
“I don't understand.”
Marco looked between us.
“Boss, there’s more.”
He placed a second photograph on the table.
This one was old and grainy.
A hospital hallway.
My mother standing beside a younger woman.
And the younger woman was unmistakably Mrs. Moretti.
I stared.
“No.”
Luca studied the photograph.
“Your mother knew mine.”
“I never knew that.”
“Apparently, neither did I.”
A heavy silence followed.
Then Marco received a message.
He checked the phone.
“Boss. The transport was intercepted.”
Luca straightened.
“My mother?”
“They found the vehicle abandoned near Navy Pier.”
My heart dropped.
“And Mrs. Moretti?”
“Gone.”
“Any blood?”
“None.”
Luca exhaled.
That was when the steel door behind us clicked.
Everyone turned.
Vanessa stepped into the room.
She had changed out of her red gown.
Now she wore a black coat.
She looked calm.
Too calm.
Marco reached for his weapon.
Luca raised a hand.
“Stay where you are.”
Vanessa smiled.
“You really should listen to your mother.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“What did you do with her?”
“Nothing.”
“You sent the men.”
“I sent people to protect her.”
“From whom?”
“From you.”
I stared at her.
Vanessa turned toward me.
“You've been asking too many questions, Sophie.”
“You know my mother?”
Her face changed for the briefest second.
Then she smiled.
“Everyone has secrets.”
“Answer me.”
Luca stepped between us.
“Don't speak to her.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Why? Because you're worried she might discover what your mother discovered?”
The room froze.
Luca moved closer.
“What does my mother know?”
Vanessa looked directly at him.
“The truth about your father's death.”
Luca's expression became unreadable.
“And what truth is that?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“You don't want to hear it.”
“I'll decide that.”
She looked at me.
“Your mother wasn't supposed to survive.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
Vanessa whispered, “Neither were you.”
Marco immediately moved toward her.
But Vanessa tossed a tiny device onto the desk.
A red light blinked.
May you like
She smiled.
Then the mansion's entire power system shut down.
