Chapter 6 - The Vault Beneath the Christmas Tree
They entered the Meridian through a service entrance after midnight.
The ballroom had been emptied.
Christmas decorations still hung from the ceiling.
The giant tree stood near the piano.
The same tree under which hundreds of gifts had been opened hours earlier.
Isabella walked slowly toward it.
The floor beneath her heels felt different.
Hollow.
"Here."
Lorenzo moved beside her.
He found a hidden seam in the wood.
A panel lifted.
A staircase descended into darkness.
Mael and Rafael stayed above.
Lorenzo turned to Isabella.
"You stay behind me."
"No."
"Isabella."
"I've been behind people my entire life."
She handed him the small key.
"Tonight I walk beside you."
For a second, he simply looked at her.
Then he smiled.
"All right."
They descended.
The tunnel below smelled like dust and old paper.
At the bottom was a steel door.
The key fit.
It opened.
Inside was a vault.
Metal cabinets.
Boxes.
Photographs.
Documents.
Names.
Hundreds.
Children.
Families.
Payments.
Shelters.
Medical records.
Everything.
Isabella covered her mouth.
"This is it."
Lorenzo looked around.
"Take nothing."
"What?"
"We photograph everything."
He pulled out his phone.
They began documenting the files.
Then Isabella stopped.
One photograph lay on the floor.
A little girl.
Five years old.
On the back was a name.
Isabella Sinclair.
Her own name.
She stared.
"No."
Lorenzo took the photograph.
There was a second note.
Subject retained under Sinclair family protection.
Transferred December 24.
She looked at Rafael when they emerged.
"Why is my name here?"
Rafael's face collapsed.
"Because you were one of them."
"What?"
"Not a child taken."
He swallowed.
"A child hidden."
She shook her head.
"You said my father protected children."
"He did."
"Then why protect me?"
Rafael looked at Lorenzo.
"Because your mother was one of the organizers."
Isabella stopped breathing.
"My mother?"
"She worked with the network to free children and create new identities. When she realized Viktor was infiltrating it, she hid you under your father's name."
"That makes no sense."
"You were born under another identity."
She stared.
"Who was I?"
Rafael hesitated.
"Lena Moretti."
The name meant nothing.
Until Lorenzo spoke.
"Moretti."
He looked shocked.
"The Moretti family controlled half the eastern shipping routes before Viktor destroyed them."
Isabella backed away.
"My mother was Moretti?"
"Yes."
She laughed once, disbelieving.
"So my marriage to Adrienne was part of some giant family war?"
"Yes."
She sat on an old wooden crate.
For years, she had believed she was ordinary.
Now she was discovering that almost nothing about her life had been ordinary.
Lorenzo crouched in front of her.
"Look at me."
She did.
"None of this changes who you are."
"It changes everything."
"No."
He held her gaze.
"It changes what was done to you."
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Many.
Lorenzo stood immediately.
"Someone followed us."
The vault door slammed.
Locked.
The lights went out.
Isabella heard the sound of weapons being loaded.
Then a voice came through the steel.
"Good evening, Lorenzo."
Viktor.
Lorenzo's voice was cold.
"You're getting predictable."
"I came for the ledger."
"You have no idea what is in here."
"I know exactly."
The vault began filling with smoke.
Isabella coughed.
Lorenzo pulled her down.
"There."
He pointed to an old ventilation opening.
"We're getting out."
They climbed through a narrow shaft.
Isabella's dress tore.
Dust filled her lungs.
Lorenzo pushed her ahead.
Behind them, someone shouted.
"Find them!"
They crawled through darkness until the tunnel opened beneath the old service road.
They emerged in snow.
Mael waited.
"Where's Rafael?"
Isabella asked.
Mael's face changed.
"He's gone."
"What?"
"They took him."
Lorenzo looked toward the city.
Viktor had split them.
He had taken Rafael.
And now he had the one person who knew the full truth.
Isabella's phone buzzed.
A video appeared.
Rafael sat bound to a chair.
Viktor stood behind him.
And beside Viktor was Adrienne.
Adrienne looked directly at the camera.
"Isabella."
She could barely breathe.
"Come alone tomorrow night."
Viktor smiled.
"And bring Lorenzo."
The video ended.
Lorenzo looked at her.
"You are not going."
"Yes, I am."
"No."
"He has my father."
"He wants you."
"Exactly."
Lorenzo stepped closer.
"Then he has made another mistake."
"What mistake?"
May you like
His eyes softened.
"He thinks I am going to let him take you."
