Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Had Been Waiting for Her Son
We found the hidden chamber behind a false wall.
Inside was no money.
No weapons.
Only records.
Hundreds of them.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
Bank accounts.
Names of politicians, businessmen, judges, police officers.
The entire machinery behind the old organization.
Alessandro looked at the first folder.
“That's why everyone wants this.”
I nodded.
“The records can destroy them.”
“Or expose everyone.”
I looked at him.
“What will you do?”
He stared at the files.
“Burn it.”
I was shocked.
“Why?”
“Because thousands of innocent people could be hurt.”
“But then the truth disappears.”
“No.”
He looked toward the exit.
“We preserve the evidence and give it to people outside this system.”
That was the first time I saw something beyond survival in his expression.
Responsibility.
He gathered the drives.
Then the floor shook.
Floodwater began entering.
Elena and Luca were still trapped.
Alessandro turned.
“I'll get them.”
I grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
He looked at me.
“You'll drown.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
His eyes held mine.
“For the first time in my life, someone is telling me to live.”
He gently removed my hand.
“Listen to me.”
“What?”
“If I don't come back—”
“You will.”
“Listen.”
My eyes filled.
He touched my cheek.
“You were never my weakness.”
I couldn't speak.
“You and Emma were the reason I remembered I was human.”
Then he kissed my forehead.
And disappeared into the flood.
I screamed his name.
Emma clung to me.
“Daddy Wolf come back.”
“He has to.”
Minutes passed.
Then ten.
Then fifteen.
I heard an explosion.
The lights died.
I thought he was dead.
Then a flashlight appeared.
Alessandro emerged from the darkness carrying Elena.
Luca was behind him.
All four of us escaped through a maintenance tunnel just as the vault collapsed.
Outside, emergency vehicles surrounded the property.
Gabriel was captured.
But Matteo escaped.
Before dawn, Elena sat beside Alessandro.
She touched his face.
“You look like your father.”
He shook his head.
“I don't want to become him.”
“You won't.”
“Why?”
“Because you choose differently.”
She looked at me.
“And because she changed you.”
I looked away.
Elena smiled.
“Your mother saved you.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“She knew you?”
“She loved you.”
I felt tears rise.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“She believed your life could only be safe if you knew nothing.”
Emma climbed into Elena's lap.
“Are you Daddy Wolf's mommy?”
Elena laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
Emma considered that.
“Then you grandma?”
Elena laughed harder.
“I suppose I am.”
Emma handed her Bunny.
“Hold it.”
Elena stared at the toy.
Then she began crying.
“That belonged to my daughter.”
Alessandro froze.
“What daughter?”
Elena looked at him.
“Your sister.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
“She didn't die.”
Alessandro's face drained of color.
“Where is she?”
Elena looked toward me.
I felt something click in my memory.
The woman in my mother's photographs.
The little girl with the blue bracelet.
The same bracelet Emma wore.
My mother's sister had a daughter.
And Emma's bracelet had been hers.
Elena whispered:
“She's alive.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Then Emma suddenly spoke.
“She lives at the house with the red door.”
Everyone turned.
“How do you know that?”
Emma looked confused.
“Because Mama talked about it.”
I stared.
“I did?”
Emma nodded.
“You said Grandma lived there.”
I felt cold.
I had never consciously remembered saying that.
Elena grabbed my hand.
“What house?”
I closed my eyes.
A memory surfaced.
My mother had once driven me somewhere when I was little.
A red door.
A woman watching from a window.
A blue rabbit.
I remembered the street.
“I know where.”
Alessandro stood.
“Then we're going.”
Before we could leave, a gunshot came from outside.
A guard dropped.
Matteo had returned.
His voice echoed through the speakers.
“You found the family.”
Alessandro moved me behind him.
Matteo continued.
“Then bring them to me.”
Alessandro looked at his mother.
“We finish this.”
Elena nodded.
“No.”
May you like
She stood.
“We finish what your father couldn't.”
