Chapter 5 - The Hidden RoomWhen the emergency lights came on, Alessandro was already moving.
“Secure Rosa.”
“She's alive,” Marco said.
“Then keep her alive.”
He turned toward the fireplace.
The words echoed in his mind.
Inside your family.
He looked at the old portrait.
His father.
His mother.
Elena.
And himself as a child.
There had always been something strange about that portrait.
A tiny imperfection.
A carved line beneath the frame.
Alessandro pressed it.
Nothing.
Again.
Still nothing.
Then Ethan spoke.
“Dad?”
“What?”
“Grandpa used to hide things there.”
Alessandro turned.
“How would you know?”
Ethan shrugged.
“He told me when I was little.”
“You were six months old when he died.”
Ethan's face changed.
“I... I don't know.”
Lily suddenly pointed.
“Behind the picture.”
Alessandro moved the portrait.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside was a narrow staircase.
Everyone stared.
Marco whispered a curse.
Alessandro took a flashlight.
He looked at Ethan.
“Stay here.”
The boy nodded.
Sophia held Lily.
Alessandro entered the passage.
Marco followed.
The staircase descended farther than expected.
At the bottom was a steel door.
Locked.
Marco pulled a key from his pocket.
“It was on your father's old key ring.”
Alessandro stared.
“How did you get that?”
“I found it after his funeral.”
“And you never told me?”
“I thought it was sentimental.”
Alessandro's eyes hardened.
He unlocked the door.
Inside was a room untouched by time.
Old records.
Photographs.
Cash boxes.
A wall covered with names.
At the center stood a desk.
On it was a single red folder.
Alessandro opened it.
The first page contained six names.
His father.
Gabriel.
Daniel Romano.
Rosa Bellini.
Victor Dane.
And Elena Moretti.
Alessandro stopped breathing.
His sister's name was there.
Marco looked over his shoulder.
“She was involved?”
Alessandro shook his head.
“Not necessarily.”
The second page contained a sentence.
IF THE CAKE IS EVER DELIVERED, THE BETRAYAL HAS REACHED THE FINAL STAGE.
Alessandro stared.
“Who wrote this?”
Marco turned the page.
There was a handwritten signature.
Antonio Moretti.
Alessandro's father.
Below it were five words:
Trust nobody except the child.
Marco looked at Lily through the doorway.
Alessandro felt something cold move through him.
The third page contained instructions for what to do if the birthday cake appeared.
They did not explain how to disarm anything.
They explained something much worse.
The cake was not intended to explode.
It was intended to force the family to gather.
To expose something.
Someone had planned the birthday gathering twenty years in advance.
Someone knew exactly who Alessandro would trust.
At the bottom of the page was a final warning.
THE REAL TRAITOR HAS A KEY TO THE INNER VAULT.
Alessandro suddenly remembered.
There were only three keys.
His.
Marco's.
And Victor's.
But Victor had vanished.
Alessandro ran upstairs.
“Marco.”
“What?”
“Check the inner vault.”
Marco frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I think the cake was never the attack.”
He looked toward the ballroom.
“I think it was the distraction.”
Suddenly, Ethan screamed.
“Dad!”
Alessandro sprinted.
The boy pointed toward the cake.
May you like
A small clock had appeared beneath the icing.
And it was counting down.
