Chapter 4 - The Brother Buried in PaperThe words stayed in Alessandra's head.
Your brother.
She looked at Caleb.
He seemed strangely calm.
“Mom?”
She forced herself to breathe.
“It's okay.”
A lie.
Everything was no longer okay.
She searched the room again.
Behind the old mattress, she found a loose brick.
Inside was a file.
The child's name had been written on the front.
ELIAS.
DOB: CONFIDENTIAL.
Mother: FRANCESCA ORSINI.
Father: VINCENT ORSINI.
Alessandra stared.
Vincent.
Her brother.
Mason's father.
The man who had stood in the doorway while Caleb struggled to breathe.
Her stomach turned.
She opened the file.
Elias had been born with a severe heart condition.
According to the records, he had died at age three.
But the photographs in the room were dated after that.
Much later.
Someone had kept him alive.
Hidden.
Locked away.
Why?
Another document answered the question.
Elias had been the firstborn male grandchild.
Under the original Orsini succession rules, that made him the legal heir.
Mason was only second.
Francesca had hidden Elias because he was sick.
But that wasn't the whole story.
The last medical report stated:
Patient is stable enough for surgery.
Surgery had never happened.
Alessandra felt sick.
She looked at the photos again.
Elias grew older.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Then the photographs stopped.
At the back of the folder was a handwritten note.
He knows about the ledger.
Alessandra stared.
The ledger.
The black book from the recording.
Suddenly the pieces began fitting together.
Elias had discovered something.
He hadn't died.
He had been imprisoned.
And someone had kept him hidden to prevent him from inheriting.
But where was he now?
A tiny sound came from behind the opposite wall.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Caleb lifted his head.
“That's him.”
Alessandra moved closer.
“Elias?”
Tap.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
It was deliberate.
A code.
Her father had taught her one when she was a child.
Three knocks meant danger.
Two meant someone was listening.
Alessandra looked up.
There was a ventilation grate.
She removed it.
Behind it was a narrow shaft.
A face appeared.
A young man's face.
Pale.
Thin.
Terrified.
But alive.
“Alessandra.”
She stumbled backward.
“Elias?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“You're late.”
She grabbed the grate.
“How long have you been here?”
“Since they told everyone I died.”
“Who did this?”
He looked at Caleb.
His expression softened.
Then he looked back.
“Grandmother.”
Alessandra's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
Elias swallowed.
“Because I found the real ledger.”
“The black one?”
He nodded.
“And because Father wanted Mason to inherit.”
“Vincent?”
“Yes.”
She felt betrayed in a way she hadn't expected.
“But Vincent is your father.”
“He stopped being my father the day he signed the paper.”
“What paper?”
Elias closed his eyes.
“The order to erase me.”
Silence.
Alessandra shook her head.
“No.”
“It's true.”
“Then why is Mason the heir?”
“Because they needed a child who could be controlled.”
Alessandra thought of Bianca.
Francesca.
Vincent.
Mason.
Then Caleb.
“Why did Caleb hear you?”
Elias looked frightened.
“Because the old rooms connect.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Only one thing.”
“What?”
Elias stared directly at her.
“Your father did not die naturally.”
Alessandra felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“What?”
“Someone shut off his oxygen.”
“No.”
“I heard the argument.”
“Who?”
Elias whispered:
“Vincent.”
Alessandra backed away.
“That's impossible.”
“I wish it were.”
Then footsteps sounded above them.
Elias looked up.
“They found us.”
The secret passage door opened.
A shot exploded into the stone wall.
Caleb screamed.
Alessandra grabbed him.
Elias shouted:
“RUN!”
May you like
And from the other side of the passage came Vincent's voice.
“You should have left the dead buried.”
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