Chapter 5 - The voice came again."Emily..."
I couldn't move.
Dad stared at the baby monitor.
No one touched it.
The screen flickered.
Then displayed a video feed.
An empty room.
A chair.
A small wooden table.
And a woman standing with her back to the camera.
Her hair was dark.
Long.
Exactly like my mother's.
Dad moved toward the monitor.
"No."
His voice cracked.
For the first time since I had known him, my father sounded afraid.
I whispered:
"Dad..."
He raised a hand.
"Don't."
The figure on the screen slowly turned.
The image distorted.
Static.
Then darkness.
The monitor shut off.
Dad immediately ordered his men to search the apartment.
They tore open cabinets.
Checked vents.
Removed panels.
Nothing.
Then one of them called from the basement hallway.
"Sir!"
We didn't have a basement.
Not in the building.
I watched my father's face.
He looked at Ryan.
"You said this apartment had no lower level."
Ryan didn't answer.
Dad followed the man.
Behind a bookshelf was a hidden door.
The key was already in the lock.
Dad opened it.
A staircase descended into darkness.
I felt sick.
"This wasn't here."
Ryan whispered:
"It was."
Dad turned.
"You knew."
Ryan didn't answer.
I tried to stand.
Dad stopped me.
"Stay here."
I shook my head.
"No."
I needed to know.
We descended.
The air grew colder.
At the bottom was a corridor.
There were cameras everywhere.
Screens filled one wall.
Every screen showed a different room.
My bedroom.
The kitchen.
The bathroom.
The living room.
The nursery.
And one room I had never seen.
Dad's man switched on the lights.
It was a medical room.
There was a hospital bed.
Metal restraints.
Medical equipment.
A cabinet filled with sedatives.
My name had been written on a file.
EMILY MORETTI.
I couldn't breathe.
Dad looked at Ryan.
"You built this."
Ryan shook his head.
"No."
Dad grabbed him.
"Then who did?"
Ryan's eyes moved toward the far wall.
A photograph was pinned there.
It was a photograph of Ryan.
Taken when he was a teenager.
Next to him stood Linda.
And another man.
I didn't know him.
But Dad did.
He stepped closer.
His face hardened.
"Anthony Vale."
Ryan looked down.
Dad whispered:
"You're his son."
Ryan finally raised his eyes.
"Yes."
I stared.
"Who is Anthony Vale?"
Dad didn't answer.
Ryan did.
"My father's name was supposed to stay buried."
Dad looked furious.
"Your father was the architect behind the largest blackmail network in the city."
I felt dizzy.
Ryan continued.
"When I met you, I wasn't trying to marry you."
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
"I was assigned to you."
Dad's men raised their weapons.
I stared at Ryan.
"Assigned?"
"Your father had enemies."
Ryan's voice trembled.
"Someone wanted access to the Moretti family."
Dad stepped forward.
"And my daughter was the door."
Ryan nodded.
"I was supposed to watch her."
I felt sick.
"Then why did you marry me?"
Ryan looked at me.
"Because I fell in love with you."
Linda laughed bitterly.
"Don't pretend."
Ryan looked at her.
She pointed toward the medical room.
"You know why this happened."
Dad asked:
"Why?"
Linda's eyes filled with tears.
"Because Anthony discovered she was pregnant."
Silence.
"Pregnant with whose child?" Dad demanded.
Linda looked at me.
"Not Ryan's."
I felt my heart stop.
Dad turned toward Ryan.
Ryan whispered:
"I didn't know."
Linda answered:
"You knew enough."
Then one of the screens flickered.
A new video appeared.
A live recording.
A man sat in a chair.
His face hidden.
He spoke directly to the camera.
"Vincent."
Dad stepped forward.
"Where is my daughter?"
The man laughed.
"Your daughter is standing beside you."
Dad's jaw tightened.
The man continued:
"But you're still missing the other one."
I looked at Ryan.
"What other one?"
The man smiled.
Then the screen changed.
It showed a little girl.
Maybe five years old.
She was sitting alone inside a room.
And around her neck was the same silver necklace my mother used to wear.
The little girl looked into the camera.
Then whispered:
"Mommy?"
May you like
I couldn't breathe.
Because the girl had my eyes.
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