Chapter 2 - The Woman in the CamerasBy morning, someone inside the penthouse had disappeared.
The blackout lasted eleven seconds.
I know because I counted.
One.
Two.
Three.
I pulled Mia against my chest.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Alessandro moved.
I heard the sharp scrape of furniture.
A door slammed.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Eleven.
The lights returned.
Raymond was gone.
The elevator doors were open.
But the elevator itself was empty.
Alessandro looked at the security panel.
“Lock the building.”
His voice was quiet.
That scared me more than shouting would have.
“Now.”
Somewhere below us, alarms began to sound.
Mia whimpered against my shoulder.
I held her tighter.
“What is happening?”
Alessandro looked at me.
“You are no longer working here.”
My heart dropped.
“I know.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You don’t understand.”
He touched Mia’s blanket.
“This is not about you hiding a baby.”
His eyes hardened.
“Someone has been watching you.”
My mouth went dry.
“For how long?”
“Probably since before you were hired.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because of your mother.”
He turned to the wall of screens in his office.
The penthouse security system appeared.
Cameras from every floor.
Lobby.
Garage.
Elevators.
Hallways.
Laundry room.
One screen showed me entering with Mia.
Another showed me leaving.
Another showed me buying formula.
Another showed me carrying groceries.
I felt sick.
“They’ve been recording me?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro tapped the screen.
A timestamp appeared.
Three months ago.
The day I started working here.
Another window opened.
The hiring records.
My application.
My references.
My background check.
Everything was there.
Except one thing.
My emergency contact had been deleted.
“Who did this?”
Alessandro didn’t answer.
Instead, he clicked open an employee profile.
Lucia Conti.
My stomach tightened.
Her file was almost empty.
“No criminal history,” he said.
“Perfect employment record.”
Then he zoomed in.
A passport photo filled the screen.
Lucia.
Severe face.
Gray hair.
Cold eyes.
I remembered her smiling at me.
Bringing me soup when I worked late.
Asking how Mia was doing.
Alessandro opened another folder.
My hands trembled.
“How did you get that?”
“It’s my house.”
The file contained photographs.
Hundreds.
Me entering the penthouse.
Me sleeping in the staff room.
Me carrying Mia.
Me crying in the hallway.
Me talking to Raymond.
Then one photo appeared that made my blood run cold.
My mother.
Standing beside Alessandro’s father.
I stepped toward the screen.
“That’s my mother.”
Alessandro stared at the photograph.
“I know.”
I turned.
“You know?”
“I knew Marina Bellini.”
“How?”
“My father’s private assistant for twelve years.”
I stopped breathing.
“My mother told me she cleaned houses.”
“She lied.”
“Why?”
“Because she was protecting you.”
Alessandro opened another file.
A scanned document appeared.
A birth certificate.
I read the first line.
My mother’s name.
Then another name.
Father.
My eyes moved down.
The field was stamped:
CONFIDENTIAL.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Why is my father’s name redacted?”
“Because he wasn’t supposed to be identified.”
“Then who was he?”
He didn’t answer.
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Heavy.
Alessandro immediately turned off the monitors.
He pulled me behind him.
“Stay here.”
Someone knocked.
Three times.
Slowly.
Alessandro opened the door.
A security officer stood there.
“Sir, the elevators have been disabled.”
“Where is Raymond?”
“Missing.”
“And Lucia?”
The officer hesitated.
“We can’t find her either.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“What about the surveillance room?”
“Locked.”
“Open it.”
“We already tried.”
“What do you mean?”
The officer swallowed.
“The biometric logs show that someone opened the room using your credentials.”
Alessandro’s face became unreadable.
“My credentials?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Sir, whoever did it knew your access code.”
Alessandro looked at me.
Then at Mia.
The baby suddenly reached for him.
He stared at her.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He stepped closer.
Mia touched the chain around his neck.
A small gold medallion hung from it.
I had seen it before.
But I had never noticed the engraving.
A tiny letter.
M.
Alessandro gently took the medallion between two fingers.
His voice was barely audible.
“Marina gave me this twenty-six years ago.”
I stared at him.
“She died twenty-six years ago.”
“No.”
His eyes met mine.
“She didn’t.”
My blood turned to ice.
“What are you saying?”
“She disappeared.”
He looked at Mia.
“And the last person she was seen with was my father.”
Before I could respond, the security officer’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face drained.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“There’s a body in the parking garage.”
“Who?”
May you like
The officer looked directly at me.
“Lucia Conti.”
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