Chapter 4 - THE OTHER LUCAMara's pulse hammered.
“What did you just say?”
Rose's eyes remained fixed on Luca.
“That's not my husband's son.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Mara.”
Rose shook her head.
“Stay away from him.”
Mara stared between them.
“This is insane.”
Luca's voice was controlled.
“She has been underground for eleven years. She may not know what day it is.”
Rose slammed her palm against the glass.
“I know exactly what day it is!”
Her voice echoed through the corridor.
“September twenty-third.”
Luca's expression changed.
Mara noticed.
“Why did that bother you?”
“It didn't.”
“You reacted.”
Rose pointed at him.
“Ask him where Anthony Moretti died.”
Mara turned.
“Where?”
Luca said nothing.
Rose answered for him.
“He didn't die in a hospital.”
Mara's voice shook.
“Where?”
“In this building.”
Silence.
The corridor seemed to shrink around them.
Mara looked at Luca.
“Is that true?”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know if it was relevant.”
“Everything is relevant now!”
Luca glanced toward Rose.
“What happened to my father?”
Rose looked away.
“He was killed.”
“By whom?”
“By the man who now wants you dead.”
“Who?”
Rose swallowed.
“Anthony Moretti.”
Mara froze.
Luca's eyes hardened.
“My father is dead.”
“His body is dead.”
Rose's voice became barely audible.
“But his organization is alive.”
Mara stared.
“What organization?”
Rose pointed toward the walls.
“This hotel.”
Luca laughed once.
“You're saying Bellweather is a criminal organization?”
“Not the hotel.”
Rose looked directly at Mara.
“The hotel was the machine.”
The lights flickered.
Rose rushed to the glass.
“They're listening.”
Mara stepped closer.
“Who?”
Rose's hand trembled.
“Everyone.”
A loud click came from the ceiling.
Rose's eyes widened.
“No.”
The glass door beside her unlocked.
Luca raised his gun.
“Back away.”
The door opened.
Two armed men entered.
Rose turned and ran.
Luca fired.
One man dropped.
The second disappeared around a corner.
Mara rushed into the room.
“Mom!”
Rose grabbed her.
For one impossible second, Mara felt twelve years old again.
Her mother's arms smelled exactly the same.
Rain.
Soap.
Lavender.
“I waited for you,” Rose whispered.
“Why couldn't you come home?”
“Because they told me you'd die if I did.”
“Who?”
Rose looked over Mara's shoulder.
Luca stood in the doorway.
“His father.”
Luca slowly lowered his weapon.
“What exactly did Anthony do?”
Rose pulled a small cassette recorder from beneath the mattress.
“He made me keep records.”
“What records?”
“Every person who disappeared.”
Mara stared at the recorder.
“Why?”
“Because he knew one day someone would need to expose him.”
Rose pressed the play button.
Static filled the room.
Then Anthony Moretti's voice.
Cold.
Calm.
Distinct.
“Transfer confirmed.”
Rose whispered:
“That recording was made the night your mother died.”
Mara looked at her.
“You said I wasn't there.”
“I wasn't.”
The recording continued.
Anthony's voice:
“Subject 2047 remains unstable.”
Mara frowned.
“Subject?”
Rose looked at her.
“You.”
The recorder crackled.
Another voice came through.
A younger man's voice.
Luca.
Mara's blood turned cold.
“That's him.”
Luca stared at the recorder.
“I never said that.”
The tape continued.
Younger Luca spoke:
“She won't remember.”
Mara slowly backed away.
“Luca?”
He looked horrified.
“I was sixteen.”
Rose shook her head.
“No.”
She looked directly at him.
“That is not the Luca you think it is.”
Mara stared at the voice again.
Then something clicked.
The younger voice had a slight difference.
A scarred softness around the vowels.
Luca had never heard it.
Mara whispered:
“There are two brothers.”
Rose nodded.
“Anthony had twin sons.”
Luca's face went pale.
“One of them was hidden.”
“Why?”
“Because the other one was supposed to die.”
Mara looked at him.
“Which one are you?”
Before Luca could answer, the entire building shuddered.
A massive explosion thundered somewhere above them.
The lights went out.
Rose grabbed Mara.
“It's starting.”
“What?”
“The purge.”
A red emergency light came on.
On every screen in the room appeared the same message:
IDENTITY CONFIRMED: MARA ELLIS.
Then a second line appeared.
TRANSFER SUBJECT 2047 TO FINAL LOCATION.
Mara looked at Rose.
“What final location?”
Rose's face collapsed.
“The place they took you from.”
Luca turned toward the door.
“Where?”
Rose whispered:
“Your mother's house.”
Mara shook her head.
“My mother never had another house.”
May you like
Rose stared at her.
“You did.”
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