Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPHWe escaped through a maintenance tunnel behind the archive.
By the time we reached the street, police sirens were already surrounding the hospital.
Nicholas disappeared before the first patrol car turned the corner.
He left Peter with us.
I wanted answers.
He wanted distance.
Typical Nico.
The boy sat silently in the back of the armored SUV while Grace treated a cut on his forehead.
Marco drove.
I stared at the brass key.
“Vanessa knows about the room.”
Grace glanced at me.
“Do you still plan to marry her?”
I looked out the window.
“I plan to ask her a question.”
“And if she lies?”
“Then I ask again.”
“And if she lies twice?”
“I stop asking.”
We reached the Bellini estate at midnight.
The gates were open.
That worried me more than locked gates ever could.
The mansion was illuminated.
Every light.
Every window.
No guards.
No servants.
No music.
Just silence.
We entered through the front door.
Vanessa was waiting in the ballroom.
She had changed from the ivory suit.
Now she wore black.
Her face was pale.
“You came.”
“You knew I would.”
“I hoped.”
“Where is your mother?”
Vanessa didn't answer.
“Where is Lucia?”
“She left.”
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
I stepped closer.
“Who is Elena Russo?”
Vanessa's eyes flickered.
That was enough.
“Don't lie to me.”
She whispered:
“She was my father's mistress.”
I stared at her.
“Your mother knew?”
“Yes.”
“And Peter?”
Vanessa's eyes moved toward the staircase.
“He was supposed to disappear.”
Grace stepped forward.
“Supposed to?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“My mother paid someone to take him.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
The room chilled.
“Your father is dead.”
“So is my father.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
I didn't understand.
“What are you saying?”
Vanessa pulled a photograph from her purse.
She handed it to me.
I turned it over.
My blood froze.
It showed Nicholas.
Standing beside Lucia Bellini.
And behind them was Elena Russo.
Alive.
The date on the photograph was seven years ago.
The week Nicholas supposedly died.
On the back, someone had written:
THE SON WILL RETURN. THE FIANCÉE WILL OPEN THE DOOR.
I looked at Vanessa.
“What does this mean?”
She started crying.
Not theatrically.
Not loudly.
Just tears sliding down her face.
“I didn't know what my mother was planning.”
“When did you find out?”
“Three months ago.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I was afraid.”
“You're afraid now.”
“Yes.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Then of whom?”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“My mother.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Marco raised his gun.
A shadow crossed the second-floor hallway.
Then disappeared.
I motioned for Marco to stay with Peter.
Grace remained behind him.
I went upstairs.
Vanessa followed.
My father's old study was on the east side of the mansion.
But I had never seen the door.
Vanessa stopped before a section of wood paneling.
She pressed her palm against it.
Nothing happened.
Then she took my hand.
“Hold this.”
“What?”
“The ring.”
She pointed at the signet ring I'd inherited from my father.
I pressed it into a small indentation.
Click.
The wall opened.
Behind it was a narrow room.
Dusty.
Untouched.
Exactly as it had been two decades ago.
A desk.
A safe.
A leather chair.
And on the desk...
a cassette recorder.
I pressed play.
My father's voice filled the room.
“If Dominic is hearing this, then Nicholas failed to stay hidden.”
I stopped breathing.
My father's voice continued.
“I know Lucia will eventually find Peter.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Peter was born before you knew about him.”
The recording crackled.
“I made a bargain to keep him alive.”
“With whom?”
A pause.
Then my father said:
“With Nicholas.”
My heart stopped.
“Nicholas was never your enemy, Dominic.”
The tape continued.
“He was the only son I trusted.”
I looked at Vanessa.
She was crying harder now.
Then the recording changed.
A second voice appeared.
Lucia Bellini.
I knew it immediately.
“You promised me the boy would never leave the family.”
My father's voice answered:
“He won't.”
Lucia laughed.
“Then why is his name in the ledger?”
Silence.
Then my father said:
“Because one day Dominic will need to know.”
The tape clicked.
A final message appeared.
“If Lucia ever discovers the ledger, she will kill everyone connected to it.”
I stared at the machine.
The tape ended.
Vanessa whispered:
“The ledger.”
I turned.
“Where is it?”
She pointed toward the safe.
“I don't know the combination.”
I stared at the numbers.
Then remembered the stopped clock.
2:14.
I entered it.
The safe opened.
Inside was a red ledger.
And underneath it...
a small envelope addressed to me.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
There was only one sentence.
Your mother did not die in an accident.
I dropped the letter.
Because my mother had died twenty years ago.
And I'd spent my entire life believing it was my father's fault.
Then a gunshot cracked through the mansion.
Grace screamed downstairs.
Marco shouted.
I ran.
Peter was gone.
May you like
And the front door was swinging open.
Someone had taken him.
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