Chapter 3 - The clicking sound of the lock was quiet.
Almost polite.
It was the kind of sound that made fear worse.
Alessandro crossed the office in two steps and tried the handle.
Locked.
“Move away from the door.”
I did.
Liam grabbed a heavy lamp from the desk.
“You think that'll help?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Alessandro looked at the security monitor.
The woman on the screen had disappeared.
Victor Sloane remained standing in the hallway.
Then he slowly looked directly into the camera.
As if he knew we were watching.
As if he knew I was there.
His lips moved.
No sound came from the recording.
But I understood the words.
ELIZABETH.
Then the screen went black.
A second later, the laptop shut down.
The lights flickered.
Alessandro pulled his phone.
No signal.
“Building security is down,” he said.
Liam cursed.
I felt dizzy.
My mother.
That wasn't possible.
My mother died twelve years ago.
I had seen the hospital room.
I had seen the body.
I had watched them close the casket.
“Emma.”
Alessandro's voice was close.
I looked at him.
“That's not my mother.”
“You recognized her.”
“I recognized her face.”
“You said Mom.”
“I was wrong.”
He studied me.
“You're lying.”
“I don't know what I'm looking at.”
That part was true.
The image had been too quick.
Too impossible.
A metallic sound came from the hallway.
Alessandro raised his gun.
“Behind me.”
The door suddenly unlocked.
He kicked it open.
Nobody.
Only an empty corridor.
At the far end, an emergency exit stood open.
Alessandro moved fast.
We followed.
Outside was a service staircase.
The hotel lights had gone out.
The entire floor was dark.
Then a woman's voice drifted upward.
“Elizabeth?”
I stopped.
Liam grabbed my wrist.
“Don't answer.”
The voice came again.
“Elizabeth, I know you're there.”
Alessandro stepped downward.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“You don't know who that is.”
I reached for his sleeve.
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“You know her?”
“No.”
I whispered the truth.
“I know the voice.”
He stared.
“Whose?”
“My mother.”
The silence was absolute.
Then footsteps began climbing.
Slowly.
One step at a time.
A shadow appeared on the wall.
Woman.
High heels.
Long coat.
She stopped halfway up.
“Elizabeth.”
My knees almost gave out.
Alessandro lifted his weapon.
“Identify yourself.”
The woman laughed softly.
“You always were protective, Alessandro.”
He froze.
She knew his name.
Then she stepped into the emergency light.
I saw her face.
My world cracked open.
She was older than the woman in my memories.
But the eyes were the same.
The small scar above her eyebrow was the same.
The mouth.
The cheekbones.
Everything.
My mother.
Alive.
“Mom?”
Her expression softened.
“I'm sorry.”
I couldn't move.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father needed me to stay dead.”
My entire body shook.
Alessandro lowered his gun slightly.
“What the hell is going on?”
She looked at him.
“You're Victor Vitali's son.”
He nodded.
“You look like him.”
“My father knew your husband.”
She smiled sadly.
“Victor wasn't my husband.”
I frowned.
She looked at me.
“Your father wasn't your biological father.”
The staircase vanished around me.
“What?”
Liam whispered, “Elizabeth…”
My mother stepped closer.
“Your father adopted you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That isn't true.”
“He loved you.”
She reached into her coat.
She held out an old envelope.
My name was written on it.
Elizabeth Mercer.
My mother's handwriting.
“He wanted you protected.”
I took one step toward her.
“Protected from what?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“From the truth.”
Then she looked over my shoulder.
Her face changed.
“Alessandro.”
He turned.
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
My mother shouted.
“DOWN!”
A gunshot exploded.
Alessandro dropped.
I screamed.
He hit the stairs.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
“Alessandro!”
I ran toward him.
A second gunshot struck the railing.
My mother grabbed me.
“Get down!”
Liam fired toward the upper landing.
Someone ran.
Alessandro pushed himself upright.
“I'm okay.”
“You're bleeding.”
“It's a graze.”
My mother looked toward the darkness.
“He found us.”
“Who?”
She stared at me.
“Victor.”
I felt sick.
“Victor is alive?”
“Yes.”
“But they said…”
“He never died.”
My mother pulled me into the emergency corridor.
“You have to leave Chicago tonight.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You don't understand.”
She looked at my stomach.
Then at Alessandro.
“He knows about the baby.”
Alessandro's expression turned cold.
“How?”
My mother hesitated.
Then she said something that changed everything.
“Because that baby isn't just Alessandro's.”
Nobody moved.
I stared at her.
“What did you say?”
She swallowed.
“Your father left instructions.”
“For what?”
Her eyes fixed on me.
“If you ever had a child…”
She stopped.
“Then Victor would come for it.”
I felt Alessandro's hand close around mine.
His voice was low.
“Why?”
My mother looked at him.
“Because four years ago, your father discovered the person funding Victor Sloane.”
She looked at me.
“And that person sits on the Vitali family board.”
Alessandro went completely still.
“Impossible.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
Then footsteps echoed from above.
This time there were dozens.
Men were coming down both staircases.
My mother looked at me.
“Run.”
“Mom?”
She shoved the envelope into my hands.
“Your father hid the proof inside the place where you were conceived.”
I stared at her.
“What place?”
She whispered:
“The Mercer house.”
Then she stepped into the stairwell.
“Go!”
“I'm not leaving you!”
She smiled through her tears.
“You already lost me once.”
May you like
A gunshot rang out.
My mother collapsed.
