Chapter 9 - The Boy Behind the Glass
The Missing Twin
The boy's voice stayed in my head all night.
Mommy.
One word.
Twenty-four years of fear could not have prepared me for hearing it.
Dante tracked the call.
The signal came from an old medical facility outside Chicago.
We arrived before sunrise.
The building had been abandoned for years.
Inside, the air smelled of bleach.
Rows of old rooms lined the hallways.
Then we found glass.
A wall of reinforced glass.
Behind it sat a little boy.
Six years old.
Thin.
Pale.
Dark hair.
He was drawing.
A woman sat beside him.
I knew her immediately.
The woman from Sophia's picture.
Red dress.
Same eyes.
She looked at me through the glass.
“Rosa.”
I nearly collapsed.
“How do you know my name?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because I was there when they took your son.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
“Carmela's sister.”
Silence.
Dante stared.
“I thought she was an only child.”
“So did everyone.”
The woman introduced herself as Elena Falcone.
She had disappeared from the family ten years earlier.
Carmela had found her after years of searching.
Elena pointed toward the boy.
“His name is Adrian.”
My heart broke.
“Adrian.”
The boy looked up.
He stared at me.
Then at Sophia.
The glass separated us.
Sophia stepped forward.
“Brother.”
Adrian slowly stood.
He put his palm against the glass.
Sophia did the same.
Their hands met on opposite sides.
I began crying.
Dante looked away.
Elena whispered.
“They separated them because together they were dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Because Carmela found out the twins were connected to an inheritance dispute.”
Dante turned.
“What inheritance?”
Elena stared at him.
“Your family fortune.”
Dante shook his head.
“My family doesn't leave everything to children.”
“Your father did.”
Elena reached into her coat.
She produced a legal document.
Carmela's name was on it.
Dante's father's signature was beneath hers.
The document stated that if Dante died without a legitimate surviving heir, the majority of the Falcone estate would transfer to the children of a woman connected to the family.
Not Dante.
Not Matteo.
Not Daniel.
The twins.
Someone had hidden the existence of Adrian so another branch of the family could control the fortune.
Dante read the document.
His eyes became black.
“Who knew?”
Elena looked at him.
“Your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“And Carmela?”
“She knew too much.”
I stared at Adrian.
“Who took him?”
Elena lowered her voice.
“Daniel didn't.”
Dante looked up.
“Then who?”
Elena pointed to the door behind us.
“There.”
A security guard stood at the end of the corridor.
Dante's hand moved toward his gun.
The guard raised both hands.
“Don't.”
He pulled down his mask.
I knew him.
One of Dante's oldest guards.
Antonio.
Antonio whispered:
“I've been protecting Adrian for six years.”
Dante's face tightened.
“From who?”
Antonio looked at Sophia.
“From the person who has been trying to kill her.”
A gunshot cracked.
Antonio fell.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Adrian screamed.
The lights went out.
When they came back on, the glass room was empty.
Adrian was gone.
So was Elena.
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And on the wall, written in red marker, were four words:
ONE TWIN IS MISSING.
