Chapter 9 - The Forty MinutesThe house entered lockdown.
Metal shutters dropped over the windows.
The gates outside closed.
Security alarms screamed.
Lucy clung to Vittorio.
Emma grabbed the child.
“Take her upstairs.”
“No,” Vittorio said.
“We need somewhere secure.”
He looked at the cameras.
Every screen showed static.
Someone had taken control of the system.
Then one screen turned back on.
A hospital corridor.
Vittorio recognized it immediately.
The hospital where Elena had died.
The timestamp read:
12:31 a.m.
Then another camera appeared.
12:42.
Then 12:53.
Elena was alive.
Barely.
She was lying on a hospital bed.
A nurse entered.
Then someone else.
A man in a dark coat.
The image was grainy.
But Vittorio knew the face.
Marco.
He leaned toward Elena.
Her eyes opened.
She recognized him.
She tried to speak.
Marco placed a hand over hers.
Then the recording stopped.
Vittorio stared.
“What did he do?”
Emma whispered.
“We don't know.”
Another video opened.
This one showed the hospital administrator.
He was speaking with someone.
The voice belonged to Ferraro.
“The patient doesn't survive tonight.”
The administrator nodded.
“Understood.”
Vittorio's fist struck the desk.
Emma flinched.
“He murdered her.”
The word hung in the room.
Then the video changed again.
A nurse entered Elena's room.
She carried a syringe.
But before she could use it, the door opened.
A younger nurse rushed in.
They argued.
The first nurse left.
The second nurse remained.
She saved Elena's life.
At least temporarily.
The recording ended.
Vittorio froze.
“Who was the second nurse?”
The hospital archive identified her.
Sofia Moretti.
Vittorio knew the name.
She had resigned two weeks after Elena's death.
He found her current address.
She lived alone.
Vittorio drove there before sunrise.
When she opened the door, she looked at him and immediately began crying.
“I knew you would come.”
“Tell me what happened.”
She stepped aside.
“Your wife was alive.”
“I know.”
“She was trying to tell me something.”
“What?”
“She said one word.”
“What word?”
“Lucy.”
Vittorio's throat tightened.
“What about Lucy?”
Sofia took a small envelope from a drawer.
“Elena gave me this.”
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“Because someone was watching me.”
“Who?”
“Marco.”
Vittorio opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Lucy.
On the back, Elena had written:
HE WILL USE HER TO CONTROL YOU.
There was another note.
Vittorio read it.
Sofia watched his face.
“The last thing Elena said was, 'My daughter is the key.'”
Vittorio looked up.
“The key to what?”
Sofia shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“What happened after?”
“Your wife asked me to hide something.”
“What?”
“She said it was proof.”
Vittorio held his breath.
“What proof?”
Sofia pointed to a locked box in the corner.
He opened it.
Inside was a cassette tape.
A handwritten label read:
FOR VITTORIO ONLY.
He played it.
Elena's voice filled the room.
“If you are listening to this, then I am probably gone.”
Vittorio closed his eyes.
“I was wrong about Bianca.”
He looked up sharply.
“She isn't the person I was most afraid of.”
A pause.
“The person behind her is closer to you than you think.”
Vittorio felt his heartbeat in his throat.
“Elena continued.
“He has been using our family's money for years.”
Static.
“He wants Lucy because of something I found.”
Static again.
“A hidden account.”
Then another voice came through.
Male.
Old.
Cold.
“Give me the access code.”
Elena answered:
“No.”
The man said:
“Then your daughter dies with you.”
Vittorio stopped the tape.
Sofia covered her mouth.
“Who was that?”
Vittorio stared at the speaker.
He knew the voice.
He had heard it only once before.
Eight years ago.
At his father's funeral.
Marco's voice.
Then the tape restarted by itself.
Elena whispered:
“The code is hidden where Lucy sleeps.”
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And the power in Sofia's house suddenly died.
Someone had entered from the back door.
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