Chapter 9 - The WitnessThey escaped the safehouse through a drainage tunnel.
By dawn, Cora was inside another apartment she didn't recognize.
Dante had three phones.
Four guns.
And a bullet hole in his shoulder.
She had a cup of tea she didn't remember asking for.
"You need sleep," he said.
"So do you."
"I'll sleep when you're safe."
"When is that?"
He looked at the window.
"After we find the second man."
Cora sat down.
"Who is he?"
"We don't know."
"You saw him."
"Briefly."
"You know Victor."
"I thought I did."
Cora stared at the brass key.
"What does this open?"
Dante sat across from her.
"Your father hid a lot of things."
"Where?"
"We need to decode the notebook."
She opened it.
Numbers.
Initials.
Dates.
Then she noticed something.
Some numbers were circled.
Three.
Seven.
Nine.
Three.
Seven.
Nine.
The pattern repeated.
Dante leaned closer.
"Coordinates?"
"No."
She flipped the pages.
The numbers corresponded to letters.
A simple substitution.
Her father's code.
She smiled faintly.
"My dad taught me this."
"What does it say?"
She decoded the first line.
MIDNIGHT. UNION STATION. LOCKER 317.
Dante stared.
"That's tonight."
Cora nodded.
"What happens at midnight?"
"We find out."
They reached Union Station just before midnight.
The building was nearly empty.
Cora and Dante moved separately.
Locker 317 stood beneath a broken camera.
Cora inserted the brass key.
The door opened.
Inside was a small black box.
No money.
No weapon.
Just another photograph.
Cora lifted it.
Her father was standing outside a hospital.
Holding a newborn baby.
Cora's heart stopped.
"What?"
She looked closer.
The photograph had been taken twenty-four years ago.
The baby was Cora.
The man beside him was Lucien Moretti.
And holding the baby was another woman.
A woman Cora had never seen.
Dante looked over her shoulder.
His face changed.
"Who is she?"
"I don't know."
There was writing on the back.
She knows why you were chosen.
Cora frowned.
"Chosen for what?"
A voice came from behind.
"For this."
She spun around.
A man stood at the end of the platform.
Silver ring.
Left hand.
Victor's face.
But not Victor.
He smiled.
"Hello, Cora."
Dante raised his gun.
The man laughed.
"Still protecting her."
"Who are you?"
"Adrian Kane."
"Victor's brother?"
"Half-brother."
Cora stared.
"Why do you look exactly like him?"
"We were twins."
Dante's finger tightened on the trigger.
"You were supposed to be dead."
Adrian smiled.
"People die every day."
Then he looked at Cora.
"But your father made sure I didn't."
Cora stepped forward.
"What did he do?"
"He hid me."
"Why?"
"Because your father discovered something."
"What?"
Adrian's smile faded.
"That Lucien Moretti had a second heir."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"You."
Adrian nodded.
"Victor was loyal to Lucien."
"I wasn't."
"Then why hide?"
"Because Lucien didn't want an heir who could think independently."
Cora's mind raced.
"Why me?"
Adrian looked at her.
"Because your father trusted your memory more than his own."
"What memory?"
Adrian reached inside his coat.
He pulled out a small silver locket.
Cora recognized it immediately.
Her mother had worn it every day.
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a tiny photograph.
Cora as a child.
Standing beside two boys.
One was Dante.
The other was Adrian.
Cora's breathing stopped.
"I knew you."
Adrian nodded.
"You used to call us your brothers."
Dante looked stunned.
Cora whispered,
"I don't remember."
"You were forced to forget."
"Who?"
Adrian looked toward Dante.
"His father."
A train roared past the platform.
When the noise faded, Adrian was gone.
Only the locket remained.
Cora picked it up.
Inside the hinge was a tiny piece of paper.
She unfolded it.
One line.
The killer is not Victor.
Her eyes lifted.
Dante was staring at the tunnel.
"What?"
He said nothing.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
The voice on the other end said:
"We have Elena."
Dante went pale.
A second voice came through.
Elena's voice.
Screaming.
Then silence.
And finally, Victor spoke.
"Bring Cora to the church on Bell Street."
Dante tightened his grip around his phone.
Victor added:
"Or I'll kill the only woman who knows what your father did."
The call ended.
Cora looked at him.
"Elena."
Dante nodded.
"He's using her."
"We're going."
"No."
Cora stepped closer.
"You saved my life."
"That doesn't mean you follow me into a trap."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"It does now."
For the first time, Dante looked afraid.
May you like
Not for himself.
For her.
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