Chapter 11 - Beneath the HouseNora's family home had never felt safe.
Now it felt like a grave.
Lorenzo and his men searched every room.
Her mother's bedroom was empty.
The floorboards looked untouched.
But the brass key fit a hidden lock beneath the rug.
Lorenzo turned it.
A section of flooring lifted.
Underneath was a steel box.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A hard drive.
And the original Black River ledger.
Nora's hands trembled.
“That's it.”
Lorenzo opened the first page.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Orders.
Everything.
Then he saw his father's signature.
Next to Daniel's name.
But there was something else.
A second signature.
Mateo's.
And beneath it, one line:
SUBJECT TRANSFERRED ALIVE.
Nora stared.
“Transferred?”
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
“Daniel wasn't killed that night.”
“What?”
“The document says he was moved.”
“Where?”
They searched the files.
A location appeared.
A private medical facility.
Closed three years ago.
Nora looked at Lorenzo.
“Then Daniel might have survived.”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“There's more.”
He held up another page.
A hospital record.
A patient name.
DANIEL VALE.
Admission date.
Three days after his supposed death.
Nora's knees nearly gave out.
“My brother was alive.”
“For three days.”
“Then what happened?”
Lorenzo turned the page.
Cause of death.
Unknown.
The room went silent.
Nora began crying.
Not from grief.
From the possibility that she had been mourning a lie for three years.
Then her mother entered the room.
She looked at the ledger.
And whispered:
“You found it.”
Nora turned.
“Mom.”
Her mother collapsed into a chair.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
She stared at the documents.
“Daniel called me from that hospital.”
Nora froze.
“What?”
“Three years ago.”
“What did he say?”
Her mother's eyes filled with tears.
“He said he was still alive.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because they threatened you.”
“Who?”
Her mother looked at Lorenzo.
“Your father.”
Lorenzo went still.
“My father threatened you?”
“He said Daniel would die if I told you.”
Nora cried harder.
“What else?”
Her mother whispered:
“Daniel said one more thing.”
“What?”
“He told me not to trust Leo.”
Nora stared.
“That's all?”
“No.”
Her mother looked toward the door.
“He said…”
She paused.
“‘Tell Nora Lorenzo is not the enemy.’”
Lorenzo's eyes widened.
Before anyone could react, the front door exploded inward.
Gunmen stormed the house.
Lorenzo pushed Nora to the floor.
His men returned fire.
Glass broke.
Furniture overturned.
Then a voice shouted from outside.
“Bring me the ledger!”
Leo.
Nora looked at Lorenzo.
“He knows.”
Lorenzo grabbed the ledger.
“We're leaving.”
But the hallway was already surrounded.
Then Nora saw something under the old piano.
A trapdoor.
She pointed.
“Down.”
They opened it.
A tunnel waited beneath the house.
And from somewhere deep inside, they heard a man's voice.
“Nora?”
She stopped breathing.
May you like
She knew that voice.
Daniel.
