Chapter 2 - THE VOICE UPSTAIRSA Child Who Wasn't Supposed to ExistThe mansion plunged into darkness.
Noah clung to Sylvester's jacket.
"Dad?"
"Stay behind me."
Security lights flickered on along the floor.
Red.
Dim.
Cold.
The dead assassin lay near the shattered table.
Sylvester looked toward the staircase.
The whisper had come from upstairs.
"Daddy?"
This time it was clearer.
Noah looked confused.
"Was that me?"
"No."
Sylvester didn't move.
Evelyn did.
She turned toward the staircase.
"There's nobody upstairs."
The words came too quickly.
Sylvester noticed.
"Then why are you afraid?"
"I'm not."
He pointed at the body.
"Who hired him?"
"I don't know."
"Who was he?"
"I don't know."
"What is the second child?"
Evelyn said nothing.
Sylvester stepped toward her.
For the first time, the woman who had controlled the mansion for years looked cornered.
"You've been lying to me."
"No."
"Then explain the document."
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?"
Before she answered, another sound came from upstairs.
A door creaked.
Noah whispered:
"Someone is there."
Sylvester motioned to the guards.
Two moved up the staircase.
The others searched the halls.
A minute passed.
Then a guard shouted.
"Sir!"
Sylvester ran upstairs.
The guard stood outside an old nursery.
The door was open.
Inside was a child's room.
A small bed.
A faded moon-shaped night-light.
A stuffed bear.
Drawings covered the wall.
Sylvester stared.
"Whose room is this?"
Nobody answered.
Noah stepped beside him.
He saw something on the dresser.
Another photograph.
It was almost identical to the one that had been destroyed downstairs.
Sylvester picked it up.
The image showed him holding Noah.
But there was another baby in the photograph.
A tiny girl.
Wrapped in white cloth.
Sylvester's face tightened.
"That isn't possible."
Noah stared.
"Who's she?"
Evelyn appeared in the doorway.
"Noah, come here."
He didn't move.
Sylvester looked at her.
"Who is the baby?"
Evelyn whispered:
"I told you. There was only one child."
Sylvester turned the photograph over.
On the back were handwritten words.
N + L.
Below them:
THEY MUST NEVER MEET.
Noah looked toward Evelyn.
"Who's L?"
Evelyn took a step backward.
The guards noticed.
One reached for his radio.
Then the nursery lights flickered.
A hidden panel in the wall popped open.
Inside was a narrow compartment.
Sylvester pulled out a sealed envelope.
It bore a hospital stamp.
The envelope was eleven years old.
His fingers tightened.
He opened it.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Female.
The mother's name was blacked out.
The father's name read:
SYLVESTER STALLONE.
The child's name:
LUCIA ROSE STALLONE.
Noah looked at his father.
"You have a daughter?"
Sylvester stared at the document.
"I didn't know."
Evelyn whispered:
"Because she was never supposed to be yours."
Sylvester's eyes lifted.
"What does that mean?"
"Your lawyer handled it."
"My lawyer is dead."
Evelyn went silent.
A guard suddenly shouted from the hall.
"Sir! We found another door!"
Sylvester followed him.
At the end of the corridor was a steel door hidden behind a painting.
There was no handle.
Only a keypad.
One of the guards scanned it.
Nothing.
Sylvester looked at the silver key found beside the assassin.
He inserted it into a narrow slot beneath the keypad.
The wall clicked.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed out.
Inside was a tiny archive room.
Shelves.
Boxes.
Medical files.
Photographs.
Court documents.
Hundreds of them.
And one large black folder sitting alone on a steel table.
Written across it:
PROJECT LUCIA.
Sylvester opened it.
The first page contained a photograph of a newborn baby.
The second contained another photograph.
The third contained a letter.
He read it.
His face slowly hardened.
Mr. Stallone,
If you are reading this, your wife is already dead, your son has been placed under surveillance, and your daughter has been removed from the family records.
Do not trust the woman living in your house.
Sylvester looked at Evelyn through the open doorway.
She stood perfectly still.
He continued.
The person who ordered the separation is not working alone.
At the bottom was one final line.
He is closer to your family than you think.
A noise came from behind the shelves.
Sylvester turned.
Nothing.
Then a little hand emerged between two boxes.
Noah gasped.
A girl stepped into view.
She looked about eleven.
Same dark eyes as Noah.
Same narrow jaw.
And around her neck hung a silver pendant.
Sylvester stared.
The girl stared back.
"Daddy?"
Sylvester couldn't speak.
The girl touched the pendant.
May you like
"You came too late."
Then she ran.
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