Chapter 6 - Lorenzo stared at the photograph for so long that Rachel thought he had stopped breathing.The image showed Isabella sitting in a dim room.
Her hair was short.
A bruise darkened one side of her face.
Bruno stood beside her.
And behind them was Lorenzo.
At least, it looked like him.
Same height.
Same suit.
Same face.
Same unmistakable posture.
Rachel spoke carefully.
“This could be a composite.”
Lorenzo did not answer.
He took the photograph.
Turned it over.
There was a handwritten date.
June 17.
Three days after the crash.
Three days after everyone believed Isabella had died.
“How did Vincent get this?”
“That is what we're trying to determine.”
Mason entered with another file.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We searched the safe.”
“Anything else?”
“An encrypted drive.”
Lorenzo looked at it.
“Can you open it?”
“Not yet.”
Rachel picked up the photograph again.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Look at the wall.”
Lorenzo stared.
Behind Isabella was a narrow painting.
A landscape.
Snow-covered trees.
A red barn.
He recognized it.
“The Kingston farmhouse.”
Rachel looked surprised.
“You know it?”
“My father owned it.”
“You still own it?”
“No.”
“Who does?”
Lorenzo looked at Mason.
“Find out.”
Minutes later, the answer came.
The property had been transferred seven years earlier.
To a company called Blackmere Holdings.
Rachel frowned.
“Who owns Blackmere?”
Mason checked.
“Vincent.”
Lorenzo's hands tightened.
The farmhouse was no longer a coincidence.
It was a location.
The search team mobilized.
Police units joined.
Lorenzo stayed behind.
Rachel confronted him.
“You should not be going.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“Because somebody wants me to rush.”
She nodded.
“You're thinking strategically.”
“No.”
Lorenzo looked at the photograph.
“I'm thinking like Isabella.”
They waited until the encrypted drive was partially decoded.
A folder opened.
Inside were dozens of images.
Isabella.
Again and again.
Different rooms.
Different clothes.
Always watched.
Someone had been tracking her for months before the crash.
Then they found a spreadsheet.
Surveillance times.
Routes.
Meetings.
Names.
One entry stood out.
EMMA WALKER.
Lorenzo looked up.
“Why was a three-year-old maid's daughter being watched?”
Rachel scrolled.
The note beside Emma's name was short.
WITNESS.
Another line.
MOTHER: SOPHIA WALKER.
STATUS: USE IF NECESSARY.
Lorenzo went silent.
They had never been collateral.
They had always been targets.
His phone rang.
Mason.
“We're at the farmhouse.”
“Anything?”
“Door is open.”
“Search.”
Silence.
Then:
“We found a room.”
“What kind?”
“Medical.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
“Isabella?”
“We don't know.”
A second voice came over the radio.
“Sir.”
“Who?”
“This is Mason.”
“What?”
“There are blood marks on the floor.”
Lorenzo's heart tightened.
“How much?”
“A lot.”
“Recent?”
“Yes.”
Rachel looked at him.
Then Mason added:
“But there is no body.”
The line died.
Minutes later, another call.
“Sir, we found the bathroom window.”
“Broken?”
“Open from inside.”
“Footprints?”
“Two sets.”
“Human?”
“Yes.”
“One adult?”
“Adult and child.”
Lorenzo stood.
“Emma.”
Mason answered:
“Could be.”
Then Bruno barked over the radio.
Everyone froze.
Mason whispered:
“The dog found something.”
“What?”
“A hidden passage.”
Lorenzo left immediately.
At the farmhouse, Mason opened a trapdoor beneath the kitchen floor.
A narrow tunnel stretched into darkness.
Fresh scratches covered the walls.
Small ones.
Emma's height.
Lorenzo entered.
The passage ended at an underground room.
There were blankets.
Food.
Medical equipment.
And a single chair.
Tied to it was a broken leather restraint.
Rachel looked at the wall.
Something was written there.
Four words.
HE TRUSTED THE WRONG MAN.
Lorenzo stared.
Then he noticed another message beneath it.
Smaller.
Written by a shaky hand.
I'M SORRY, LORENZO.
Rachel recognized the handwriting.
“Isabella.”
Lorenzo touched the words.
Then Bruno barked again.
The dog was scratching at a metal box in the corner.
Mason opened it.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
An old one.
Lorenzo pressed play.
Static.
Then Isabella's voice.
“I don't know how long they'll keep me here.”
Lorenzo's eyes closed.
“I found the money trail.”
Her voice shook.
“Vincent knows I found it.”
Static.
Then:
“But Vincent didn't start this.”
Rachel looked at Lorenzo.
The tape continued.
“There is someone above him.”
Lorenzo's eyes opened.
Isabella whispered:
“And that person has been inside our family for years.”
The tape clicked.
Then her voice returned one final time.
“Lorenzo... if you hear this... don't trust anyone who tells you the crash was an accident.”
The tape ended.
At that exact moment, Mason's radio exploded with static.
“Sir!”
“What?”
“We found a second vehicle outside.”
“Whose?”
“DeLuca security.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“How did our vehicle get here?”
Mason looked toward the driveway.
The answer came seconds later.
A body was found in the driver's seat.
It was one of Lorenzo's own guards.
May you like
And on the windshield, written in blood, were two words.
HE KNOWS.
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