Chapter 5 - THE LOCKED ROOMGabriel drove Chloe and Beatrice to Costello's private estate.
Nobody spoke during the entire journey.
The silver key sat in Gabriel's palm.
Chloe watched him from the passenger seat.
“You knew about it.”
Gabriel kept his eyes on the road.
“I knew Leo had given my mother something.”
“You didn't know what?”
“No.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“Because I thought my father had destroyed every trace.”
“That's convenient.”
“Yes.”
At the estate, they entered through a private underground garage.
Beatrice walked slowly between them.
Gabriel led them through a corridor Chloe had never seen.
Then he stopped before a steel door.
11:47.
The numbers were engraved above the lock.
Chloe looked at him.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
He inserted the key.
Nothing.
He turned it again.
A click.
The door opened.
Inside was a room covered in photographs.
Leo.
Chloe's breath caught.
There were dozens.
Her brother entering buildings.
Meeting people.
Carrying folders.
Talking to Gabriel.
Talking to Beatrice.
And one photograph showed Leo standing beside a young man Chloe didn't recognize.
Gabriel saw it.
His face changed.
“That's impossible.”
“Who is he?”
Gabriel stepped toward the photograph.
“My brother.”
Chloe stared.
“Your brother is dead?”
“He died when we were children.”
“Then who is that?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Beatrice moved toward the wall.
She pointed at another photograph.
It showed Gabriel's father.
Beside him stood Luca.
The name from earlier.
Chloe remembered Beatrice signing it.
“Who is Luca?”
Gabriel's face became hard.
“Luca Moretti.”
“Your father's lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“He was here tonight.”
Gabriel nodded.
Then he noticed something else.
A red mark under one photograph.
He pulled it from the wall.
Behind it was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a small voice recorder.
Gabriel pressed play.
Static.
Then Leo's voice.
“Gabriel, if you're hearing this, I'm dead.”
Chloe covered her mouth.
Leo continued.
“Don't trust the police.”
Static.
“Don't trust Luca.”
More static.
“And whatever happens…”
Leo's voice became quieter.
“…don't let them find the girl.”
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
“What girl?”
The recording continued.
“If Chloe ever meets you…”
A pause.
“She needs to know one thing.”
Chloe's heart pounded.
Leo spoke again.
“She was never supposed to survive either.”
The recording stopped.
No one moved.
Then the steel door behind them slammed shut.
Gabriel spun around.
His gun came out instantly.
May you like
A voice came from the darkness outside.
“That's because she wasn't supposed to.”
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