Chapter 7 - The Nurse Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Liana stopped breathing.
“Aaron?”
The man on the screen lifted his head.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
“Where is he?” she demanded.
Elena smiled faintly.
“Safe.”
Liana lunged.
Matteo stopped her.
“Elena. Put the phone down.”
“You still think commands solve everything.”
“Where is Aaron?”
“Ask Sofia.”
Everyone looked at her.
Sofia shook her head.
“This is manipulation.”
Elena laughed.
“Tell them who authorized Aaron's disappearance.”
Liana stared at Sofia.
“No.”
Sofia's silence answered first.
“Sofia?”
“I was trying to protect him.”
“You knew he was alive?”
“Yes.”
Liana staggered backward.
For eleven months she had mourned her husband.
For twenty-two days she had mourned her child.
Everyone in this room seemed to know pieces of her life except her.
“Where?”
“I moved Aaron after he discovered the study.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“If you knew, Daniel would have known.”
“Why?”
“Because your phone was monitored.”
Elena interrupted.
“Convenient.”
Matteo turned to her.
“What do you want?”
“The original study file.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“You don't have Aaron.”
Elena lifted the phone.
Aaron's face remained visible.
“Then ask him.”
Liana moved closer.
“Aaron.”
His eyes filled.
“I'm sorry.”
“Where are you?”
He looked offscreen.
“I don't know.”
“Is someone hurting you?”
“No.”
Elena ended the call.
Liana screamed.
“Bring him back!”
“Give me the file.”
“What file?”
Sofia stepped forward.
“The one Evelyn brought.”
Matteo looked toward the study.
It had disappeared during the blackout.
Elena had expected them to have it.
That meant she didn't.
Matteo understood.
“You lost control.”
For the first time, Elena's confidence slipped.
“You don't have the file,” he said. “Daniel does.”
Elena said nothing.
“And Daniel isn't working for you anymore.”
Silence.
Matteo smiled without warmth.
“That's why you came out of hiding.”
A gunshot sounded downstairs.
Then another.
Elena turned.
Matteo moved.
He knocked the phone from her hand.
Sofia grabbed Nico from Liana.
Liana seized Elena's wrist.
A struggle.
The phone slid beneath the crib.
Elena tore free and ran.
Matteo followed.
Liana dropped to her knees.
The phone screen remained active.
A location icon blinked.
Aaron had somehow shared his location before the call ended.
Liana stared.
It was not across the city.
Not at a warehouse.
Not at the hospital.
The signal came from beneath them.
“Aaron is here.”
Sofia stared.
“What?”
“In the house.”
Matteo returned.
“Elena escaped through the service stairs.”
Liana showed him.
He studied the map.
The location sat directly beneath the west wing.
“There is no basement under that section,” Matteo said.
Sofia looked at him.
“Yes, there is.”
He turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because that's where your father kept the records nobody was supposed to find.”
They reached the west corridor.
Sofia pulled aside a painting.
Behind it was a keypad.
She entered six numbers.
The wall opened.
Cold air rose from a hidden staircase.
Liana descended first.
“Aaron!”
No answer.
At the bottom was a steel door.
Matteo forced it open.
A chair stood in the center.
Ropes lay on the floor.
Still warm.
Aaron had been there minutes earlier.
On the wall, written in black marker, were five words.
LIANA, DON'T LET THEM TAKE NICO.
Then they heard footsteps behind them.
Daniel stood at the top of the stairs.
May you like
Blood covered his shirt.
And in his hand was the missing file.
