Chapter 6 - The Daughter Who Was Buried
Sadi stared at the security feed.
Her father was standing inside her apartment.
Alive.
Thirty years of absence had gray in its hair now.
Mateo Serrano looked older than the man in the photographs, thinner than the man on the recording, but Sadi knew those eyes.
They were hers.
Beside him stood the woman Roman had called Lucia.
Around Lucia’s neck hung Sadi’s silver pendant.
Roman moved closer to the screen.
“Zoom in.”
Sadi didn’t.
“Sadi.”
“I heard you.”
Her voice sounded strangely calm.
She hated that.
Calm was what happened when her mind became too overwhelmed to choose an emotion.
Mateo looked directly into Sadi’s apartment camera.
Then he lifted one hand.
He held a piece of paper.
Three words were written across it.
COME ALONE, ISADORA.
Roman read them.
“No.”
Sadi finally looked at him.
“No what?”
“You’re not going alone.”
“It’s my apartment.”
“And apparently tonight it’s also a family reunion for people who are supposed to be dead.”
Charles stepped toward the monitor.
“Mateo knows better than this.”
Sadi turned.
“Better than what?”
“Making direct contact.”
“My father has been hiding for thirty years. I’m done respecting his rules.”
Elena whispered, “Sadi.”
“No.”
Sadi faced her mother.
“You knew pieces of this. Charles knew pieces. Daniel knew pieces. Roman’s father knew pieces. Mateo knew everything.”
Her voice tightened.
“And somehow I’m the person who was expected to know nothing.”
Elena lowered her eyes.
Sadi picked up the brass key marked 17.
“I’m going home.”
Roman reached for his jacket.
“So am I.”
“You don't live there.”
“Tonight, apparently everyone does.”
Despite herself, Sadi almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
Charles blocked the hidden passage.
“Before anyone leaves, you need to understand something about Lucia.”
Roman's face hardened.
“She died.”
“No.”
“I was at the funeral.”
“You were twelve.”
“I saw the coffin.”
“You saw a coffin.”
Roman stepped closer.
Charles didn't retreat.
“Say exactly what you're trying to say.”
Charles looked at the photograph on Sadi’s phone.
“Your sister was taken.”
Roman stared at him.
“By Marrow?”
“By someone building it.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“That's becoming a very convenient answer.”
“I knew your father was investigating the possibility that Lucia survived. I didn't know he confirmed it.”
Roman pointed at the screen.
“You recognize her?”
“No.”
“But my father did?”
Charles nodded toward Antonio's letter.
“He clearly believed she was alive.”
Roman's breathing changed.
Sadi noticed him press a hand briefly against his injured side.
“You're going to a hospital,” she said.
He ignored her.
“Roman.”
“After your apartment.”
“You might bleed through your shirt before we get there.”
“I've had worse.”
“That's not medically persuasive.”
Charles opened his document case and removed a small first-aid pouch.
Roman stared at him.
“You carry that?”
“I've represented your family for thirty-four years.”
Sadi almost laughed.
Roman didn't.
Ten minutes later, Charles had cleaned and bandaged the shallow wound along Roman's side.
No bullet.
No dramatic mystery.
A piece of broken metal had cut him during the warehouse break-in.
Sadi found that almost reassuring.
At least one thing tonight had an ordinary explanation.
They left the archive through the hidden corridor.
Elena remained close to Sadi.
Too close.
Sadi noticed.
She said nothing.
Not yet.
When they emerged near the service bay, Roman’s security staff had returned.
The communications blackout had ended as suddenly as it began.
Roman spoke briefly to his driver.
Then he turned to Charles.
“Take Elena somewhere secure.”
Sadi immediately said, “No.”
Elena looked at her.
Sadi continued.
“She comes.”
“Sadi, you don't have to—”
“Yes, I do.”
She looked at her mother.
“I have eleven years of questions, and I'm not letting another person disappear before answering them.”
Elena nodded.
“Okay.”
Roman's SUV took them across town.
Sadi sat by the window.
Roman sat opposite her.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then he said, “You didn't know about the pendant?”
“No.”
“You never opened it?”
“I thought it was jewelry.”
“Where did you keep it?”
“In a box.”
“And Lucia has it now.”
“Apparently.”
Roman looked out the window.
Sadi studied him.
“You believe she's your sister.”
“I don't know what I believe.”
“But you recognized her.”
“I recognized something.”
“What?”
He took a moment.
“The way she stands.”
Sadi waited.
“My sister used to put all her weight on her right leg when she was nervous.”
Sadi remembered the security footage.
Lucia had done exactly that.
Roman looked down.
“She was nine.”
His voice was quieter.
“She hated thunderstorms. She stole the marshmallows out of my cereal. She used to crawl into my room when she couldn't sleep.”
Sadi said nothing.
“She died on a Tuesday.”
Roman looked at his hands.
“That's what they told us.”
Elena spoke from the front seat.
“She may not remember you.”
Roman looked up.
“Why?”
“If she was taken that young, people could have told her anything.”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“Then why is she with Mateo?”
Nobody had an answer.
Sadi's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
ONE HOUR.
Another message followed.
BRING THE KEY.
Sadi showed Roman.
“The brass key?” he asked.
“Probably.”
Charles had insisted Sadi keep it.
Roman frowned.
“They know we opened the compartment.”
“They've known everything else.”
“Not everything.”
Sadi looked at him.
“What don't they know?”
“That you aren't running anymore.”
She stared at him.
“You don't know that either.”
Roman met her eyes.
“You're still here.”
That landed harder than she expected.
For two years, Sadi had defined survival as leaving before anyone could find her.
Tonight, every instinct told her to run.
Yet she was moving toward the people who had been searching for her.
She wasn't sure whether that was courage.
Or exhaustion.
Maybe they looked similar from the outside.
The SUV stopped a block from her apartment.
Roman wouldn't let the driver approach closer.
“Why?” Sadi asked.
“Because whoever is inside expects the vehicle.”
“So?”
“So we disappoint them.”
They walked.
Roman.
Sadi.
Elena.
Charles remained with the SUV and security team.
Sadi's apartment building looked painfully normal.
That bothered her.
People walked dogs.
A delivery bicycle passed.
Someone laughed across the street.
Meanwhile, her dead father was upstairs.
The lobby door stood unlocked.
Sadi stopped.
“It locks automatically.”
Roman checked the frame.
“No damage.”
“Someone had a key.”
Elena whispered, “Mateo.”
Sadi looked at her.
“You gave him one?”
“No.”
“Then stop answering for him.”
Elena fell silent.
They entered.
Elevator.
Fourth floor.
The ride took fourteen seconds.
It felt longer.
When the doors opened, Sadi saw her apartment door.
Open.
Roman moved ahead.
Sadi caught his arm.
“My message said alone.”
“Your message was written by someone who broke into your apartment.”
“My father.”
“You don't know that.”
She hated that he was right.
Roman approached the door.
“Mateo?”
No answer.
Sadi stepped around him.
“Dad?”
The word felt foreign.
Nothing.
She entered.
Her apartment had been searched.
Not destroyed.
Searched.
Cabinet doors open.
Desk drawers pulled out.
Closet emptied.
Her old cardboard box sat on the kitchen table.
Open.
The silver necklace was gone.
Sadi approached.
Inside were photographs she hadn't touched in years.
Her graduation.
Her mother.
A birthday.
A younger Sadi standing beside a scholarship banner.
Roman picked up one photograph.
Antonio Costa stood in the background.
His father.
Watching Sadi.
Roman stared at it.
“He really knew you.”
Sadi took it back.
“Apparently everyone knew me except me.”
A floorboard creaked.
Roman turned.
Lucia stood in the bedroom doorway.
Nobody spoke.
Up close, the resemblance was undeniable.
Not exact.
But there.
Roman's eyes.
Antonio's mouth.
The same dark hair Roman remembered.
Lucia looked at him.
Her expression didn't change.
“Roman.”
His voice almost broke.
“Lucy?”
She flinched.
Tiny.
But Sadi saw it.
Roman did too.
“Nobody calls me that.”
“I did.”
Lucia touched the pendant.
“You were told I died.”
“I buried you.”
“No.”
Her voice remained calm.
“You buried what they wanted you to bury.”
Roman took one step forward.
Lucia immediately stepped back.
He stopped.
“Okay.”
Something in her face softened.
Barely.
Sadi looked past her.
“Where is Mateo?”
Lucia turned toward her.
“You really look like him.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
“He said you'd be angry.”
“He had thirty years to prepare.”
Lucia almost smiled.
Then her expression darkened.
“He couldn't contact you.”
“Apparently he could install cameras, send messages, manipulate jobs and break into apartments.”
“That wasn't him.”
Sadi went still.
“Who was it?”
“Daniel.”
Roman asked, “Where's Mateo?”
Lucia looked toward the bedroom.
“He's waiting.”
Sadi walked forward.
Elena grabbed her wrist.
“No.”
Sadi looked down at her mother's hand.
Elena released her.
“Sorry.”
Sadi entered the bedroom.
Mateo stood beside the window.
He turned.
For the first time, there was no screen between them.
No photograph.
No recording.
Her father.
Alive.
Mateo looked at her as if thirty years had just hit him all at once.
“Isadora.”
Sadi stopped.
“Don't.”
His eyes filled.
“Sadi.”
Better.
He took one step toward her.
She raised a hand.
Mateo stopped.
“You don't get to hug me.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to cry like you're the one who lost someone.”
“I know.”
“You were alive.”
“Yes.”
“Every birthday?”
“Yes.”
“Every Christmas?”
“Yes.”
“My graduation?”
Mateo closed his eyes.
“I was there.”
Sadi felt the air leave her.
“What?”
“Across the auditorium.”
“You watched me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come to me?”
“Because anyone close to me became a target.”
Sadi laughed bitterly.
“So you protected me by turning me into exactly what you were?”
“No.”
“I'm a forensic analyst hiding under another name because I uncovered Marrow.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“Daniel told me.”
Sadi stepped closer.
“And you did nothing.”
“I tried.”
“From where?”
Mateo looked toward the door.
“Inside Marrow.”
Silence.
Roman entered behind her.
“What?”
Mateo looked at him.
“I didn't spend thirty years hiding from Marrow.”
Sadi's stomach tightened.
Mateo continued.
“I spent thirty years inside it.”
Roman stared.
“As what?”
“The person who kept it from becoming what its founder intended.”
Sadi shook her head.
“Who founded it?”
Mateo didn't answer.
Lucia entered.
“You should tell them.”
Mateo looked at her.
“Not yet.”
“People have died because of ‘not yet.’”
Roman looked at his sister.
“Lucia, who took you?”
She stared at him.
“I don't remember the accident.”
“What do you remember?”
“A woman.”
“Who?”
“She told me our parents didn't want me anymore.”
Roman's face twisted.
Lucia continued.
“I lived under another name for seventeen years.”
“How did Mateo find you?”
“He wasn't looking for me.”
Mateo answered.
“I found her name inside the network.”
Sadi folded her arms.
“Then why bring her here?”
“Because Lucia has the fourth piece.”
Sadi looked at the pendant.
“My pendant.”
Lucia removed it.
“No.”
She opened the rectangular casing.
Inside was a tiny storage key.
“This is your mother's piece.”
Sadi stared.
“Then where's yours?”
Mateo reached into his coat.
He produced another device.
“I have the first.”
“Charles has the third.”
“Correct.”
“Daniel has the fourth?”
Mateo shook his head.
“Daniel stole Antonio Costa's piece.”
Roman went still.
“And the fifth?”
Mateo looked at Lucia.
Lucia looked away.
Sadi understood.
“Lucia has it.”
Mateo nodded.
Roman whispered, “How?”
Lucia reached beneath her collar.
A thin scar ran near her shoulder.
“They hid it with me when I was a child.”
Roman looked sick.
Sadi's mind moved faster.
Five pieces.
Mateo.
Elena.
Charles.
Antonio.
Lucia.
Daniel had Antonio's.
Which meant if he obtained the others—
“He can reconstruct Marrow,” she said.
Mateo nodded.
“With you.”
Sadi frowned.
“Why me?”
“Because the pieces were intentionally corrupted.”
“What?”
“I designed them that way.”
Mateo stepped closer to the table.
“No complete map can be generated automatically. Someone has to recognize which relationships are real.”
Sadi understood.
“Pattern reconstruction.”
“Yes.”
“You designed a system only someone who thinks like you could rebuild.”
Mateo's face filled with regret.
“I never expected that person to be my daughter.”
Roman looked toward the apartment entrance.
“We need to move.”
Mateo nodded.
“I have a secure location.”
Sadi didn't move.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“I want one answer first.”
Mateo waited.
“Who founded Marrow?”
Mateo's expression changed.
Elena appeared in the doorway.
“Tell her.”
Mateo looked at Elena.
Then at Sadi.
“It wasn't Daniel.”
“I know.”
“It wasn't Antonio.”
“Then who?”
Mateo exhaled.
“The original architect was someone Antonio trusted more than anyone.”
Roman went still.
“Who?”
Mateo looked directly at him.
“Your mother.”
Roman stared.
“My mother died twelve years ago.”
Mateo's voice dropped.
“No, Roman.”
Before he could continue, every phone in the apartment vibrated simultaneously.
Sadi looked at hers.
One incoming video.
Unknown sender.
She opened it.
Gina appeared on screen.
She was sitting in a brightly lit room.
Beside her stood Daniel.
And behind them—
Roman grabbed Sadi's phone.
His face emptied.
A silver-haired woman stepped into view.
Roman whispered, “Mom?”
The woman looked directly into the camera.
Then she smiled.
“Bring me the Ghost.”
The video ended.
A knock sounded at Sadi's apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Mateo turned pale.
“No one followed us.”
Another knock.
Roman moved toward the door.
Sadi's phone vibrated one final time.
A message appeared.
DON'T LET ROMAN OPEN IT.
Roman reached for the handle.
May you like
From the hallway, a woman's voice said softly:
“Son, it's time you learned why Lucia was chosen.”
