Chapter 3 - Locker 317
"Down!"
Lorenzo covered Emma with his body.
I crawled toward her.
Marco dragged the curtains closed.
Another shot struck the wall.
Then silence.
Lorenzo lifted Emma.
"Interior room."
I followed him into the hallway.
Men appeared from everywhere.
Security.
I hadn't realized how many armed people were inside the mansion.
Emma buried her face against Lorenzo's shoulder.
Strangely, he held her carefully.
Not like someone accustomed to children.
Like someone terrified of dropping something irreplaceable.
We reached a windowless sitting room.
Dr. Bell checked Emma again.
No injuries.
The fever remained high.
I sat beside her.
Lorenzo crouched in front of us.
"This is because of the key."
I stared at him.
"Yes."
"Someone knew."
"Yes."
"How?"
That question changed the room.
Someone inside the house had communicated with whoever was outside.
Lorenzo stood.
"Nobody leaves."
Marco nodded.
Phones were collected.
Security footage reviewed.
Staff questioned.
I watched all of it with growing horror.
This had been my workplace.
Now it felt like a fortress under siege.
Two hours later, Marco returned.
"The SUV is gone."
"And?"
"We found a phone."
"Whose?"
Marco hesitated.
"Mrs. Caruso's."
I knew her.
Teresa Caruso had managed the household for fourteen years.
She was sixty-three.
She brought Emma cookies whenever my sitter dropped her off after work.
"Impossible."
Lorenzo didn't respond.
Teresa was brought into the library.
She looked terrified.
The phone wasn't hers.
It had been hidden inside her locker.
A burner.
One outgoing message had been sent thirty seconds after I entered the library.
THE BRACELET IS HERE.
Someone had planted it.
"Who had access?" Lorenzo asked.
"Everyone," Teresa whispered.
That was the problem.
We couldn't know who had sent the message.
Lorenzo made a decision.
We would retrieve whatever Daniel had hidden at South Station before Vittorio could.
"You are not coming," Lorenzo told me.
"I'm absolutely coming."
"You have a sick child."
"And Daniel was my husband."
"Exactly."
I stepped closer.
"You don't get to use him to exclude me after hiding the truth for two years."
His jaw tightened.
"You stay in the car."
"No promises."
For the first time, Lorenzo almost smiled.
Emma remained with Dr. Bell and Father Matteo under guard.
Leaving her was agony.
But the person who fired through the window already knew she was here.
If Daniel's evidence could end this, I needed it found.
South Station was crowded.
Lorenzo wore a dark overcoat.
Marco walked twenty feet behind us.
Nobody looking at Lorenzo would have guessed what he was.
Unless they looked at his eyes.
Locker 317 was near the far wall.
The brass key fit.
My hand shook.
"Open it," Lorenzo said.
I did.
Inside was a child's shoe box.
Nothing else.
I pulled it out.
Daniel's handwriting covered the lid.
FOR SOPHIA.
My legs nearly collapsed.
I hadn't seen his handwriting in two years.
Inside were photographs.
A flash drive.
A ledger.
And a sealed envelope.
My name was written across it.
I reached for the letter.
Lorenzo stopped me.
"Not here."
"Take your hand off me."
He did.
I opened it.
Soph,
If you're reading this, something went wrong.
I stopped.
The station disappeared around me.
Daniel had written the letter days before his death.
He apologized.
For lying.
For hiding his work.
For believing he could fix everything without frightening me.
Then came the sentence that broke me.
If anything happens to me, Lorenzo Duca did not order it.
I looked up.
Lorenzo said nothing.
I continued.
Daniel named Vittorio.
He described payments.
Threats.
Officials.
Then one final warning.
Do not trust anyone wearing the black saint medal.
I frowned.
"What medal?"
Lorenzo went rigid.
"Show me."
I handed him the letter.
His face changed.
"Marco."
Marco approached.
Lorenzo looked at his neck.
Nothing.
"What?"
"Who wears Saint Michael?"
Marco thought.
Then his expression hardened.
"Father Matteo."
My blood turned cold.
Emma.
We ran.
Lorenzo called the mansion.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Marco called security.
One guard answered.
Then the line disconnected.
"Drive faster," I said.
The car tore through Boston.
I called Dr. Bell.
No answer.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Mama?"
Emma.
My heart stopped.
"Emma! Where are you?"
Her breathing trembled.
"With the church man."
Lorenzo heard.
His face became murderous.
"Emma, listen to Mommy."
"I'm sleepy."
"Stay awake."
"Okay."
"Where are you?"
"Car."
"What do you see?"
"Snow."
I closed my eyes.
Useless.
"Emma, is Father Matteo there?"
A man's voice replaced hers.
"Sophia."
Father Matteo.
"You don't need to frighten her."
I nearly screamed.
"Bring her back."
"Bring me Daniel's evidence."
Lorenzo took the phone.
"You touch that child and there is nowhere on earth you can hide."
Matteo laughed softly.
"You always were dramatic, Lorenzo."
"Where?"
"You know."
The call ended.
Lorenzo looked at Marco.
"Saint Cecilia's."
"Why?"
"Daniel used the basement for meetings."
Twenty minutes later we reached the abandoned church.
The doors stood open.
Inside, candles burned.
Emma's yellow blanket lay in the center aisle.
Empty.
I ran toward it.
"Sophia!"
Lorenzo caught me.
A red laser dot appeared on the floor.
Then another.
"Snipers," Marco whispered.
Lorenzo pushed me behind a stone column.
A speaker crackled above the altar.
Father Matteo's voice filled the church.
"Leave the evidence."
"Give us Emma," Lorenzo shouted.
"Evidence first."
I clutched Daniel's box.
Then I noticed something.
The blanket.
One embroidered corner had been folded deliberately.
Emma did that when playing hide-and-seek.
She always pointed the folded corner toward where she was hiding.
I followed its direction.
Toward the confessionals.
I whispered to Lorenzo.
He understood instantly.
Marco killed the church lights.
Gunfire erupted.
Lorenzo moved.
I crawled toward the confessionals.
"Emma?"
A tiny sound.
"Mama."
I opened the door.
Emma was inside.
Alone.
I grabbed her.
Then the lights returned.
Father Matteo stood behind me.
A pistol in his hand.
The black Saint Michael medal hung against his chest.
"I'm sorry, Sophia."
I turned slowly.
"Daniel trusted you."
"He shouldn't have."
Lorenzo appeared from behind the column.
Matteo aimed at Emma.
Lorenzo stopped.
"Put the box down."
I did.
Matteo smiled.
Then someone stepped from behind the altar.
An older man.
Silver hair.
Perfect black suit.
Lorenzo stared at him.
"Uncle."
Vittorio Duca looked at Emma.
Then at me.
Then at Daniel's evidence.
"Two years," he said.
"I've been looking for that box for two years."
He picked it up.
But before he could open it, my phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
DON'T LET HIM OPEN THE LEDGER.
I stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
DANIEL RUSSO IS NOT THE ONLY MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE THAT NIGHT.
A photograph loaded beneath it.
May you like
I opened it.
And saw Lorenzo sitting in Daniel's car.
