Chapter 3 - The Door Beneath the Duca Estate
The basement door had not been opened in twelve years.
That was the first thing Alessandro told me.
The second thing he told me was that someone had entered the building tonight just to make sure we opened it.
I held Luna tighter against my chest as we walked through the private elevator.
Neither of us spoke.
For the first time since I met Alessandro Duca, he looked like a man who didn’t have all the answers.
And that frightened me more than his anger ever could.
The elevator descended slowly.
Floor 48.
Floor 47.
Floor 46.
But we weren’t going down to the lobby.
We were going somewhere hidden.
Somewhere nobody in the building knew existed.
I looked at Alessandro standing beside me.
His black suit was perfectly pressed.
His expression was controlled.
But his hands were different.
They were tense.
His fingers kept moving slightly, like he was preparing himself for something he didn’t want to face.
“Who sent that message?” I finally asked.
He didn’t look at me.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
I looked away.
“You know something.”
“I know enough to understand that someone wants us to open that door.”
“And you’re going to do it?”
His eyes moved toward me.
“No.”
I frowned.
“Then why are we going there?”
“Because if someone wants us afraid of what’s behind that door…”
He paused.
“…I want to know why.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
I expected the lobby.
Instead, I saw a dark hallway.
An old hallway.
The walls were different from the rest of the building.
No expensive paintings.
No glass decorations.
No signs of wealth.
Only old stone walls and a single row of lights.
It felt like we had stepped into another world.
A world Alessandro had buried.
Luna shifted in my arms.
She looked around quietly.
Almost like she recognized something.
That made me uncomfortable.
Because she had never been here.
At least not with me.
“Has anyone else been down here?” I whispered.
“No.”
“Never?”
“Not since I bought this building.”
I stopped walking.
“You bought this building?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t know this existed?”
His expression tightened.
“I knew.”
That answer surprised me.
“Then why did you say nobody has been here?”
“Because knowing something exists and knowing what it contains are two different things.”
I didn’t understand.
But I knew one thing.
There was a part of Alessandro Duca’s life that even he was afraid to touch.
We reached the end of the hallway.
There it was.
The door.
It was not impressive.
It was old.
Dark wood.
A rusted metal handle.
No security system.
No lock that looked powerful.
Yet Alessandro stopped several feet away.
Like the door itself was dangerous.
“This is where you kept the photograph?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then what is inside?”
He looked at me.
“My past.”
The words were quiet.
Before I could answer, Luna suddenly reached toward the door.
Her small hand opened and closed in the air.
Both of us noticed.
Alessandro looked at her.
“Why is she doing that?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.”
Slowly, he stepped closer.
The closer he got, the more nervous he became.
That was something I never expected to see.
The most feared man in the city was afraid of a door.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key.
I stared.
“You had the key?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you open it before?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because someone I trusted told me never to.”
“Who?”
He looked at the key.
“My mother.”
I froze.
The woman in the photograph.
The woman connected to the missing maid.
The woman connected to my daughter’s blanket.
“Your mother knew about this?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
For a moment, Alessandro said nothing.
Then he inserted the key.
“She died before she could tell me the truth.”
The lock clicked.
The sound echoed through the hallway.
My heart started beating faster.
The door opened slowly.
A smell came from inside.
Old paper.
Dust.
Memories.
Alessandro turned on the light.
The room was small.
But it was full.
Boxes covered every wall.
Documents.
Photographs.
Letters.
Old belongings.
Everything had been preserved.
Like someone had been waiting for this moment.
I stepped inside carefully.
Luna looked around.
Then she reached toward one of the shelves.
I followed her eyes.
There was a small wooden box.
Placed separately from everything else.
Almost like it was important.
Alessandro noticed too.
He walked toward it.
He opened the box.
Inside was a baby bracelet.
My breath stopped.
Because I knew that bracelet.
Not personally.
But from the photograph.
The same bracelet was around the baby’s wrist.
Twenty-seven years ago.
Alessandro picked it up.
His face became unreadable.
“There’s no way.”
“What?”
He turned the bracelet over.
A name was engraved on the back.
One name.
One word.
Elena.
My legs almost gave out.
“No.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“You’ve seen this before?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
But my voice betrayed me.
Because I had seen it.
Not the bracelet.
Something else.
Something hidden in my mother’s belongings after she died.
Something I thought was meaningless.
A small piece of jewelry wrapped in an old cloth.
A piece I had kept because I couldn’t throw away anything connected to my past.
“Who was your mother?” Alessandro asked.
I looked at him.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Her name was Maria.”
His expression changed.
“Maria what?”
“Maria Marlow.”
Silence.
The room went completely quiet.
Alessandro stepped backward.
Like I had physically pushed him.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
He looked at the bracelet.
Then at me.
Then at Luna.
“Because Maria Marlow was the woman who disappeared twenty-seven years ago.”
My entire body went cold.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That can’t be true.”
Alessandro picked up another photograph from the box.
His hands were shaking now.
Actually shaking.
He turned it around.
A young woman stood beside a man.
A baby was in her arms.
The baby had the same pink blanket.
The same bracelet.
The same face.
And beside the woman…
Was Alessandro.
But he looked different.
Younger.
Almost like another person.
I stared at the picture.
“You knew my mother?”
He didn’t answer.
“Alessandro.”
His eyes stayed on the photograph.
“I thought she died.”
The words barely came out.
My heart raced.
“You knew her?”
He looked at me.
And for the first time, the powerful man everyone feared looked completely broken.
“She wasn’t just an employee.”
The silence became unbearable.
“She was the only person who knew the truth about my family.”
I looked down at Luna.
My daughter.
The baby who had crawled into the office of the most dangerous man in the city.
The baby who had brought us to this room.
The baby who was somehow connected to a secret that started before she was born.
A noise suddenly came from outside.
A footstep.
Then another.
Alessandro immediately changed.
The fear disappeared.
The businessman disappeared.
The dangerous man returned.
He closed the box.
Turned off the light.
And pulled me behind him.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
He raised one finger.
Silence.
The footsteps stopped outside the basement door.
Someone was there.
Someone had followed us.
Alessandro reached for the weapon hidden beneath his jacket.
The door handle slowly moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then the lock began turning from the outside.
And a woman’s voice whispered through the door.
“Elena…”
My blood froze.
Because I knew that voice.
I had heard it only once before.
May you like
The night my mother died.
The door opened.
