Chapter 4 - Room 614
Vincent pulled Delphine behind him.
"Show yourself."
Silence.
A crash came from the opposite end of the basement.
Vincent moved toward it.
Delphine grabbed his arm.
"You are recovering from a gunshot."
"Excellent timing."
Emergency lights flickered on.
The basement was empty.
A rear service door stood open.
Whoever had spoken was gone.
Security arrived minutes later.
No usable footage.
Someone had disabled two cameras.
But Delphine now understood one thing.
Her mother hadn't accidentally become part of Vincent's history.
She had been protecting something.
Room 614.
The sealed sixth floor required administrative authorization.
Delphine requested it.
Denied.
Vincent offered to make a phone call.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I would like to solve one problem without you frightening someone."
"I can ask politely."
She stared at him.
"I can."
"You have six men outside."
"Five."
"That isn't helping."
Vincent's expression darkened.
Marco was still missing.
The next afternoon, Dr. Mercer quietly arranged access.
The sixth floor smelled of dust.
Old hospital signs remained attached to the walls.
614 was at the far end.
The door had been painted over.
Vincent forced it open with Tomas.
Inside was an abandoned patient room.
Bed frame.
Cabinet.
Sink.
Nothing else.
Delphine noticed scratches on the wall behind the bed.
They moved it.
A section of drywall had been cut and repaired.
Inside the cavity was a metal box.
The key from locker 417 fit.
Delphine opened it.
Medical records.
Photographs.
A cassette recorder.
And a letter from Anthony Moretti.
Vincent sat down.
Delphine handed it to him.
He read silently.
Then again.
"What?"
He gave her the letter.
Anthony had survived the assassination attempt fifteen years earlier.
He had discovered that men within his own organization had arranged it.
Rather than return, he allowed the world to believe he was dead while investigating.
Teresa Rios had treated him.
She had hidden him.
And Elena Moretti had helped.
Vincent's sister.
"Elena knew."
Vincent's voice cracked.
Delphine had never heard that sound from him.
He reached for another document.
A photograph showed Elena beside Anthony.
Date stamped eleven months after Anthony's funeral.
Then came another.
Marco.
Younger.
Standing beside Elena.
Vincent's face hardened.
"They knew each other."
Delphine found a cassette player in the box.
Old batteries.
Dead.
Tomas brought replacements.
They pressed play.
Static.
Then Anthony Moretti's voice.
"If Vincent hears this, then I failed."
Vincent closed his eyes.
Anthony explained that a faction inside the Moretti organization wanted Vincent to inherit the empire young enough to manipulate.
Anthony had discovered financial theft, illegal trafficking he had forbidden, and secret alliances.
He planned to expose them.
Then someone shot him.
Elena helped him disappear.
Teresa hid his medical records.
But before Anthony could reveal everything, Elena died.
The recording stopped.
Delphine turned the cassette.
Side B.
Anthony's voice returned.
"Elena's death was no accident."
Vincent stood.
Pain hit him.
Delphine caught him.
"Sit."
He didn't.
"Who?"
The recording continued.
Anthony hadn't known.
Not yet.
But Elena had left evidence.
With someone Vincent would never think to question.
Tomas.
Vincent slowly turned.
His uncle stood near the door.
"Tomas?"
Tomas looked horrified.
"I don't know what he's talking about."
Vincent stepped toward him.
"She gave you something."
"No."
"Think."
Tomas backed against the wall.
Then stopped.
His face changed.
"The music box."
"What?"
"Elena gave me a music box the week before she died."
Vincent stared.
"Where is it?"
"My house."
They drove there immediately.
The box remained in Tomas's study.
A small wooden music box.
Inside was a ballerina.
Tomas opened it.
Music played.
Vincent examined the base.
One screw didn't match.
He removed it.
Inside was a tiny compartment.
A memory card.
Tomas stared.
"I never knew."
They loaded it onto a computer.
Files appeared.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Then one video.
Elena.
She looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this, something happened to me."
Vincent's hands tightened.
Elena named three men.
Two were dead.
The third was alive.
Marco Bellini.
Vincent stood.
Delphine caught his sleeve.
"Wait."
The video wasn't finished.
Elena continued.
"Marco isn't the leader. He's scared of him."
Vincent froze.
"If my brother ever sees this, tell him the betrayal started inside our family."
Tomas went pale.
Vincent looked at him.
Then Elena said the name.
The audio distorted.
The file froze.
"No."
Vincent hit the keyboard.
Corrupted.
The final name was missing.
Then another file appeared.
It had been accessed recently.
Three days earlier.
Someone had already found Elena's evidence.
A sound came from downstairs.
Glass breaking.
Tomas reached for his phone.
Vincent looked toward the hallway.
Delphine heard footsteps.
Slow.
Coming up the stairs.
May you like
Then Marco Bellini called from the other side of the door:
"Vincent, don't trust your uncle."
