Chapter 4 - The Woman at the Door
Ruby stopped breathing.
Sebastian’s voice came through the phone.
“Ruby.”
She stared at the door.
“Did she just say she’s your wife?”
“She is not my wife.”
“Interesting technical distinction.”
“Do not open the door.”
“Why?”
“Because Sofia Romano has been dead for six years.”
Ruby’s blood ran cold.
Outside, the woman knocked again.
“Ruby?”
Ruby backed away.
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
“What do I do?”
“Move away from the windows. Go to your bedroom. Lock the door.”
A hard knock rattled the frame.
Ruby moved.
“What are you doing?”
“Coming to you.”
“No.”
“Ruby—”
“If this is a trap, that’s exactly what they want.”
Silence.
She could almost hear him thinking.
Outside, Sofia called, “I know he told you I’m dead.”
Ruby stopped.
Sebastian heard it too.
His voice became deadly calm.
“Bedroom. Now.”
Ruby obeyed this time.
She locked herself inside.
“You have people outside?”
“Two cars.”
“Then why haven’t they removed her?”
“They don’t see anyone.”
Ruby stared at the phone.
“What?”
“My security feed shows your porch empty.”
Another knock came from the front door.
Ruby’s skin prickled.
“That’s impossible.”
“Go to your bedroom window.”
“It faces the backyard.”
“Exactly.”
Ruby approached carefully.
“Open it.”
“What?”
“Fire escape.”
“This is the second floor.”
“Three feet to the roof over your kitchen.”
“You know my apartment very well.”
“I studied the floor plan last night.”
“Creepy.”
“Ruby.”
“Right.”
She pushed the window up.
Cold air rushed inside.
Then she heard something behind her.
A floorboard.
In the hallway.
Someone was inside.
Ruby’s heart hammered.
“Sebastian.”
“I heard it.”
“How?”
“The call.”
Another floorboard creaked.
Closer.
Ruby climbed onto the sill.
Her body caught briefly against the narrow frame.
A familiar old humiliation flashed through her.
Too big.
Too slow.
Wrong body for emergencies.
She almost panicked.
Then anger replaced it.
No.
She refused to hate her body while trying to save her life.
She turned sideways, pushed through, and lowered herself onto the kitchen roof.
Her bare foot slipped.
She caught the gutter.
“Ruby!”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re not okay.”
“Helpful.”
The bedroom door opened behind her.
Ruby froze.
A woman appeared.
Dark hair.
Black coat.
Pale face.
She looked to be around forty.
Not dead.
Very much alive.
The stranger saw Ruby through the window.
“Wait.”
Ruby crawled backward.
The woman lifted both hands.
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Then breaking into my apartment was a poor introduction.”
“I didn’t break in.”
Ruby looked toward the hallway.
The woman held up a key.
“How do you have that?”
“Because I used to own this apartment.”
Ruby stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“Ruby, move!” Sebastian shouted through the phone.
The woman heard him.
Her expression twisted.
“Of course he’s listening.”
“Sofia?”
“Yes.”
Sebastian’s voice went cold.
“You’re not Sofia.”
The woman stepped closer.
“No, Sebastian.”
She spoke loudly enough for the phone.
“I’m the woman your father paid to disappear.”
Ruby stopped moving.
Silence.
Then Sebastian said, “Take off the necklace.”
The woman touched her throat.
A small silver pendant rested there.
“Still suspicious.”
“Take it off.”
She did.
Ruby could not see why it mattered.
Sebastian went quiet again.
“What?” Ruby whispered.
He answered slowly.
“She wore that necklace the night she died.”
Sofia looked at Ruby.
“He gave it to me.”
Sebastian’s voice cracked for the first time.
“Sofia?”
The woman closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Ruby climbed back through the window.
“Absolutely not,” Sebastian snapped.
“She’s not attacking me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know she could have pushed me off the roof.”
Sofia almost smiled.
“You always did collect stubborn women.”
Ruby ignored that.
“Sit down.”
Sofia obeyed.
Ruby kept several feet between them.
“Start explaining.”
“Sebastian should hear this in person.”
“No.”
Both women heard his answer.
“He’s five minutes away,” Ruby said.
Sofia’s face tightened.
“I haven’t seen him in six years.”
“You announced yourself as his wife.”
“I was.”
Ruby looked toward the phone.
Sebastian said nothing.
There it was.
Not a lie exactly.
But an omission large enough to park a truck inside.
“You told me she wasn’t your wife.”
“She isn’t.”
“Because you thought she was dead.”
“Yes.”
“That would have been useful context.”
“I was trying to get you out alive.”
Sofia interrupted.
“Can you two argue later?”
Ruby sat opposite her.
“You have four minutes.”
Sofia inhaled.
“Sebastian and I married when we were twenty-nine.”
Ruby’s chest tightened despite herself.
“It wasn’t arranged. We loved each other.”
Sebastian remained silent.
“His father hated me because I wanted Sebastian out.”
Sofia looked at the floor.
“I convinced him to leave New York for a while. We planned to move west.”
“What happened?”
“Luca died.”
Sebastian’s younger brother.
Ruby understood.
“Sebastian stayed.”
“Yes.”
Sofia continued.
“His father told me I was making him weak. He said if Sebastian chose me, more people would die.”
Ruby’s stomach turned.
“So?”
“He gave me a choice.”
Sebastian finally spoke.
“No.”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“What choice?”
Ruby asked quietly.
Sofia looked toward the phone.
“He said disappear, or Sebastian would be killed.”
Sebastian’s voice became almost inaudible.
“My father told me you died in a car fire.”
“I know.”
“I identified your ring.”
“It was planted.”
Ruby watched Sofia’s hands tremble.
“I spent six years in Canada under another name.”
“Why come back now?”
“Because Vittorio Romano is dead.”
“He’s been dead six years.”
“I didn’t know.”
Sebastian sounded stunned.
“How could you not know?”
“Because the people watching me kept me isolated.”
“Who?”
Sofia’s eyes hardened.
“Bellini.”
Ruby understood before Sebastian spoke.
“Dante.”
“Yes.”
The front door downstairs burst open.
Footsteps thundered up.
Sofia stood.
Sebastian appeared in the bedroom doorway seconds later.
He stopped.
Ruby would remember his face forever.
Shock.
Grief.
Anger.
Disbelief.
And beneath all of it, the ghost of love.
Sofia whispered, “Sebastian.”
He did not move.
For several painful seconds, Ruby felt invisible.
Then Sebastian stepped into the room.
“You’re alive.”
Sofia nodded.
His voice broke.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
He crossed the distance.
Ruby expected an embrace.
Sebastian stopped three feet away.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three times in the first year.”
“I received nothing.”
“Your father intercepted everything.”
“He was dead by then.”
“His people weren’t.”
Sebastian looked sick.
Ruby quietly moved toward the door.
His hand caught hers.
She looked down.
He had reached for her without looking.
Sofia saw it.
So did Ruby.
Sebastian realized what he had done and released her.
“Stay.”
Ruby wanted to say no.
But the word would not come.
Sofia sat.
“Dante found me two months ago.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does he want?”
“To destroy you.”
“That part I understand.”
“He told me your mother was sick.”
Elena.
Ruby’s pulse jumped.
“He wanted me to come back and tell you the truth.”
“For revenge?”
“Not only that.”
Sofia reached into her coat.
Sebastian immediately stepped in front of Ruby.
Sofia stopped.
“Relax.”
She slowly removed a flash drive.
“Your father kept records.”
Sebastian stared.
“Of everything.”
“Where did you get that?”
“From Dante.”
“He gave it to you?”
“He wanted me to see what your family had done.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“And?”
“I found something he didn’t know was there.”
“What?”
Sofia held up the drive.
“Proof that his mother’s accident wasn’t caused by your father.”
Ruby felt the room tighten.
“Who caused it?”
Sofia looked directly at Sebastian.
“Dante’s own uncle.”
The implication landed heavily.
Someone had created the feud.
Someone had profited from years of revenge.
Sebastian took the drive.
“Why would his uncle kill his own sister-in-law?”
“Because she found his accounts.”
“What accounts?”
“Human trafficking.”
Sebastian’s expression turned murderous.
Sofia continued.
“She was going to expose him. He arranged the pursuit so it would look like your father’s fault.”
Ruby swallowed.
“Does Dante know?”
“No.”
“Then show him.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“You think truth fixes men like Dante?”
“No,” Sebastian said. “But it changes who he shoots at.”
Ruby flinched.
Sebastian noticed.
“Sorry.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t apologize for reality.”
He looked at her with something painfully warm.
Sofia saw that too.
Her face changed.
Not jealousy exactly.
Sadness.
“I didn’t come back to reclaim you,” she said.
Sebastian stiffened.
“I didn’t assume—”
“You did.”
He fell silent.
Sofia looked at Ruby.
“So did she.”
Ruby flushed.
“I didn’t.”
Sofia gave her a tired smile.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
Sebastian looked away.
Ruby wanted the floor to collapse.
Sofia continued.
“I loved Sebastian.”
Past tense.
“I probably always will in some way. But six years changes people.”
Sebastian’s face tightened.
“So why come here?”
“To end what your father started.”
She pointed toward the flash drive.
“And because there’s something else.”
Sebastian looked at her.
Sofia’s expression became grave.
“Dante isn’t acting alone.”
“His uncle.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She hesitated.
Someone’s phone vibrated.
Ruby checked hers.
Unknown number.
A message.
She opened it.
One photograph loaded.
Elena sleeping in her bed.
Taken minutes ago.
Ruby’s blood went cold.
Underneath were five words.
ASK SEBASTIAN ABOUT HIS BROTHER.
Sebastian looked at the screen.
His face drained.
Then another message arrived.
A video file.
Ruby pressed play.
A man appeared in shadow.
He leaned toward the camera.
May you like
And said:
“Hello, brother.”
