Chapter 7 - The Voice on the Dead Man’s Phone
“Son…”
Victor couldn't move.
The voice on the other end was older than he remembered.
Rougher.
But it carried the same slow certainty.
The same authority that had once filled every room in the Castellano mansion.
Victor's father's voice.
His dead father's voice.
Marcus stared at him.
Elena covered her mouth.
Gregory stepped backward as if the phone itself were dangerous.
Victor finally spoke.
“My father is dead.”
A quiet breath came through the receiver.
“I know.”
Victor's fingers tightened around the phone.
“Who is this?”
The voice gave a soft laugh.
“You always hated asking questions you already knew the answer to.”
Victor's face hardened.
“You're not him.”
“No.”
The voice changed.
Not completely.
Just enough.
Victor suddenly understood.
It was a recording.
An old recording.
His father had left it behind.
The voice continued.
“If you're hearing this, Victor, then someone finally failed to keep you away from the truth.”
Victor looked at Gregory.
“Who recorded this?”
Gregory said nothing.
The recording continued.
“You will believe the girl is your greatest problem.”
Victor's eyes moved to Poppy's photograph.
“She isn't.”
A pause.
“She is the reason you are still alive.”
Victor's breath caught.
The voice became quieter.
“Your father built the Castellano empire on fear. I built the final safeguard on blood.”
Victor closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“There are two children.”
Elena's face went pale.
“One will carry the name.”
A pause.
“The other will carry the key.”
Victor opened his eyes.
“What key?”
The recording didn't answer.
Instead, another voice appeared.
A woman's voice.
Elena.
But younger.
Terrified.
“Please, you can't do this.”
Victor looked at Elena.
She turned away.
His father's voice returned.
“You made your choice.”
Young Elena sobbed.
“I chose my daughter.”
“And therefore condemned your son.”
Victor's face changed.
The recording ended.
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Victor slowly lowered the receiver.
His eyes remained fixed on Elena.
“You chose Poppy.”
Elena's tears fell.
“Yes.”
“And left Leo.”
“No.”
“You just heard him.”
“I heard your father.”
“You chose one child.”
“I thought I could save both.”
“But you didn't.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Victor turned away.
For the first time that night, anger wasn't enough.
There was something worse.
Grief.
He had spent twelve years grieving a brother who might have been alive.
Twelve years grieving a wife who had been standing somewhere in the world.
Twelve years believing his family had been destroyed by an enemy.
And now he was learning that the enemy had been sitting inside his own house.
Marcus broke the silence.
“We have thirty-eight minutes.”
Victor looked at him.
Marcus held up the phone.
“The cemetery.”
Victor nodded.
“We go.”
Elena stepped forward.
“I'll come.”
Victor looked at her.
“Yes.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Victor, the message said no men.”
Victor stared at him.
“Then you won't be seen.”
“You're going to walk into an ambush.”
“I know.”
“Then let me protect you.”
“You will.”
Marcus frowned.
“How?”
Victor reached into his coat.
He removed the silver coin.
The lucky coin.
He handed it to Marcus.
“Keep this.”
Marcus looked at it.
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“If I don't come back, take Poppy and leave Baltimore.”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“You're coming back.”
Victor looked at him.
“I intend to.”
Elena watched them.
“I know another way into the cemetery.”
Victor turned.
“Tell me.”
“There is an old service road behind the chapel.”
“Where does it lead?”
“To the mausoleum.”
Victor nodded.
“Then that's where we'll go.”
Gregory suddenly stepped forward.
“You can't take Elena there.”
Victor looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly what they want.”
Victor stared.
“They asked for her.”
“That's why.”
“What aren't you telling me?”
Gregory looked at the floor.
“The cemetery isn't the meeting place.”
Victor waited.
Gregory finally looked up.
“It's the entrance.”
“To what?”
“The old Castellano vault.”
Victor's expression changed.
“My father sealed it.”
“No.”
Gregory's voice was barely audible.
“He sealed it from the inside.”
Victor stared at him.
Marcus frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Gregory didn't answer.
Victor stepped closer.
“Tell me.”
Gregory swallowed.
“There was another room beneath the vault.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“What room?”
“A nursery.”
Elena whispered,
“No.”
Gregory looked at her.
“You knew.”
“I knew there was a room.”
“You knew what was inside.”
Elena shook her head.
“I never went inside.”
Victor looked between them.
“Then who did?”
Gregory didn't answer.
Victor grabbed his coat.
“Let's go.”
They moved through the mansion.
The estate had become unnaturally quiet.
Too quiet.
No guards.
No staff.
No voices.
Victor noticed the security monitors as they passed.
Every screen was black.
Marcus stopped.
“They're controlling the system.”
Victor looked at him.
“From where?”
Marcus checked his device.
“Inside the estate.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“How many?”
“One.”
“Can you find him?”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“Give me thirty seconds.”
Victor waited.
Marcus typed rapidly.
Then stopped.
“I found the signal.”
“Where?”
Marcus looked toward the ceiling.
“Your study.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
They returned to the study.
The door was open.
Victor entered.
Nothing seemed disturbed.
His desk.
The cold fireplace.
The half-finished coffee.
The ledger.
Then Marcus pointed.
“Under the desk.”
Victor crouched.
A tiny black transmitter had been taped beneath the wooden surface.
Marcus removed it.
“It's been here for months.”
Victor stared at it.
“Months?”
Marcus nodded.
“Maybe longer.”
Victor looked around the room.
“Who had access?”
Marcus answered immediately.
“Gregory.”
Victor looked toward the doorway.
Gregory was gone.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“Did Gregory know about Poppy?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know about Leo?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know my father was alive when you disappeared?”
Elena hesitated.
Victor's eyes hardened.
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
Victor turned away.
“How much did he know?”
“Everything.”
“Then why did he pretend to help me?”
“Because your father ordered him to.”
Victor looked at her.
“After he died?”
Elena nodded.
“He wasn't supposed to stop.”
Victor's expression changed.
“Stop what?”
“Watching you.”
A noise came from the hall.
Victor turned.
The study door slowly moved.
Marcus reached for his weapon.
Victor raised his hand.
“Wait.”
The door stopped.
Nobody was there.
Then a folded piece of paper slid across the floor.
Victor picked it up.
Three words.
COME TO THE VAULT.
Underneath was a photograph.
Victor stared.
His brother Leo stood in front of an old stone building.
Older now.
Perhaps twenty.
Perhaps twenty-one.
Alive.
Victor's fingers trembled.
But Leo wasn't alone.
A man stood beside him.
Victor knew that man.
He had buried him twelve years ago.
His father's younger brother.
The photograph had been taken recently.
Victor looked at the date.
Tonight.
Marcus stared over his shoulder.
“That's impossible.”
Victor nodded.
“Apparently that's becoming a habit.”
Elena stepped closer.
Her face drained of color.
“That's him.”
Victor looked at her.
“Who?”
She pointed at the man standing beside Leo.
“The man who took Poppy.”
Victor stared at the photograph.
The same man who had taken his brother.
The same man who had been behind the black car.
The same man who had somehow survived for twelve years.
Victor finally understood.
This wasn't about money.
It wasn't about the missing ledgers.
It wasn't even about the Castellano empire.
Someone had spent twelve years moving pieces around him.
Poppy.
Leo.
Elena.
Hannah.
Gregory.
And now Victor.
They were all connected.
Victor folded the photograph.
“We're going to the cemetery.”
Elena caught his arm.
“Victor.”
He turned.
“If you see Leo…”
She hesitated.
“What?”
“Don't believe everything he tells you.”
Victor stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because the boy you remember is gone.”
Victor's expression tightened.
“He's my brother.”
“I know.”
“And he's alive.”
“Yes.”
“Then I'll find him.”
Elena's voice broke.
“You may not recognize him.”
Victor stepped closer.
“I've already lost him once.”
He looked toward the door.
“I won't lose him twice.”
They left the study.
Outside, rain continued to fall.
Victor drove.
Elena sat beside him.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
The city lights blurred across the windshield.
Finally Elena whispered,
“I never stopped loving you.”
Victor kept his eyes on the road.
“You don't get to say that yet.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I don't know whether I can forgive you.”
Elena nodded.
“I don't expect you to.”
Victor tightened his hands on the steering wheel.
“But I will get Poppy back.”
“Yes.”
“And Hannah.”
“Yes.”
“And Leo.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
The cemetery gates appeared through the rain.
Victor slowed.
The gate was open.
No guard.
No lights.
Only darkness.
He stopped the car.
Marcus's voice came through the hidden earpiece.
“Victor, I'm positioned two blocks away.”
Victor looked at Elena.
“You stay beside me.”
She nodded.
They stepped out.
Rain soaked them instantly.
The old cemetery was silent.
Graves stretched into the darkness.
Victor walked toward the Castellano mausoleum.
His father's name was carved above the entrance.
Victor stopped.
The stone door was closed.
He remembered standing here twelve years ago.
Hundreds of people had gathered.
Flowers.
Black suits.
Rain.
A coffin.
His father's coffin.
Victor had believed the old man was finally gone.
Now he understood.
His father had left something behind.
Something much more dangerous than money.
Victor pushed the mausoleum door.
It opened.
Inside was darkness.
Elena stepped beside him.
“There.”
She pointed toward the floor.
A small silver coin lay on the stone.
Victor crouched.
It was identical to his lucky coin.
He picked it up.
Two coins.
Two identical marks.
One belonged to Victor.
The other had been waiting here.
A hidden mechanism clicked beneath his feet.
Victor froze.
The floor began to move.
A section of stone slowly slid backward.
A staircase appeared.
Cold air rose from below.
Elena whispered,
“The nursery.”
Victor looked down.
At the bottom of the stairs, a single light was burning.
Then a child's voice floated up from the darkness.
“Daddy?”
Victor stopped breathing.
Elena covered her mouth.
Victor took one step down.
The voice came again.
“Daddy, is that you?”
It was Poppy.
Victor rushed down the stairs.
The underground chamber opened before him.
There was a bed.
A wooden table.
A red curtain.
And Poppy sitting on the floor with her stuffed rabbit.
Hannah was beside her.
Her hands were untied.
Victor stopped.
Something was wrong.
Too easy.
Hannah looked at him.
“Victor…”
He stepped forward.
“Poppy.”
The little girl ran toward him.
Victor caught her and held her tightly.
She buried her face against his chest.
“You came.”
“I promised.”
Hannah stood slowly.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I tried to get her out.”
Victor looked at her.
“Who brought you here?”
Hannah opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the door above slammed shut.
Victor turned.
The chamber lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then every light went out.
Poppy screamed.
Victor pulled her against him.
A man's voice came through the darkness.
“You shouldn't have brought Elena.”
Victor froze.
Elena whispered,
“Victor…”
The voice continued.
“Because now she has to tell you what happened to your first daughter.”
Victor turned toward Elena.
“What did he just say?”
Elena began shaking.
“Victor, please…”
The man's voice came again.
May you like
“She never told you about the third child.”
And somewhere behind them, a lock clicked.
