Chapter 8 - Blood in the Castellano Family
The man inside the confessional looked like Marcus.
Not exactly.
Older.
Maybe thirty-five.
But the resemblance was undeniable.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
Same strange crooked little finger Marcus had inherited from our mother.
He collapsed before speaking.
We carried him into the chapel.
I treated the gunshot wound.
Through clenched teeth, he gave his name.
Elias Whittaker.
My uncle.
Daniel’s younger brother.
A man I had never known existed.
Elias had been working inside Northstar for years.
He had tried to reach us after my mother died.
Stefano intercepted every attempt.
“The second key,” Elias whispered.
He pointed at me.
“Evelyn gave it to Rosie.”
“I don’t have a key.”
“Yes, you do.”
He looked toward my hearing aid.
My hand rose automatically.
“No.”
The hearing aid had been replaced several times since childhood.
But the custom mold?
My mother had insisted I keep the original casing.
Sentimental reasons, she said.
Dante examined it.
Inside the battery compartment was a tiny engraved sequence.
Sixteen characters.
The second key.
My mother had hidden part of Northstar’s destruction code in the one object she knew I would carry.
The first key belonged to Marcus.
The second to me.
Together, they could unlock the full archive and freeze Northstar’s accounts.
Stefano needed us both.
That explained everything.
My suspension.
My lost apartment.
The job opening at the Castellano estate.
None of it had been coincidence.
Someone had pushed me here.
“Who arranged the complaint against my license?” I asked Elias.
“Stefano.”
“Why send me to Dante?”
“To flush out Titan.”
The plan had worked.
Except Titan chose me faster than Stefano expected.
And Dante protected me.
Elias told us Stefano had one final advantage.
Someone inside the mansion still worked for him.
“Who?”
Elias shook his head.
“I never learned.”
Claudia?
Gabriel?
Victor?
Nonna?
One of Dante’s guards?
We were back where we started.
That night, the mansion became a prison of suspicion.
Dante moved Marcus and me into adjoining rooms.
Titan slept between our doors.
At 2:13 a.m., he woke me.
No bark.
Just pressure against my hand.
I followed him.
Downstairs.
Kitchen.
Service corridor.
Laundry room.
He stopped before the hidden staircase.
Someone had left blood on the railing.
We climbed.
The surveillance room was empty.
One monitor showed Dante sleeping.
Another showed Marcus.
A third showed me.
Live.
I looked behind me.
The camera angle showed the room from above.
Someone was watching us watch ourselves.
Then text appeared across the screen.
HELLO, ROSIE.
I froze.
Another line.
YOUR MOTHER WAS BRAVER.
Then:
SHE ALSO DIED.
I unplugged the monitor.
It stayed on.
Remote power.
Titan growled.
A photograph appeared.
Marcus sleeping.
Timestamp: thirty seconds earlier.
I ran.
His room was empty.
Window open.
No broken glass.
No struggle.
Dante arrived seconds later.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Stefano.
His voice was warm.
Almost pleasant.
“Rosalind.”
“Where is Marcus?”
“Safe.”
“If you hurt him—”
“You sound like Evelyn.”
I stopped.
“You knew her.”
“I knew everyone.”
“What do you want?”
“You already know.”
“My key.”
“And Dante’s cooperation.”
Dante took the phone.
“You have mine.”
Stefano laughed.
“You were always dramatic.”
“Touch my brother and I’ll bury you.”
“Which brother?”
Dante’s expression hardened.
Stefano continued.
“You still don’t understand your father.”
Then the line ended.
A location arrived.
Old Castellano hotel.
Closed twelve years.
Come alone.
I looked at Dante.
“No.”
“He has Marcus.”
“And he expects you.”
“He expects me too.”
Titan stood.
His nose lifted.
Then he walked to Marcus’s bed.
He sniffed the pillow.
Crossed the room.
Stopped at the closet.
Inside was Marcus’s sneaker.
Titan smelled it.
Then headed toward the stairs.
“He can track him,” I said.
Dante grabbed his coat.
We followed Titan through the estate.
Out the western gate.
Toward the harbor road.
But after half a mile, Titan stopped.
He turned away from the hotel.
Toward the mansion.
“No,” Dante whispered.
Titan ran back.
Straight through the front doors.
Upstairs.
Past the surveillance room.
To Nonna’s bedroom.
The door was locked.
Dante knocked.
No answer.
He broke it open.
The room was empty.
On the bed lay Marcus’s phone.
May you like
Beside it was Nonna’s black dress.
And beneath the dress, someone had left a freshly fired gun...
