Chapter 2 - The Words Mia Couldn’t Say
Victor drew his pistol before the door opened.
Hannah's breath caught.
Mia woke instantly.
Her eyes opened.
Victor put one finger to his lips.
The handle turned again.
But the door did not open.
“Victor?” Luca called.
Victor glanced toward one of his guards.
“Take Hannah and Mia through the service door.”
Hannah hadn't known there was one.
The guard pushed a bookcase panel.
A narrow passage appeared.
Hannah stood carefully with Mia clinging to her.
Victor stopped her.
“Hannah.”
She looked at him.
“Whatever happens, don't let go of her.”
Hannah nodded.
She disappeared into the passage.
The panel closed.
Victor waited.
Then opened the main library door.
Luca stood alone.
Forty-one years old.
Immaculate charcoal suit.
No weapon visible.
“You're pointing a gun at me,” Luca said.
“Observant.”
“What's happening?”
“You tell me.”
Luca's expression barely changed.
Victor watched him.
They had known each other since Victor was fourteen.
Luca had attended Antonio's wedding.
He had carried Antonio's coffin.
He had spent nights at the hospital after Mia survived the bombing.
Victor had trusted him with everything.
Almost everything.
“Where's Mia?”
“Safe.”
“With the maid?”
Victor said nothing.
Luca sighed.
“This is exactly why the rules exist.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“What rules?”
“Mia becomes attached. People exploit attachment.”
“You seem unusually concerned about Hannah.”
“I'm concerned about you.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Then explain why Mia had a note telling me not to trust you.”
For the first time, Luca's face changed.
Barely.
But Victor saw it.
“Show me.”
“No.”
“Victor—”
“Who wrote it?”
“I don't know.”
Wrong answer.
Victor had deliberately withheld one detail.
He hadn't said the note contained Luca's name.
Only that it warned against him.
Yet Luca hadn't asked what it said.
Victor lowered the pistol slightly.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You already knew.”
Luca stared at him.
Then the lights went out.
In the service corridor, Hannah stopped.
Mia clung tighter.
The guard escorting them activated a flashlight.
“Keep moving.”
The passage smelled of dust and old stone.
“Where are we going?”
“Safe room.”
A noise came from behind them.
The guard turned.
A suppressed gunshot cracked.
He collapsed.
Hannah screamed.
Mia froze.
A masked man appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Hannah ran.
She didn't think.
Didn't look back.
She carried Mia and sprinted toward a faint emergency light.
Another shot struck the wall.
Stone splintered beside her head.
Mia buried her face against Hannah.
“Hold on!”
Hannah reached a metal door.
Locked.
No.
She pulled again.
The masked man approached.
Hannah spotted a fire extinguisher.
She set Mia behind her.
“Stay behind me.”
She grabbed it.
The attacker rounded the corner.
Hannah swung.
The extinguisher struck his wrist.
His gun fell.
He grabbed Hannah by the throat.
She drove her knee upward.
He cursed.
Then Mia picked up the fallen gun.
Hannah's heart stopped.
“Mia, no.”
The child held it with both hands.
Shaking.
The attacker stared at her.
For one terrible second nobody moved.
Then Mia opened her mouth.
A sound emerged.
Not a scream.
A word.
“Hannah.”
The attacker lunged.
A shot thundered from behind him.
He collapsed.
Victor stood at the opposite end of the corridor.
Gun raised.
His eyes went immediately to Mia.
She dropped the weapon.
Victor ran.
Hannah expected him to grab his sister.
Instead, he stopped several feet away.
Mia stared at him.
Victor's breathing became uneven.
“Mia?”
The girl looked terrified by her own voice.
Victor crouched.
“You said her name.”
Mia backed toward Hannah.
Victor's face broke.
Hannah had never seen grief and happiness collide like that.
Victor looked at her.
“What did she say?”
“My name.”
Mia grabbed Hannah's hand.
Victor closed his eyes briefly.
Two years.
Doctors.
Therapists.
Specialists.
Nothing.
Then eleven days after Hannah Brooks entered his house, Mia had spoken.
Victor rose.
His expression hardened when he looked at the dead attacker.
He pulled away the mask.
Hannah didn't recognize the man.
Victor did.
“Carlo.”
“Who is he?”
Victor stared.
“My brother's former driver.”
Hannah felt cold.
“The brother who died?”
“Yes.”
Victor searched Carlo's pockets.
Phone.
Wallet.
A key.
And a photograph.
Victor removed it.
Hannah saw herself.
Leaving the hospital.
Another photograph showed Hannah entering her apartment.
Another showed Carol Brooks in a wheelchair outside rehabilitation.
Hannah went pale.
“Why does he have pictures of my mother?”
Victor looked at her.
“I don't know.”
The phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
Victor read it.
His jaw tightened.
Hannah stepped closer.
“What?”
Victor turned the screen.
One sentence filled it.
THE MAID KNOWS MORE THAN SHE THINKS.
Hannah stared.
“I don't know anything.”
Victor believed her.
That was the problem.
Someone else believed she did.
Victor called security.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Then the dead man's phone rang.
UNKNOWN CALLER.
Victor answered silently.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You should have left the girl under the desk.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“Who is this?”
The caller laughed softly.
Then Hannah's phone vibrated.
She pulled it from her apron.
A photograph had arrived from an unknown number.
Her mother.
Carol was sitting in her hospital room.
But the photograph had been taken from inside the room.
Hannah stopped breathing.
Beneath it was a message.
COME ALONE OR YOUR MOTHER DIES.
Victor read it over her shoulder.
“No.”
Hannah looked at him.
“That's my mother.”
“They want you to panic.”
“They're in her room!”
“And that's why you're not going alone.”
Mia squeezed Hannah's hand.
Then the child suddenly pointed toward Carlo's body.
His jacket had shifted.
Something was sewn inside the lining.
Victor cut it open.
A small brass key fell out.
Stamped into the metal were two characters.
A-17.
Victor stared.
He knew that number.
Antonio had owned a private storage facility under a shell company.
Unit A-17 had supposedly been emptied after his death.
Victor looked at Hannah.
Before he could speak, Mia whispered another word.
“Mommy.”
Victor froze.
Mia pointed at the key.
“Mommy.”
Victor crouched.
“Mia, did your mother have this?”
The child nodded.
Victor's face drained of color.
Then Mia whispered three more words.
“Mommy hid Hannah.”
Nobody moved.
Hannah stared at her.
“What?”
Mia pointed at Hannah.
“Mommy... hid Hannah.”
Victor slowly turned toward Hannah.
The impossible connection hung between them.
Then Victor's phone rang.
He looked at the caller ID.
The hospital.
He answered.
A frightened nurse spoke immediately.
“Mr. Romano, someone just removed Carol Brooks from her room.”
Hannah grabbed his arm.
“Where is she?”
The nurse's next words made Victor look toward the brass key.
“We checked the security camera. The man who took her left one message for you.”
Victor waited.
The nurse swallowed.
May you like
“He said to open Unit A-17.”
Then the line went dead.
