Chapter 3 - Someone Inside the House
Victor did not allow Hannah to go alone.
She argued.
He ignored her.
Mia refused to release Hannah's hand, forcing Victor to make a decision he hated even more.
They would all go.
Victor placed twelve armed men around the storage facility.
Hannah remained beside him.
Mia wore Victor's oversized coat and held Hannah's hand.
Unit A-17 stood at the end of a concrete corridor.
Victor inserted the brass key.
“Behind me.”
He opened it.
Nothing happened.
No gunfire.
No explosion.
Victor entered.
The unit contained one table.
One chair.
And dozens of boxes.
Hannah spotted her name immediately.
HANNAH BROOKS.
She walked toward the box.
Victor stopped her.
“I'll open it.”
Inside were newspaper clippings.
School photographs.
Medical records.
Records belonging to Hannah.
Her entire childhood had been documented.
“What is this?”
Victor found an envelope.
ANTONIO.
Inside was a letter written by Sofia Romano.
Victor recognized her handwriting.
Victor,
If anything happens to us, find Carol Brooks. She protected Hannah once. She may have to do it again.
Do not tell Luca.
Victor looked at Hannah.
She looked equally stunned.
Another box contained photographs.
Sofia beside Carol.
Twenty years younger.
Together.
Friends.
Hannah whispered, “My mother knew your sister-in-law.”
Victor turned over a photograph.
A date.
And four words.
THE NIGHT WE SAVED HER.
“Saved who?” Hannah asked.
Victor didn't know.
Mia suddenly tugged Hannah toward another box.
It contained children's drawings.
One showed Sofia.
Another Antonio.
Another depicted two little girls holding hands.
Hannah crouched.
“Mia drew these?”
Victor shook his head.
“She was too young.”
Hannah turned the paper over.
A name was written there.
ELENA.
Victor became still.
“Who is Elena?”
Before he could answer, movement sounded behind the storage unit.
Victor spun.
Gun raised.
A woman stepped from the shadows.
Carol Brooks.
“Mom!”
Hannah ran toward her.
Victor blocked her.
Carol looked exhausted but unharmed.
“Hannah, listen to him.”
“Mom?”
Carol looked at Victor.
“You look like your father.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“You knew my father?”
“I knew all of them.”
Hannah stared at her mother.
“What is happening?”
Carol's eyes filled.
“I hoped you would never have to know.”
“Know what?”
Carol looked toward Mia.
Then toward Hannah.
“Why Sofia Romano died.”
Victor stepped closer.
“You have ten seconds.”
Carol didn't flinch.
“Your brother discovered someone inside your organization was selling information.”
“Who?”
“He never proved it.”
“Luca?”
Carol's silence answered enough.
Hannah shook her head.
“What does this have to do with me?”
Carol took her daughter's hands.
“Before you were born, I worked for the Romano family.”
Hannah stared.
“You told me you worked in a hotel.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Carol reached into her coat.
Victor raised his weapon.
“Slowly.”
She removed an old photograph.
Two babies.
One in Sofia Romano's arms.
One in Carol's.
Hannah stared.
“Who are they?”
Carol looked at her.
“You.”
Hannah's world shifted.
“And the other?”
Carol turned toward Victor.
“Your sister.”
Victor frowned.
“My sister is dead.”
Carol shook her head.
“No, Victor.”
Silence.
“Your father lied.”
Victor's hand tightened around the gun.
“My father had two daughters?”
“One disappeared.”
“Who?”
Carol looked toward the storage entrance.
Fear suddenly crossed her face.
“We need to leave.”
Victor heard it too.
Footsteps.
Many.
His men should have been outside.
Victor touched his radio.
“Status.”
Static.
Hannah grabbed Mia.
Victor moved toward the door.
Then every light in the facility shut off.
Mia whimpered.
Hannah held her.
Emergency lights activated.
Red illumination filled the corridor.
A man appeared outside Unit A-17.
Victor aimed.
The man raised both hands.
Luca.
“Don't shoot.”
Victor's finger tightened.
“You have nerve coming here.”
“You're being set up.”
“By whom?”
Luca looked at Carol.
“Ask her.”
Carol stepped backward.
Luca pointed.
“She knows who ordered Antonio's murder.”
Victor looked between them.
Carol whispered, “He's lying.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“Tell him about Elena.”
Carol's face changed.
Hannah noticed.
Victor did too.
“Who's Elena?”
Neither answered.
Victor raised the gun.
“I won't ask again.”
Luca looked directly at Hannah.
“Elena Romano was Victor's sister.”
Hannah felt Carol grip her hand.
“And,” Luca continued, “she didn't disappear.”
Victor stared.
Luca's next words landed like a blade.
“She became Carol Brooks.”
Hannah slowly turned toward her mother.
Carol's eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
Victor's face became completely still.
Hannah whispered, “Mom?”
Carol stepped backward.
Then another voice came from behind them.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Familiar to Victor.
“Her name isn't Carol.”
Victor turned.
A silhouette stood inside the doorway.
The man stepped into the red light.
Victor's gun slipped downward by an inch.
Because the man standing there had been buried two years earlier.
May you like
Antonio Romano smiled at his brother.
“Hello, Victor.”
