Chapter 4 - The Photograph Behind the Wall
Victor fired.
The bullet struck concrete beside Antonio's head.
Hannah screamed.
Antonio didn't move.
“Try again,” he said.
Victor stared at the man he had watched being placed into a coffin.
“You're dead.”
“Obviously not.”
Mia stepped from Hannah's side.
Victor grabbed her.
But Mia had already seen him.
Her face transformed.
“Daddy?”
The word destroyed the room.
Antonio's smile disappeared.
Mia ran.
Victor tried to stop her, but Hannah caught his wrist.
“Wait.”
Antonio dropped to his knees.
Mia crashed into him.
He held her.
For the first time, Victor saw his supposedly dead brother cry.
But Carol looked terrified.
“Get her away from him.”
Hannah turned.
“What?”
“Now.”
Antonio raised his head.
“Elena.”
Carol flinched.
Hannah stared at her.
“Is that your name?”
Carol said nothing.
Victor looked at Antonio.
“Explain.”
Antonio stood slowly with Mia in his arms.
“The bomb wasn't meant to kill me.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“It was meant to make everyone believe I was dead.”
“Sofia?”
Antonio's face broke.
“That wasn't supposed to happen.”
Victor crossed the distance and punched him.
Mia screamed.
Antonio fell.
Victor grabbed his collar.
“My sister-in-law died!”
“I know.”
“You let Mia believe both her parents were dead!”
“I was trying to keep her alive!”
Victor hit him again.
Hannah stepped between them.
“Stop!”
Both men froze.
Not because Hannah was physically capable of stopping them.
Because Mia was crying.
Victor released Antonio.
Antonio wiped blood from his mouth.
“The conspiracy went deeper than we knew. Police. Judges. People inside our own organization.”
“Luca?”
Antonio looked at him.
“No.”
Luca exhaled.
Victor didn't lower his weapon.
Antonio continued.
“Luca helped me disappear.”
Victor turned on Luca.
“You knew?”
“After the funeral.”
“You let me grieve him.”
“I was protecting Mia.”
Victor laughed without humor.
“You people keep saying that.”
Antonio looked at Hannah.
“But Hannah was never supposed to come here.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Hannah frowned.
“I applied for a job.”
“No,” Antonio said. “Someone made sure your application reached Victor's estate.”
“Who?”
Antonio looked at Carol.
“Elena.”
Carol closed her eyes.
Hannah stepped away from her mother.
“You sent me here?”
“I needed you close to Victor.”
“Why?”
“Because the people hunting this family had found me.”
Hannah stared.
“So you used me?”
“To save you.”
“You lied to me my entire life.”
Carol's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Victor interrupted.
“What is Hannah?”
Carol looked at him.
The question sounded cruel.
But everyone understood.
Why had Sofia watched Hannah?
Why had Antonio kept records?
Why had someone brought Hannah into Victor's home?
Carol reached beneath her shirt.
She removed a necklace.
A gold Romano crest.
Victor recognized it immediately.
His father had given identical necklaces to his children.
Victor had one.
Antonio had one.
Elena had one.
Carol held hers out.
“I am Elena Romano.”
Victor stared at the sister he'd believed dead for twenty-eight years.
“You disappeared when I was six.”
“I was taken.”
“By whom?”
“Our father.”
Victor shook his head.
“That makes no sense.”
“He discovered I was pregnant.”
Hannah stopped breathing.
Victor looked at Hannah.
Carol nodded.
“Hannah is my daughter.”
Silence.
Hannah felt the floor disappear beneath her.
Victor's niece.
She was Victor Romano's niece.
Not by blood through Antonio.
Through Elena.
Victor stared at Hannah.
Then at Elena.
“Who is her father?”
Elena's expression changed.
Antonio whispered, “That's the part nobody wanted Victor to know.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Who?”
A gunshot erupted.
Antonio jerked.
Blood appeared across his shoulder.
Victor shoved everyone down.
More gunfire tore through the storage unit.
“Back exit!”
Luca overturned the table.
Victor returned fire.
Hannah dragged Mia behind the boxes.
Elena crawled toward Antonio.
“Stay down!”
Victor spotted movement through the doorway.
Black tactical clothing.
Not his men.
Someone had infiltrated the facility.
Antonio pointed toward the rear wall.
“Panel!”
Victor kicked it.
A hidden passage opened.
They escaped through it.
Minutes later they emerged in an abandoned garage.
Victor called his remaining loyal guards.
“Bring the cars.”
Antonio leaned against the wall.
His wound wasn't fatal.
Hannah stared at Elena.
“You're really his sister?”
“Yes.”
“And I'm—”
“Yes.”
Hannah looked toward Victor.
He seemed equally shaken.
Eleven days ago she had been his maid.
Now she was family.
But one question remained.
“My father.”
Elena looked away.
“Tell me.”
“Hannah—”
“Tell me.”
Elena began to answer.
Then Antonio grabbed Victor.
“Not here.”
Victor noticed headlights outside.
Three black SUVs.
His security?
No.
Victor drew his gun.
The vehicles stopped.
Doors opened.
Men surrounded the garage.
A tall older man stepped from the middle vehicle.
Silver hair.
Walking cane.
Victor stared at him.
Elena whispered, “Oh God.”
Hannah looked between them.
“Who is that?”
Victor's face turned white.
Because he knew the man.
Everyone in the Romano family knew him.
There were portraits of him throughout the mansion.
His funeral had been held twelve years earlier.
Victor raised his weapon.
The old man smiled.
“Put the gun down, son.”
Hannah turned toward Victor.
May you like
Victor could barely speak.
“Father?”
