Chapter 6 - Mia’s First Word
The woman called herself Sofia.
Antonio's supposedly dead wife.
Mia's mother.
Mia saw her through the window.
“Mama!”
Hannah barely released her before Mia ran.
Antonio appeared from the medical room and stopped dead.
“Sofia?”
The woman entered.
Mia crashed into her.
Sofia dropped to her knees and sobbed.
For several seconds even Victor couldn't move.
Another dead Romano had returned.
But Sofia's first words were not to her daughter.
She looked at Victor.
“Salvatore knows Hannah turns twenty-eight tomorrow.”
Victor nodded.
“What happens then?”
“The trust becomes irrevocable.”
Hannah stared.
Sofia explained.
Until Hannah's twenty-eighth birthday, Salvatore could challenge the inheritance using an old guardianship provision.
After midnight, Hannah gained permanent control.
Victor checked the clock.
10:17 p.m.
Less than two hours.
“That's why he's coming,” Victor said.
Sofia nodded.
“He needs Hannah alive.”
“That helps.”
“Until she signs.”
Hannah felt cold.
“Signs what?”
“A transfer.”
Victor looked at security.
“Nobody reaches her.”
Sofia stood.
“There's another problem.”
“Of course there is.”
“Salvatore has people inside the house.”
Victor's gaze swept the room.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Victor ordered every employee into the ballroom.
Kitchen staff.
Housekeepers.
Drivers.
Security.
Hannah saw Mrs. Higgins among them.
Victor walked down the line.
“Someone here reports to Salvatore.”
Silence.
“If you tell me now, you walk out alive.”
Nobody moved.
Victor stopped.
Mia suddenly tugged Hannah's sleeve.
She pointed.
Not toward an employee.
Toward a security camera.
Hannah frowned.
“What is it?”
Mia whispered, “Eyes.”
Victor heard.
“What?”
Mia pointed again.
“Bad man... eyes.”
Victor looked at the camera.
Then understood.
The cameras.
Someone wasn't merely receiving reports.
They were watching everything.
Victor ordered the network disconnected.
The screens went black.
A guard approached the control cabinet.
Then an explosion threw him backward.
Chaos erupted.
Victor grabbed Hannah.
Smoke filled the ballroom.
A door opened.
Masked men entered.
Victor's guards fought back.
Hannah dragged Mia behind a marble column.
Sofia crawled toward them.
“Mia!”
Another explosion shattered glass.
Victor disappeared into smoke.
Hannah couldn't see him.
“Mia, stay with me.”
The child squeezed her hand.
A masked attacker appeared.
Hannah grabbed a broken chair leg.
Before he reached her, Mia screamed one word.
“Victor!”
Victor emerged behind the attacker.
One strike.
The man fell.
Victor turned.
Mia ran to him.
This time she didn't stop.
She threw her arms around Victor's waist.
Victor froze.
Then slowly embraced her.
Mia looked up.
“Brother.”
Victor's face crumpled.
Antonio watched from across the room.
Mia had called him brother.
Not uncle.
Because Victor had become the person who stayed when everyone else disappeared.
Victor kissed her hair.
“I've got you.”
Then the grandfather clock began striking eleven.
One hour remained.
A phone rang.
Not Victor's.
Not Hannah's.
The sound came from inside the ballroom wall.
Victor followed it.
A hidden phone had been taped beneath a table.
He answered.
Salvatore.
“One hour, Victor.”
“You're not getting her.”
“I already have what I need.”
Victor looked around.
“What?”
Salvatore laughed.
“Ask Hannah where her mother is.”
Hannah turned.
Elena had disappeared.
“Mom?”
No answer.
Hannah ran toward the corridor.
Victor followed.
Elena's room was empty.
One window open.
A drop of blood on the sill.
Hannah's phone vibrated.
Video message.
She opened it.
Elena sat tied to a chair.
Salvatore stood behind her.
“Bring me the heir.”
Hannah's hands shook.
Victor took the phone.
Salvatore continued.
“Midnight. Romano chapel. Hannah comes alone.”
The video ended.
Hannah looked at Victor.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“She is my mother.”
“That's exactly why you aren't thinking clearly.”
“I've spent my entire life watching her sacrifice everything for me.”
“She also lied to you.”
“And she's still my mother.”
Victor stared at her.
Hannah had spent eleven days obeying him.
That version of her was gone.
“If you lock me in a room, I'll climb out the window.”
“I believe you.”
“Then help me.”
Victor looked toward Mia.
The little girl watched them.
Victor finally nodded.
“We do it my way.”
At 11:42, they reached the old Romano chapel.
Victor's men surrounded the grounds invisibly.
Hannah entered.
Alone.
Salvatore waited beside the altar.
Elena sat bound.
“Sign.”
A contract rested on the altar.
Hannah approached.
“Release her first.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You have Luca's stubbornness.”
“And my mother's patience.”
“Unfortunately.”
Hannah picked up the pen.
11:57.
She signed.
Salvatore smiled.
Then Hannah added three letters beside her signature.
V.R.P.
Salvatore frowned.
“What is that?”
Hannah looked at him.
“Victor Romano Proxy.”
Salvatore's smile vanished.
Victor stepped from behind the altar.
“The trust permits the heir to appoint a proxy before transfer.”
Salvatore raised his gun.
Victor raised his.
Then another weapon clicked behind Victor.
Luca.
Hannah stared.
Luca pointed his pistol directly at Victor.
Salvatore smiled again.
“I told you blood wasn't enough.”
Hannah whispered, “Dad?”
Luca looked at her.
His eyes gave nothing away.
May you like
Midnight began to strike.
And Luca slowly moved his finger onto the trigger...
