Chapter 2 - The Name Nobody Spoke
Vincent moved Lily behind him.
Carlo stopped three steps outside the door.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Carlo Moretti was sixty-three and had helped run the family after Vincent's father's death. He wore expensive gray suits, drank one glass of bourbon every evening, and believed panic was a weakness for other men.
Yet now his right hand trembled.
Vincent noticed.
"Say that again."
Carlo recovered too slowly.
"I said nothing."
"You said the child wasn't supposed to hear something."
"I misspoke."
Vincent stepped closer.
"About Rose?"
Carlo's eyes flickered.
That was enough.
"Take Lily to Dr. Hale," Vincent told Marco through his earpiece.
Lily grabbed Vincent's jacket.
"No."
He looked down.
"I need to talk to someone."
"You're coming back?"
"Yes."
"You promised Mommy."
The reminder struck him strangely.
He crouched.
"I remember."
Lily reluctantly released him.
Dr. Hale took her hand.
Vincent waited until they disappeared inside.
Then he looked at Carlo.
"Where is Elena Carter?"
"I have no idea."
"Wrong answer."
"I don't."
"You knew why Lily was outside."
"No."
"You knew what she heard."
Carlo's mouth tightened.
"Vincent, this is not the place."
"Then pick one."
"The office."
They went inside.
Vincent deliberately chose his father's old study rather than his own.
Carlo noticed.
Good.
Vincent closed the door.
"Rose."
Carlo walked toward the windows.
"Your sister is dead."
"So I've been told."
"You attended her funeral."
"I attended a closed-casket funeral."
Carlo turned.
"She died in the fire."
"I was seventeen. I believed what my father told me."
"And now?"
"Now my maid vanished after someone attacked her daughter. Someone wrote Rose's name in blood. You walk outside and immediately know the child heard something."
Carlo's expression hardened.
"You are connecting things that have nothing to do with one another."
Vincent reached into his pocket.
He placed Elena's broken name tag on the desk.
"Then explain the R."
Carlo's gaze dropped to it.
Silence.
Vincent continued.
"Explain why Elena was threatened."
Nothing.
"Explain why someone tried to take Lily."
Carlo finally said, "There are matters within this family you were protected from."
Vincent laughed once without humor.
"Protected?"
"Yes."
"By lying to me?"
Carlo's jaw tightened.
"By keeping you alive."
That stopped Vincent.
"From who?"
Carlo looked toward the door.
Vincent followed his gaze.
"Nobody's listening."
"You cannot know that."
Vincent stared at his uncle.
For the first time, Carlo did not look secretive.
He looked afraid.
"Who are you afraid of?"
Carlo whispered, "Your father made enemies."
"My father has been dead eleven years."
"Dead men leave debts."
"And sisters?"
Carlo's face changed.
Vincent saw it.
"You know something."
Carlo crossed toward the desk.
"Vincent, listen carefully. Elena Carter was not hired by accident."
Vincent's pulse slowed.
"What does that mean?"
"She came here looking for something."
"Rose?"
Carlo said nothing.
Vincent grabbed his arm.
"Answer me."
"Let go."
"Where is Elena?"
"I don't know."
"Who took her?"
Carlo looked directly into Vincent's eyes.
"Possibly the same people who took Rose."
Vincent released him.
The room suddenly felt colder.
"You said Rose died."
"I said you were told Rose died."
The distinction hit like a fist.
Vincent stepped back.
"Is she alive?"
"I don't know."
"That's not enough."
"It's all I have."
"Then start at the beginning."
Carlo's eyes dropped.
"Your father had a second operation."
"What operation?"
"Information."
Vincent frowned.
"He collected leverage. Judges. Police commissioners. Executives. Politicians. Criminal families. Anyone powerful enough to threaten the Morettis."
"Blackmail."
"Insurance."
"Same thing."
Carlo continued.
"Rose discovered it."
Vincent remembered his sister at nineteen.
Laughing.
Stubborn.
Always opening doors she was told to leave closed.
"What happened?"
"She confronted your father."
"And?"
"Three nights later, the east warehouse burned."
Vincent knew the story.
Rose had supposedly visited the warehouse.
There had been an explosion.
Her body had been too badly burned for viewing.
"I was shown dental records."
"Prepared by a doctor your father paid."
Vincent stared at Carlo.
"You knew?"
"Afterward."
"And you let me bury an empty coffin?"
Carlo's voice broke.
"I believed she was dead too."
Vincent wanted to hit him.
Instead he asked, "What does Elena have to do with this?"
"She contacted me six months ago."
Vincent froze.
"You knew her before she worked here."
"Yes."
"What did she want?"
"Access."
"To what?"
"Your father's archives."
Vincent laughed bitterly.
"You planted a stranger in my house."
"I helped a woman search for the truth."
"Without telling me."
"You weren't ready."
Vincent slammed his palm on the desk.
"Stop deciding what I'm ready for."
Carlo fell silent.
A knock came.
Marco entered without waiting.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We checked every camera."
"And?"
"The laundry corridor lost video at 3:58."
"How?"
"Manual override."
"Who has access?"
"You. Me. Carlo. Security operations."
Vincent looked at his uncle.
Carlo shook his head immediately.
"I did not touch the cameras."
Marco continued.
"There's more."
"Of course there is."
"A vehicle left the west gate at 4:11."
"I ordered the estate locked at 4:49."
"Before that."
"Who?"
"The plate belongs to kitchen supply."
"And?"
"It wasn't the kitchen vehicle."
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
"Driver?"
"Camera caught him."
Marco handed over his phone.
Vincent studied the frame.
A man wearing a baseball cap drove a white van.
His face was partially visible.
Carlo looked.
Then swore.
Vincent turned.
"You know him."
Carlo sank into a chair.
"His name is Adrian Cole."
"Who is he?"
"He worked for your father."
"Doing what?"
Carlo looked at Vincent.
"Making problems disappear."
Vincent handed the phone back.
"Find the van."
Marco nodded.
"And Marco."
"Yeah?"
"Alive."
Marco understood.
He left.
Vincent returned his attention to Carlo.
"Why would Cole take Elena?"
"Because she found something."
"What?"
"I don't know."
Vincent's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
He opened the message.
A photograph loaded.
Elena Carter sat tied to a wooden chair in a dark room.
Her lip was split.
But she was alive.
Vincent's blood went cold.
A second message appeared.
DON'T INVOLVE POLICE.
A third arrived immediately.
THE MAID STOLE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO YOUR FATHER.
Vincent typed:
WHAT?
The reply came instantly.
NOT WHAT.
WHO.
Then another photograph loaded.
Vincent stared at it.
A woman stood beside Elena.
Her face was partly hidden by shadow.
Older now.
But unmistakable.
Same eyes.
Same small scar beside the eyebrow from falling off a bicycle when she was twelve.
Vincent whispered her name.
"Rose."
Carlo stood behind him.
"Oh, God."
Vincent zoomed in.
The woman held a newspaper bearing today's date.
Alive.
His sister was alive.
Then the phone rang.
Unknown caller.
Vincent answered.
No greeting.
A man's voice said, "Bring the child."
Vincent became motionless.
"No."
"If you want Elena and your sister alive—"
"You touch either woman and I'll—"
"You still don't understand."
The caller laughed softly.
"We don't want the maid."
Vincent stared toward the doorway through which Lily had disappeared.
"We want her daughter."
The line went dead.
May you like
A second later, the lights in the entire mansion went out.
And somewhere upstairs, Lily screamed.
