Chapter 3 - The Blackout
Vincent reached the hallway before Carlo.
"Marco!"
No response came through the earpiece.
Static.
Emergency lights failed to activate.
That meant sabotage.
Vincent drew the compact handgun hidden beneath his jacket and ran toward the stairs.
"Lily!"
Another scream.
Then silence.
Dr. Hale had taken her to the east guest suite.
Vincent crossed the second-floor corridor in seconds.
The door stood open.
Hale lay unconscious beside the bed.
Blood ran from his temple.
Lily was gone.
Vincent checked Hale's pulse.
Alive.
"Marco!"
Footsteps thundered from the staircase.
Marco appeared with two guards.
"Communications are down."
"They took Lily."
Marco's expression sharpened.
"From inside?"
"Obviously."
They searched.
Window locked.
Balcony empty.
Service door at the end of the corridor had been forced.
Vincent followed it into the narrow staff staircase.
At the bottom, one guard found a white ribbon from Lily's apron.
Vincent picked it up.
His hands stayed steady.
His voice did not.
"Seal the property."
Marco stared at him.
"Nobody gets out."
"We already—"
"Nobody."
Marco nodded.
Vincent returned to Hale.
The doctor was regaining consciousness.
"Who?"
Hale blinked.
"A woman."
"What woman?"
"Staff uniform."
"Face?"
"Didn't see it."
"What happened?"
"She said you sent her for Lily. Then someone hit me."
Vincent stood.
Inside job.
Again.
His phone came back online.
A message waited.
NOW YOU'RE LISTENING.
Vincent typed:
SHE'S FOUR YEARS OLD.
Response:
SHE'S ALSO THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN OPEN WHAT HER MOTHER STOLE.
Vincent frowned.
A child could not open a file.
Unless—
Biometrics?
Family identification?
Something Elena had built around Lily?
He returned to the study.
Carlo waited there.
Vincent grabbed him by the lapels.
"What is Lily?"
Carlo stared.
"A child."
"Wrong."
"Vincent—"
"They said she's the only person who can open what Elena stole."
Carlo's face tightened.
"I don't know."
Vincent shoved him back.
"You've lied for thirteen years."
"I am not lying now."
"Then think."
Carlo did.
Finally he said, "Elena once mentioned a trust."
"What trust?"
"Something Rose created."
Vincent froze.
"Rose knew Elena?"
"I believe so."
"Before Elena worked here?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Vincent paced once.
Pieces were moving toward one another.
Elena had not simply come to investigate Rose.
She had known her.
Possibly worked with her.
"What did Rose create?"
Carlo swallowed.
"A dead man's switch."
Vincent stopped.
"What kind?"
"Your father's archive."
Of course.
"If anyone tried to destroy it?"
"Copies went out."
"To who?"
"I don't know."
"And Lily opens it?"
"I didn't know Lily was involved."
Vincent believed that much.
Marco entered.
"We found the power interruption."
"Where?"
"Basement control room."
"Who accessed it?"
Marco held up an access card.
"Your fiancée."
Vincent stared.
"Isabella?"
"The system logged her card at 5:12."
"Where is she now?"
"Missing."
Carlo muttered something under his breath.
Vincent looked at him.
"What?"
"I warned your father about the Romanos."
"Isabella isn't her father."
"No. She's worse."
Vincent's phone rang.
This time he answered immediately.
A woman's voice spoke.
"You always underestimated me."
Isabella.
Vincent closed his eyes.
"Where is Lily?"
"Safe."
"Put her on."
"No."
"If you've hurt her—"
"I haven't."
"Then what do you want?"
"The archive."
"I don't have it."
"Elena does."
"Then why take Lily?"
"Because Elena won't give us the key."
Vincent looked toward Carlo.
"What key?"
"You'll understand soon."
"Isabella."
A pause.
"Yes?"
"Whatever arrangement exists between our families is over."
She laughed softly.
"Vincent, the arrangement began before either of us was born."
The call ended.
Marco had already started tracing.
"No location."
Vincent looked at the broken name tag again.
R.
What if it didn't mean Rose?
What if it meant Romano?
Or a place?
He turned it beneath the desk lamp.
Scratch marks caught the light.
Not one letter.
Two.
R-7.
"Marco."
His security chief leaned closer.
"R-seven."
Carlo's eyes widened.
Vincent saw it.
"You know."
Carlo looked away.
Vincent's patience snapped.
"What is R-7?"
"Your father had storage sites."
"Where?"
"Seven was outside the city."
"What was stored there?"
"I never saw it."
"Address."
Carlo hesitated.
Vincent slammed his fist onto the desk.
"Four people have disappeared because everyone in this family keeps deciding silence is safer. Give me the address."
Carlo did.
Thirty-two minutes later, Vincent and Marco stood outside an abandoned textile factory twelve miles north.
R-7.
The building had supposedly been sold eighteen years ago.
Property records showed a shell company.
Moretti-controlled.
Marco's team surrounded it.
"No obvious movement."
Vincent checked his weapon.
"I go first."
"Boss—"
"My sister may be inside."
"Which is why you shouldn't."
Vincent gave him a look.
Marco sighed.
"At least wear a vest."
Vincent did.
They entered through the loading dock.
Dust.
Rust.
Old machinery.
No Lily.
No Elena.
No Rose.
But in a back office, they discovered a bank of new computer equipment humming behind what looked like a wall.
Someone had rebuilt R-7 recently.
Marco walked toward the monitors.
"These are live."
One screen showed security footage from the Moretti mansion.
Vincent's mansion.
Multiple rooms.
Different angles.
Someone had been watching them for months.
Another screen contained folders.
ROSE.
ELENA.
LILY.
VINCENT.
Marco clicked Lily's folder.
Hundreds of photographs appeared.
Daycare.
Playground.
Grocery store.
The estate.
Vincent felt sick.
"They've been following her."
Marco opened Elena's folder.
Messages.
Encrypted files.
Then one video.
The date was six months earlier.
Elena sat in a parked car.
She looked directly into the camera.
"If Vincent ever sees this, it means I failed."
Vincent leaned closer.
"I came to his house because Rose Moretti asked me to."
Carlo had told the truth.
"Rose discovered that Vincent's father built an archive containing evidence against dozens of powerful people. Before she disappeared, she copied everything."
Vincent's pulse hammered.
"She hid the access protocol where nobody would think to look."
Elena swallowed.
"My daughter."
Vincent stared.
"No," Marco whispered.
Elena continued.
"Lily does not contain the files. She doesn't know anything. But when she was an infant, Rose created a biometric encryption key based on a guardian trust in Lily's name. She believed powerful men would never suspect a child."
Vincent's anger grew.
Rose had made Lily valuable.
A target.
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
"If they ever learn the truth, they will come for her."
The video cut.
Marco looked at Vincent.
"We need to move."
A sound came from behind them.
Metal scraping.
Vincent turned.
A hidden door opened in the wall.
A woman stepped through.
Dark hair.
Gray streaks now.
A scar beside her eyebrow.
Vincent forgot how to breathe.
"Rose."
His sister stared at him.
For thirteen years, he had imagined what he would say if the dead could return.
Nothing came.
Rose's eyes filled with tears.
"Vincent."
He took one step.
Then stopped.
"Where is Lily?"
Rose's expression changed.
"I thought she was with you."
Vincent's stomach dropped.
"Isabella took her."
Rose turned pale.
"No."
"You know where?"
"No, but I know who does."
"Who?"
Rose looked toward the screen.
A live feed had appeared automatically.
Lily sat in a chair.
She was crying.
Elena knelt beside her.
Both alive.
A man stepped into frame.
Vincent recognized him.
Not Adrian Cole.
Not Isabella.
Someone Vincent had seen every day growing up.
Someone who had attended his father's funeral.
Someone whose death certificate Vincent himself had signed eleven years earlier.
Vincent moved closer to the monitor.
The man smiled directly into the camera.
May you like
And Vincent whispered:
"Dad?"
