Chapter 7 - The Ledger Beneath Her Skin
Mara ran.
Dante caught her around the waist before she reached the elevator.
"Let me go!"
"No."
"That's my mother!"
"And that's what he expects you to do."
She fought him.
His injured leg almost gave way.
Elena grabbed Mara's shoulders.
"Mara."
"Move."
"Look at me."
Mara did.
Elena's eyes were steady.
"I spent three years being moved from room to room because Alessandro knew Dante would destroy himself trying to reach me."
Dante looked away.
Elena continued.
"He uses people we love to control us."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Make him lose control."
Isabella approached the elevator panel.
"I can get us to the lower level."
"How?" Marco asked.
"Lucia taught me."
She removed the panel.
Behind it were three hidden switches.
Dante looked at Mara.
"Your mother really did run this hospital."
Despite herself, Mara almost laughed.
Isabella pressed two switches simultaneously.
The display changed.
B1.
Then B2.
Then 9.
The hidden floor.
They entered.
Dante took Mara's hand.
She looked down.
He immediately released it.
"Sorry."
"No."
She caught his hand again.
"Just don't try stopping me."
"I'll make no promises."
The elevator descended.
When the doors opened, no one was there.
A corridor stretched toward a surgical theater.
Lights glowed behind frosted glass.
Mara recognized voices.
Lucia.
Alessandro.
She moved forward.
Dante stopped her with one finger against his lips.
Marco and Isabella took side corridors.
Elena stayed behind Dante.
Mara approached the glass.
Inside, Lucia sat restrained on an operating table.
Alessandro stood beside her.
Two men in surgical gowns prepared instruments.
Mara felt nausea.
They intended to operate.
On her.
Dante whispered, "We need them away from Lucia."
Mara stared at her mother.
"Let me go in."
"No."
"They need me alive."
"Until they don't."
"I can keep him talking."
Dante shook his head.
Mara looked directly at him.
"Trust me."
He hated it.
She could see that.
But finally he nodded.
Mara opened the door.
Every head turned.
Lucia's face collapsed.
"No."
Alessandro smiled.
"My daughter."
Mara entered.
"Don't call me that."
"Biology disagrees."
"Biology doesn't make you my father."
His expression hardened slightly.
Good.
She had found the ego.
"You look like your mother."
"I hope so."
"You have my eyes."
"I'll apologize to the mirror later."
One surgeon looked nervous.
Alessandro smiled.
"You inherited her mouth."
"Untie her."
"No."
"Then I'm leaving."
He raised the gun toward Lucia.
"You won't."
Mara stopped.
Lucia whispered, "Baby, don't."
Mara's eyes filled.
Eighteen months.
She had buried an empty coffin.
"Why did you fake your death?"
Lucia looked ashamed.
"To keep him from finding you."
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"You could have trusted me."
"I wanted you to have a life."
Alessandro interrupted.
"Touching."
Mara looked at him.
"What do you want?"
"You know."
"The ledger."
"Yes."
"You think it's inside me?"
"I know it is."
Mara slowly touched the scar.
"What if Lucia lied?"
Alessandro's eyes flicked toward Lucia.
"She lies frequently."
"So do you."
He smiled.
"Get on the table."
"No."
His gun moved toward Lucia.
Mara climbed onto the second table.
Lucia cried.
"Mara, don't."
"It's okay, Mom."
"No, it isn't."
One surgeon approached.
Mara recognized him.
Dr. Harrison Wynn.
Chief of surgery.
The man who had signed Lucia's death certificate.
"You," Mara whispered.
He wouldn't look at her.
Alessandro said, "Dr. Wynn has served us for many years."
Mara understood.
The network wasn't hidden outside St. Aurelia.
It was built inside it.
Wynn prepared an anesthetic.
Mara said, "No sedation."
He frowned.
"What?"
"If you're cutting something out of me, I stay conscious."
Alessandro laughed.
"Still stubborn."
"No sedation."
"Why?"
"Because I don't trust you."
"Reasonable."
Alessandro gestured.
Wynn set the syringe aside.
That was exactly what Mara wanted.
A conscious patient created unpredictability.
Time.
Dante needed time.
Wynn lifted her scrub top enough to expose the scar.
Lucia turned away.
"Please."
Mara looked at her.
"Mom."
Lucia turned back.
"I love you."
Lucia sobbed.
"I love you too."
The overhead lights went out.
Darkness.
Mara rolled from the table.
Gunfire exploded.
She hit the floor.
Someone grabbed her.
She elbowed backward.
"It's me," Elena whispered.
Emergency lights appeared.
Dante crossed the room.
Marco tackled one surgeon.
Isabella fired at the second man's leg.
Alessandro dragged Lucia from the table.
He pressed the gun against her neck.
"Stop!"
Everyone froze.
Alessandro backed toward a rear door.
"Drop the weapons."
Dante aimed.
"No."
"Dante."
"You're not leaving."
"You shoot, Lucia dies."
Mara stood.
"Take me."
Dante snapped, "No."
Alessandro smiled.
"Finally, someone sensible."
Mara stepped forward.
"You want the ledger. She's useless."
Lucia shook her head.
"Mara."
"It's okay."
Alessandro released Lucia and grabbed Mara instead.
The gun pressed against her ribs.
Dante's face became terrifying.
"If you hurt her—"
"What? You'll kill your father?"
"Gladly."
Alessandro moved backward through the door.
Mara went with him.
The door slammed.
Dante ran.
Locked.
He fired.
Nothing.
Alessandro dragged Mara through an underground tunnel.
"Walk."
She did.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere private."
"For surgery?"
"For extraction."
"You built all this?"
"Your mother helped."
Mara felt anger.
"Don't blame her."
"Lucia was brilliant. Unfortunately, she developed a conscience."
They reached a room with another operating table.
No other staff.
Mara noticed.
"Who's performing the surgery?"
Alessandro smiled.
"I studied medicine before business became more profitable."
Of course.
He pushed her onto the table.
"Lie down."
Mara obeyed.
He cuffed one wrist.
Then the other.
"Do you know why Lucia hid the ledger inside you?"
"Because nobody would search a baby."
"Exactly."
He prepared instruments.
Mara kept him talking.
"What happened to Elena?"
"She became inconvenient."
"You kidnapped her."
"Vittorio arranged it."
"Isabella?"
"She was supposed to die."
"But didn't."
"A recurring family weakness."
"And my mother?"
"Lucia disappeared before I could find her."
"Until tonight."
"Until she foolishly contacted Dante."
Mara smiled faintly.
"What?"
"You've made one mistake."
Alessandro paused.
"Only one?"
"You keep thinking my mother acts alone."
His expression changed.
A sound came from the air vent.
Three knocks.
Slow.
Isabella's knock.
Mara smiled.
Alessandro raised his gun.
The vent exploded outward.
Marco fired.
Alessandro ducked.
Mara pulled against the cuffs.
Dante entered through the opposite door.
Nobody understood how.
Later, Mara would learn Lucia had shown him another passage.
At that moment, she only saw his face.
Alessandro pointed toward Mara.
Dante fired first.
The bullet struck Alessandro's shoulder.
He spun.
His gun discharged.
Pain exploded through Mara's side.
Dante screamed her name.
Alessandro fled.
Marco chased him.
Dante reached Mara.
Blood spread across her scrubs.
"No."
"I'm okay."
"You're bleeding."
"I noticed."
He tore open gauze.
Mara looked toward the door.
"Go."
"No."
"He's escaping."
"I don't care."
"Yes, you do."
He pressed pressure against the wound.
Her vision blurred.
"Mara."
"Listen."
"No."
"Listen."
His eyes met hers.
"End it."
Dante shook his head.
"I'm not leaving you."
Elena arrived with Lucia.
Lucia screamed when she saw the blood.
"Baby!"
She took over pressure.
Mara looked at Dante.
"Go."
Lucia said, "I'll keep her alive."
Dante hesitated.
Then kissed Mara's forehead.
A brother's kiss.
Something she had never had.
"I'll come back."
He stood.
Elena joined him.
Together they disappeared into the tunnel.
Mara closed her eyes.
Lucia worked.
"Stay with me."
"I'm here."
"You always were stubborn."
"Genetic."
Lucia laughed through tears.
Then Marco shouted from somewhere beyond the corridor.
"DANTE!"
Gunfire erupted.
One shot.
Two.
Then silence.
Mara opened her eyes.
Lucia froze.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Heavy.
A shadow appeared under the operating-room door.
The handle moved.
Lucia reached for the fallen gun.
May you like
The door opened.
And someone covered in blood stepped inside.
