Chapter 2 - The Room Behind the Wall
Matteo moved before Nora understood what the sound meant.
He stepped between her and the wall.
“Behind me.”
The command was quiet.
Absolute.
Nora pulled her hand from John's and instinctively covered her stomach.
The antique panel beside the fireplace shifted inward.
A narrow black opening appeared.
Matteo reached beneath his jacket.
Nora saw the gun only for a second.
“Mr. Moretti—”
“Stay with my father.”
The panel opened wider.
Nobody emerged.
Matteo approached.
He looked inside.
Then his expression changed.
“What is it?” Nora whispered.
“A corridor.”
Gable stood near the door.
“I've never seen that before.”
Matteo looked back at her.
“You've managed this house for fourteen years.”
“This mansion is more than a century old.”
“And somehow a surveillance camera aimed at my father connects to a secret corridor you know nothing about?”
“I don't.”
John struck the wheelchair arm.
Once.
Twice.
Matteo turned.
John pointed at Gable.
Then toward the hallway.
Nora understood first.
“He wants her out.”
Gable laughed nervously.
“That's absurd.”
John struck the arm again.
Matteo opened the bedroom door.
“Leave.”
“Matteo—”
“Now.”
It was the first time Nora heard him use her first name.
Evelyn.
Not Mrs. Gable.
The housekeeper's face hardened.
She walked out.
Two security men arrived seconds later.
Matteo ordered them to keep her downstairs.
Then he entered the hidden corridor.
Nora stayed beside John.
Minutes passed.
Finally Matteo returned carrying a small metal box.
Dust covered the lid.
But the lock was new.
“What's inside?” Nora asked.
“I don't know.”
John did.
His breathing quickened.
Matteo noticed.
“Dad?”
John pointed toward Nora.
“Me?” she asked.
He nodded.
Matteo placed the box on the table.
Inside were photographs.
Dozens.
Nora feeding John.
Nora opening his curtains.
Nora carrying firewood.
Nora sitting beside him reading the newspaper aloud.
Every photograph had been taken without her knowledge.
Her skin went cold.
“Someone has been watching me.”
Matteo turned through the pictures.
Dates were printed along the bottom.
The earliest was from Nora's first week.
Before she had ever entered Room 4B.
One photograph showed her arriving at the employee entrance.
Another showed her leaving a prenatal clinic.
Another showed her buying groceries.
Nora stopped breathing.
“That isn't here.”
Matteo looked at her.
“What?”
“That picture.”
She pointed.
“That's in town.”
His expression darkened.
Someone had followed her.
Nora backed away.
“Why?”
Matteo didn't answer.
He found an envelope beneath the photographs.
Inside was a background report.
NORA BENNETT.
Her previous address.
Her employment history.
Her debts.
Brody's name.
And her pregnancy.
Matteo read one line twice.
“What?”
Nora reached for it.
He hesitated before handing it over.
At the bottom was a handwritten instruction.
KEEP HER EMPLOYED UNTIL THE CHILD IS BORN.
Nora's knees weakened.
“No.”
Matteo caught her elbow.
She pulled away.
“Don't.”
“Nora.”
“Why would anyone care about my baby?”
“I don't know.”
“You own this house.”
“And I'm telling you I don't know.”
John began making a strained sound.
They turned.
He pointed toward the papers.
Then himself.
“You know?” Nora asked.
John nodded.
Matteo crouched beside him.
“Dad, who brought her here?”
John struggled.
His lips moved.
“B…”
“Brody?” Nora whispered.
John blinked.
Then shook his head.
“B…”
A violent cough interrupted him.
Nora immediately grabbed water.
Matteo watched her support John's head.
For the first time, he noticed how exhausted she looked.
Not fragile.
Exhausted.
There was a difference.
“You need to sit down,” he said.
“I am sitting.”
“You know what I mean.”
“My shift isn't finished.”
“Your shift is over.”
Fear flashed across her face.
“You said I wasn't fired.”
“You aren't.”
“Then—”
“I'm telling you to rest.”
Nora stared.
“I can't afford unpaid hours.”
Matteo's expression shifted.
“You're worried about losing three hours of wages while someone has been photographing you?”
“Yes.”
The answer silenced him.
She looked embarrassed.
“I don't have your kind of choices.”
Matteo said nothing.
John watched both of them.
Then he slowly reached for the photographs.
His hand stopped on one.
Nora beside a bus stop.
A man stood across the street.
His face was blurred by distance.
But Nora recognized the jacket.
Her blood turned cold.
“Brody.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Your ex?”
“Yes.”
“You've seen him recently?”
“No. He disappeared.”
“How long?”
“Almost seven months.”
Matteo picked up the photograph.
The date was three weeks earlier.
Brody had not disappeared.
He had been watching her.
That evening, the mansion changed.
Matteo ordered every member of staff assembled.
Phones were collected.
Security logs were reviewed.
The hidden cameras were traced.
There were eleven.
All in the east wing.
All connected to a private recording system.
Someone had deleted most of the files.
But not all.
Nora sat with John in the library while Matteo investigated.
“You knew,” she whispered.
John looked at her.
“You knew someone was watching.”
He blinked.
“Were you trying to protect me?”
His fingers moved toward hers.
Nora felt tears sting her eyes.
She had spent months believing she was completely alone.
Yet this elderly man—trapped in a wheelchair, unable to speak—had somehow been trying to warn her.
“You shouldn't have had to protect anybody.”
John's mouth moved.
“Fam…”
“Family?”
He nodded.
Nora smiled sadly.
“My family is about to weigh seven pounds and probably scream all night.”
John almost smiled.
Then the library doors opened.
Matteo entered.
His expression told Nora something was wrong.
“What did you find?”
“The cameras weren't installed by Gable.”
Nora exhaled.
“Then who?”
“My father.”
She stared at him.
John did not react.
Matteo placed a document on the table.
“Five years ago.”
Nora looked at John.
“You installed them?”
He nodded.
“Why?”
Matteo answered.
“Because before his stroke, my father believed someone inside this house was stealing from the family.”
“How much?”
“Money wasn't the problem.”
“What was?”
“Information.”
Matteo sat opposite her.
“My father built businesses. Legitimate ones and…” He paused. “Others. Over the years, he collected evidence against people who thought they could betray him.”
Nora understood the careful wording.
“Your family really is Mafia.”
Matteo almost smiled.
“That's what people call us.”
“And what do you call yourselves?”
“Complicated.”
Despite everything, Nora laughed.
John made a soft sound that might have been amusement.
Then Matteo became serious.
“The recordings weren't meant to watch my father. They were meant to watch everyone around him.”
“So why are there pictures of me?”
“That part I don't know.”
John tapped the table.
Three times.
Matteo leaned closer.
“What?”
John pointed toward Nora's stomach.
Then toward Matteo.
Nora's heart jumped.
“No.”
Matteo frowned.
“What is he saying?”
John tried to speak.
“Baby…”
Nora stiffened.
“What about my baby?”
John's eyes filled with urgency.
“Not…”
His voice failed.
“Not what?”
A knock interrupted them.
Matteo's security chief entered.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found Brody Hale.”
Nora stood so quickly she became dizzy.
“Where?”
The man looked at her.
“On the property.”
Silence.
Matteo rose.
“How did he get inside?”
“We don't know.”
“Where is he now?”
The security chief hesitated.
“He isn't alone.”
Nora's hand covered her stomach.
“With who?”
The man looked toward John.
Then back at Matteo.
“With Mrs. Gable.”
A phone began ringing inside the library.
Not Matteo's.
Not Nora's.
The hidden black phone.
Matteo picked it up.
The screen displayed a live video.
Brody stood in the basement.
Beside him was Evelyn Gable.
And behind them was a door Nora had never seen.
Brody looked directly into the camera.
May you like
Then he smiled.
“Bring Nora downstairs,” he said. “It's time she learns who her baby's father really worked for.”
