Chapter 6 - The Price of Opening a Door
For a moment, I wanted to open it.
That was the ugliest part.
I knew what Marco was.
I knew what waited on the other side.
But grief doesn’t care what you know.
It hears a dead man’s name and reaches for the handle.
Rosa put her hand over mine.
“Look at your daughter.”
Emma’s cheek rested against my shoulder.
Her tiny fingers were twisted in my collar.
I stepped back.
“If you have something,” I called, “play it.”
Silence.
Then a recording began through the door.
Daniel’s voice.
“I’m not signing for a load I never checked.”
My knees weakened.
Another man spoke, farther from the microphone.
“You’re paid to drive.”
“I’m paid to deliver refrigerators. Those crates aren’t refrigerators.”
The recording stopped.
I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood.
Marco said, “There’s more.”
“What happened to him?”
“Come outside.”
Lorenzo pushed himself upright.
“Leave her alone.”
Marco laughed.
“You can barely stand.”
“And you still won’t open the door yourself.”
That silence felt different.
I looked at Lorenzo.
He had understood something.
Marco didn’t know how many doors stood between us. He didn’t know if Lorenzo had a weapon.
For the first time all night, uncertainty belonged to him.
Rosa lifted a panel behind the stacked towels.
Beyond it was a low maintenance opening.
“Kitchen access,” she whispered. “The latch broke years ago.”
I kissed Emma’s forehead.
“Go with Rosa.”
“No.”
“I’m right behind you.”
She searched my face.
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
Rosa crawled through first. I passed Emma into her arms.
Lorenzo followed with a sound he tried to swallow.
I went last.
Marco hit the door.
“Nora!”
We crawled into a narrow service corridor smelling of dust and warm pipes.
Behind us, the linen-room lock cracked.
We reached the kitchen.
Through the far window, blue lights flashed beyond the gates.
Police.
I rushed toward the loading entrance.
Rosa caught my arm.
A security monitor showed Marco’s men speaking to an officer outside.
Vittoria stood beside them in a dark coat, one hand pressed to her chest.
A caption beneath the gate camera read AUDIO ON.
Her voice came through.
“Our maid has taken my injured brother hostage.”
May you like
Then she looked directly into the camera.
“And I’m afraid she may hurt her little girl.”
