Chapter 2 - THE FIRST BULLET
Elena screamed and grabbed Sofia.
Aleandro moved before anyone else did.
He caught them both around the shoulders and drove them behind a marble column.
“Down!”
Another shot shattered one of the tall front windows.
Glass rained across the floor.
“Marco!”
“East lawn!” Marco shouted.
Aleandro pulled a handgun from inside his jacket.
Elena stared at it.
She had worked in his house eight months.
She had seen guards.
Locked rooms.
Black SUVs arriving after midnight.
She had heard whispers.
But seeing the weapon in Aleandro’s hand made every rumor real.
“Sofia, close your eyes,” Elena whispered.
“I’m not scared.”
“Well, I am.”
Another bullet struck the wall.
Aleandro leaned around the column, fired twice, then pulled back.
His face remained calm.
Too calm.
Like violence was simply another part of his morning routine.
“Basement,” he ordered.
Marco nodded.
Two men rushed toward Elena.
She recoiled.
“Don’t touch us!”
“They’re protecting you,” Aleandro said.
“From who?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
“You locked us inside!”
“I locked them outside.”
A third gunshot cracked through the hall.
Aleandro looked at her.
“Move.”
Something in his voice made argument impossible.
Elena lifted Sofia and ran.
Marco guided them through a hidden door behind a wall of books.
The passage beyond was narrow and dim.
Sofia looked over Elena’s shoulder.
“Is Mr. Moretti coming?”
Elena didn’t answer.
She didn’t know why that question hurt.
They reached a reinforced room beneath the estate.
No windows.
Steel door.
Security monitors covering one wall.
Marco locked them inside.
Elena spun toward him.
“My daughter is three years old.”
“I know.”
“She should be watching cartoons right now, not hiding from bullets.”
“I know.”
“Then get us out of here.”
Marco glanced at the monitors.
“Right now, outside is worse.”
One screen showed the east lawn.
Men in dark jackets moved through trees.
Another showed the driveway.
A black SUV had smashed through the outer gate.
Elena’s heart pounded.
“Who are they?”
Marco shook his head.
“Not ours.”
Thirty seconds later, the door opened.
Aleandro entered.
Blood marked his white shirt near the shoulder.
Elena’s eyes widened.
“You’re hurt.”
“Not mine.”
That somehow wasn’t reassuring.
He looked at Marco.
“Three shooters. One dead. Two escaped.”
“Professional?”
“Enough.”
Aleandro walked directly to Elena.
“Tell me everything your mother said before she died.”
Elena laughed once in disbelief.
“You think now is the time?”
“Yes.”
“You’re insane.”
“Probably.”
“She never talked about you.”
“She wouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew better.”
Elena slapped him.
The sound cracked through the bunker.
Marco’s hand moved toward his weapon.
Aleandro lifted one finger.
Marco stopped.
Elena’s chest rose and fell.
“Don’t talk about my mother like that.”
Aleandro slowly turned his face back toward her.
“I loved your mother.”
Elena froze.
Sofia looked between them.
“What does loved mean?”
Neither adult answered.
Aleandro continued.
“Twenty years ago, Isabella disappeared because she discovered something about my family.”
“What?”
“A betrayal.”
“Whose?”
“My father’s.”
Elena shook her head.
“No. My mother lived in Connecticut. She worked at a library. She hated crime shows because they made her nervous. She baked bread every Sunday.”
“And before that?”
Elena opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
She knew almost nothing about Isabella’s life before Elena was born.
Aleandro reached toward Sofia’s necklace.
Elena stepped between them.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“That locket belonged to my mother first.”
Elena stared.
“What?”
“She gave it to Isabella.”
“Why?”
Aleandro’s voice became almost painful.
“Because Isabella was supposed to become my wife.”
Silence.
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“She was pregnant when she disappeared.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Aleandro’s eyes met hers.
“With my child.”
Before Elena could answer, Marco’s phone buzzed.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
“What?”
Marco handed the phone to Aleandro.
A photograph filled the screen.
Elena standing outside a grocery store.
Sofia beside her.
The picture had been taken yesterday.
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Below it was one message:
THE GIRL SHOULD HAVE DIED WITH ISABELLA.
