Chapter 12 - The Room Beneath the Garden
Lorenzo raised his weapon.
Marco shook his head.
“Not this time.”
Leo whimpered weakly.
I stepped forward.
“Where is Lily?”
Marco smiled.
“That is the question that kept you alive.”
“You needed Mason obedient.”
“You needed Dr. Vale silent.”
“And eventually, I knew I might need you.”
“For what?”
“For this child.”
He looked down at Leo.
“Bianca believed killing him would restore the old inheritance.”
“She never understood the real problem.”
“Sofia placed copies of our financial records in a legal trust.”
“If Leo dies unnaturally, the files are released to federal investigators.”
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
“My wife built a trap.”
“She knew you were stealing.”
“She knew everyone was stealing.”
“She could not prove which of us had arranged the attacks on her family.”
“So she tied the evidence to Leo’s survival.”
Marco’s voice grew bitter.
“As long as he lives, we remain free.”
“If he dies by accident or illness, the records remain sealed.”
“That is why you poisoned him slowly,” I said.
“You needed his death to look natural.”
Marco nodded.
“And Clara ruined everything by feeding him.”
“Where is Lily?” I repeated.
Marco looked at Lorenzo.
“Your wife found the baby at St. Agnes.”
“She discovered what Vale had done.”
“She brought Lily to the estate because she planned to expose us.”
“She hid the child in a room beneath the garden.”
Lorenzo stared at him.
“There is no room beneath the garden.”
“Sofia found one your grandfather built during the war.”
“She told only a single housekeeper.”
“Rosa.”
I remembered Rosa.
The elderly woman who had disappeared the morning after the nursery attack.
“She is alive?” I asked.
“She was until yesterday.”
Marco removed a small phone from his pocket.
A video played.
Rosa sat inside a dark room.
Beside her stood a young woman holding a toddler.
The child’s face was hidden against her shoulder.
My heart stopped.
“Lily?”
“The child’s name is Lucia now.”
“She has lived with Rosa’s niece since Sofia died.”
“Why did you not kill her?”
“Because a living secret is more valuable than a dead one.”
He backed toward the station exit.
“You will come with me, Clara.”
“Lorenzo will give me the archive files.”
“Then I will tell you where Rosa is.”
Lorenzo looked at me.
“No.”
Marco pressed the gun closer to Leo.
The baby began crying.
I could hear weakness returning to his voice.
“He needs to eat,” I said.
“He will eat when we arrive.”
“He might not survive the drive.”
Marco hesitated.
That was enough.
Lorenzo fired at the overhead light.
Darkness covered the corridor.
I dropped to the floor.
Two more shots exploded.
Leo cried.
A body struck the lockers.
Emergency lights switched on.
Marco was gone.
Lorenzo stood near the exit with blood running from his arm.
Leo remained in Marco’s grasp as he disappeared into a waiting car.
We ran outside.
The car sped away.
Lorenzo’s guards followed in black vehicles.
I climbed into Lorenzo’s car.
He tried to push me back out.
“You are injured.”
“So are you.”
“My son needs you.”
“And my daughter may be at the same place.”
He released the door.
We followed the convoy north.
Marco’s vehicle abandoned the highway and entered a private road.
The road ended at the Rossi estate.
“He came back?” I asked.
Lorenzo stared toward the mansion.
“He never left the one place he controlled.”
The garden behind the mansion had been torn open.
A stone staircase descended beneath the roses.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
Leo’s cries came from behind it.
So did the sound of a little girl singing.
May you like
I recognized the melody.
It was the lullaby I had sung every night while Lily was inside me.
