Chapter 13 - The Daughter Behind the Steel Door
I ran down the stairs.
Lorenzo caught me before I reached the door.
“It could be trapped.”
“My daughter is inside.”
“So is my son.”
“We enter together.”
A keypad glowed beside the steel frame.
Four numbers were required.
Lorenzo tried Sofia’s birthday.
The screen flashed red.
He tried Leo’s birth date.
Red again.
I listened to the little girl singing.
The lullaby stopped.
A tiny voice spoke through the door.
“Rosa?”
My knees weakened.
“Lily?”
Silence answered.
Then the child began crying.
“Rosa, the bad man came back.”
I pressed both hands against the steel.
“Sweetheart, my name is Clara.”
“I am here to help you.”
Marco’s voice came through the speaker.
“She does not know you.”
The pain of those words nearly crushed me.
Lorenzo studied the keypad.
“Sofia created the code.”
“She would choose something Marco could not guess.”
I looked at the engraving on Lily’s hospital bracelet.
The identification number contained four final digits.
I entered them.
The light turned green.
Lorenzo stared at me.
“Sofia used Lily’s hospital number.”
“She wanted me to find her.”
The door unlocked.
We entered a narrow underground room.
Rosa lay near the wall with her hands tied.
She was alive.
A young woman huddled beside her.
A little girl clung to the woman’s dress.
Brown hair framed her face.
My eyes.
Mason had been right.
She had my eyes.
Everything inside me broke open.
“Lily.”
The little girl hid behind the woman.
“My name is Lucia.”
I stopped moving.
The young woman looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“I am Elena.”
“Rosa is my aunt.”
“Sofia asked us to protect her.”
“Is she my daughter?”
Elena nodded.
I covered my mouth.
Lily was alive.
She had taken her first steps without me.
Spoken her first word without me.
Cried for another woman when she was frightened.
But she was alive.
Marco stood at the far end of the room.
Leo was strapped to a table beside him.
A tube ran from a clear bag toward the baby’s arm.
Lorenzo raised his gun.
Marco held a switch.
“The room is lined with fuel.”
“If I release this button, everything burns.”
Lorenzo lowered his weapon.
“What do you want?”
“The files.”
“They are already with federal investigators.”
Marco’s face changed.
Lorenzo continued.
“Bianca’s confession was transmitted.”
“Mason’s ledger was copied.”
“Vale’s archive has been secured.”
“You have nothing left.”
Marco laughed.
“I have both children.”
I stepped toward Leo.
His face looked gray.
“What is in the bag?”
“A final dose.”
“You said you needed him alive.”
“I did.”
“Until Lorenzo destroyed the bargain.”
The monitor beside Leo slowed.
I looked at Lorenzo.
“He is dying.”
Marco held out his free hand.
“Give me your gun.”
Lorenzo placed it on the floor and kicked it forward.
Marco smiled.
“Now kneel.”
Lorenzo lowered himself to his knees.
The most feared man in the country knelt without hesitation for his child.
Marco stepped away from Leo to collect the weapon.
Rosa moved.
Despite her bound hands, she kicked the fuel container beside her.
Liquid spilled across the floor.
Marco turned.
Elena pulled Lily behind the wall.
I ran toward Leo.
Marco raised Lorenzo’s gun.
Lorenzo lunged from the floor.
They crashed into the table.
The switch flew from Marco’s hand.
His finger released the button.
A spark ignited beneath the ceiling.
Flames raced along the wall.
I tore the tube from Leo’s arm and lifted him.
Lorenzo struck Marco and reached for the fallen switch.
The steel door began closing.
“Lorenzo!”
“Take the children!”
“I am not leaving you.”
“Clara, go!”
Elena carried Lily toward the exit.
Rosa stumbled behind her.
I held Leo against my chest and reached the doorway.
The steel door continued descending.
May you like
Lorenzo remained inside with Marco.
Then the flames covered both men.
