Chapter 12 - THE FATHER WHO RAN
Clara nearly collapsed.
Alessandro caught her before she struck the wall.
“No.”
Her voice came out as a whisper.
“Emma was safe.”
Don Ricci’s expression remained grim.
“Vittorio’s men attacked the medical convoy.”
“What happened to the guards?”
“Three are dead.”
“And Daniel?”
“He surrendered.”
Clara pulled away from Alessandro.
“He surrendered again.”
“He had Emma with him,” Don Ricci said.
“He may not have had a choice.”
“He always has a choice.”
The words sounded cruel.
Clara knew it.
She also knew she was terrified.
Vivian laughed from the floor.
“My father finally did something useful.”
Alessandro turned toward her.
“Where would he go?”
She smiled through the pain.
“You expect me to help?”
Clara walked toward her.
“You said he intended to replace you with your brother.”
Vivian’s smile disappeared.
“Help us stop him, and he loses everything.”
“He already lost everything.”
“No.”
Clara crouched.
“He has Emma.”
Vivian looked into her eyes.
For a moment, neither woman spoke.
Clara understood Vivian did not care about Emma.
But she cared deeply about defeating her father.
“The old silk mill,” Vivian said.
“Outside Monza.”
Alessandro looked toward Marco.
He was conscious and bound near the wall.
Marco nodded reluctantly.
“Vittorio built a private vault beneath it.”
“How many men?”
“Twenty.”
“Entrances?”
“Three.”
“Traps?”
“Many.”
Clara looked at Alessandro.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“She is my daughter.”
“And you can barely lift your arm.”
“I have another one.”
“This is not a negotiation.”
Clara stepped closer.
“You do not command me.”
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“You tried that at the villa.”
“And failed.”
The admission stopped her.
Alessandro’s voice lowered.
“I promised Emma I would try.”
“So did I.”
Their eyes held.
Don Ricci sighed.
“She goes.”
Alessandro turned.
The old man lifted one shoulder.
“If you leave her behind, she will steal a car and follow us.”
Clara nodded.
“I will.”
Alessandro looked irritated because he knew it was true.
They left the theater through the underground loading dock.
Vivian was taken to a private clinic under armed guard.
Marco remained in Don Ricci’s custody.
Before entering the vehicle, Marco looked at Clara.
“Vittorio will force Daniel to open the vault.”
“What is inside?”
“The Romano reserve.”
“Money?”
“Money, passports, evidence, and enough political secrets to collapse half the city.”
“Why does he need Emma?”
“The cipher opens the digital accounts.”
Clara’s hands tightened.
“She does not understand what she knows.”
“He does not need her to understand.”
“He only needs her to sing.”
The convoy drove north through the rain.
Alessandro sat beside Clara.
Don Ricci traveled in the lead car.
Marco was chained in the vehicle behind them.
Clara held the repaired rabbit.
One of the theater medics had closed its chest with rough black thread.
It looked wounded.
But whole.
“Daniel hid a message in the recording,” Alessandro said.
Clara looked at him.
“What message?”
“The pauses.”
“He paused because he was afraid.”
“No.”
Alessandro took out his phone.
“I listened again while we drove.”
“The gaps between sentences form numbers.”
He showed her the sequence.
“Coordinates.”
Clara stared.
“Where?”
“The silk mill.”
“He knew this would end there.”
“He suspected it.”
“Why didn’t he tell us?”
“Because Father Matteo was listening when he made the recording.”
Clara leaned back.
Every one of Daniel’s choices contained another hidden layer.
It exhausted her.
“Do you trust him?” Alessandro asked.
“I do not know him.”
“You married him.”
“I married the man he allowed me to see.”
Rain moved across the window.
Clara looked at Alessandro.
“Do people ever truly know you?”
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
“Not even your brother?”
“Luca knew more than most.”
“What happened to him?”
Alessandro remained silent for several seconds.
“He discovered my father had signed Circle agreements.”
“He wanted to expose everything.”
“My father begged him to wait.”
“Luca refused.”
“Three days later, his helicopter failed.”
Clara looked toward him.
“And you did nothing.”
“I did what Daniel did.”
“You pretended to cooperate.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Nine years.”
Clara understood the isolation behind his composure.
He had spent nearly a decade smiling at people he suspected of murdering his brother.
“Did you know Vivian was involved?”
“I suspected Vittorio.”
“Not her?”
“She was twenty-two.”
“That did not make her innocent.”
“No.”
Regret entered his voice.
“It made me underestimate her.”
The convoy stopped half a mile from the silk mill.
The abandoned building rose beyond a field of dead grass.
Broken windows reflected the storm.
A rusted chimney disappeared into the clouds.
Alessandro divided the guards into three teams.
Don Ricci would take the eastern entrance.
Marco would guide the southern team through the loading tunnels.
Alessandro and Clara would approach from the river.
“You are placing Marco near armed men?” Clara asked.
“He has a tracker beneath his skin.”
Marco heard her.
“And if I betray you?”
Alessandro checked his pistol.
“Don Ricci shoots you before you finish the sentence.”
Marco almost smiled.
They moved through the wet grass.
Clara’s shoulder burned.
She ignored it.
Near the river wall, they found fresh tire tracks.
One vehicle had entered through a hidden gate.
Alessandro opened it with Marco’s code.
They descended into darkness.
Voices echoed ahead.
Vittorio stood inside a circular vault chamber.
Emma sat on a metal table.
Daniel stood beside her with a pistol pressed to his back.
The twelve account seals lay across a console.
Vittorio held a microphone near Emma’s mouth.
“Sing the song.”
Emma shook her head.
Vittorio smiled.
“Your mother is dead.”
Emma’s eyes filled with tears.
Daniel lunged.
The guard behind him struck his injured shoulder.
He fell.
Vittorio turned back to Emma.
“Sing.”
A sound came from the dark passage.
Clara stepped into the chamber.
“She knows you’re lying.”
Emma’s face lit.
“Mommy!”
Every weapon turned toward Clara.
Vittorio smiled.
“Perfect.”
May you like
He aimed his pistol at Emma.
“Now the mother can teach the child to obey.”
