Chapter 3 - THE DEAD MAN AT THE DOOR
Sophia watched the footage eleven times.
Each time, the impossible remained impossible.
Raymond Chen.
Her father's closest friend.
Her unofficial uncle.
The man who taught her to ride a bicycle.
The man whose funeral Sophia had attended four years earlier.
Alive.
Taking Marie.
“Find him,” Alessandro ordered.
Dante was already moving.
Sophia grabbed her coat.
Alessandro blocked the doorway.
“Move.”
“No.”
“That’s my aunt.”
“And this is exactly what Vale expects.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
She shoved his chest.
He didn't move.
“Stop deciding everything for me!”
His voice hardened.
“If you walk outside these gates tonight, I may not be able to bring you back alive.”
“Then come with me.”
The words stopped him.
Sophia swallowed.
“You keep saying I'm your wife.”
His face tightened.
“Legally.”
“Then start acting like a husband instead of a prison guard.”
Dante suddenly became extremely interested in his phone.
Alessandro stared at Sophia.
“What do you want?”
“The truth. All of it.”
“You'll get it.”
“And I help find Marie.”
“No.”
“Then I'll leave alone.”
His eyes narrowed.
She held his gaze.
Finally Alessandro exhaled.
“You stay beside me.”
“I don't take orders.”
“Tonight you do.”
“Then tonight we're getting divorced.”
Dante coughed.
Alessandro ignored him.
An hour later, Sophia sat in the operations room beneath the estate.
Maps covered one wall. Computer screens displayed traffic cameras, bank transfers, property records.
This wasn't a wealthy man's security office.
It was a command center.
Sophia looked at Alessandro.
“What exactly do you do?”
“Things you don't want explained tonight.”
“That sounds comforting.”
“It wasn't intended to.”
Dante enlarged the footage.
Raymond's vehicle had traveled south before disappearing beneath an underpass.
Then another camera caught it.
Heading toward the abandoned St. Agnes Hospital.
Sophia's stomach tightened.
Her father had died there.
“Why that hospital?”
Alessandro looked at her.
“Because this isn't only about Marie.”
Twenty minutes later, three SUVs entered the hospital grounds.
Alessandro made Sophia wear a bulletproof vest.
“This weighs twenty pounds.”
“Good.”
“How is that good?”
“Bullets weigh less.”
She stared at him.
“That might be the least reassuring thing anyone has ever said.”
Something almost resembling a smile touched his mouth.
It disappeared quickly.
Inside the hospital, water dripped through the ceiling.
Sophia stayed between Alessandro and Dante as armed men swept the corridors.
They found Marie on the third floor.
Alone.
Tied to a chair.
“Sophia!”
Sophia ran toward her.
Alessandro caught her waist.
“Wait.”
A guard checked the room.
“No explosives.”
Sophia rushed forward.
Marie sobbed against her shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
Sophia cut the ropes.
“Where's Raymond?”
Marie went still.
“Who?”
“Raymond.”
Her aunt's eyes changed.
Only slightly.
But Alessandro noticed.
He crouched.
“Marie.”
She looked away.
“You've been paying gambling debts for nine years,” he said. “Except you haven't gambled in five.”
Sophia stared at her.
“What?”
Marie began crying harder.
“I'm sorry.”
Sophia stepped backward.
“What did you do?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“Your father made enemies.”
“I know.”
Marie looked at Alessandro.
“You told her?”
“Enough.”
“No,” Sophia said. “Not enough. Apparently everyone knows my life except me.”
Marie covered her face.
“Raymond came to me after your father died. He said Vale would kill you unless I cooperated.”
“Cooperated how?”
“The debts.”
Sophia's stomach dropped.
“You pretended?”
“Some were real at first.”
“You let me work myself sick!”
“I needed Vale to believe you had nothing!”
Sophia stared at her.
“For six years?”
“I didn't know who to trust.”
“You could have trusted me.”
“You were eighteen!”
“I’m twenty-four now!”
Marie flinched.
Sophia's anger collapsed into hurt.
“You watched me skip meals.”
“I know.”
“You watched me give up college.”
“I know.”
“And you said nothing.”
Marie whispered, “Because Raymond said if you ever learned what you owned, you'd be dead within twenty-four hours.”
A metallic click echoed down the corridor.
Alessandro moved instantly.
“Down!”
Gunfire erupted.
Sophia hit the floor.
Alessandro covered her.
Dante fired toward the doorway.
One attacker fell.
Another vanished behind the stairwell.
Then silence.
Alessandro touched his earpiece.
“Status.”
Voices answered.
One guard injured.
Two attackers dead.
A third escaped.
Sophia looked toward Marie.
Her chair was empty.
The window behind it stood open.
“Marie?”
Sophia ran forward.
A rope descended from the window.
Marie had escaped.
Or been extracted.
Something lay on the floor.
An envelope.
Sophia picked it up.
Alessandro reached for it.
“Don't.”
She opened it herself.
Inside was an old photograph.
Her father stood beside Raymond.
Beside them stood Alessandro's father, Vittorio Caruso.
And Lucien Vale.
Four men.
Smiling like friends.
On the back, someone had written:
ASK YOUR HUSBAND WHICH FATHER ORDERED YOURS KILLED.
Sophia looked at Alessandro.
He had gone pale.
“You recognize this.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“This photograph was taken twenty-five years ago.”
“And?”
“My father, your father, Raymond, and Vale weren't enemies.”
“What were they?”
Alessandro looked at the four smiling men.
“Partners.”
Sophia felt cold.
“Did your father kill mine?”
“No.”
“You answered too quickly.”
“Because I've spent six years proving he didn't.”
“Proving?”
Alessandro closed his eyes briefly.
“My father was blamed for your father's murder.”
“By whom?”
“Me.”
Sophia stared.
Alessandro's voice lowered.
“I believed it too.”
Until the elevator at the end of the corridor dinged.
Everyone turned.
The doors opened.
Raymond Chen stepped out.
No weapon.
No fear.
He looked directly at Sophia.
“Your husband is telling the truth.”
Sophia's pulse hammered.
Raymond smiled sadly.
“Vittorio Caruso didn't kill your father.”
May you like
He raised his hands.
“Alessandro did.”
