Chapter 8 - The Girl Who Came Back
“Alexander!”
He fell against me.
His breathing became sharp.
Shallow.
Wrong.
Gas continued filling the room.
Gabriel kicked the door.
Nothing.
Eleanor smashed a chair against the window.
Reinforced glass.
Margaret searched the cabinets.
“Emergency oxygen!”
“This place has been abandoned for years!” I shouted.
Alexander gripped my wrist.
“Isabella.”
“Don't talk.”
“Mia.”
“She is safe.”
“Keep her—”
“You're going to tell her yourself.”
He almost smiled.
Then coughed violently.
I searched his pockets again.
No inhaler.
Someone had taken it.
Margaret stared.
“I didn't.”
“I don't care!”
I wanted to hate her.
Maybe I did.
But hatred couldn't open the door.
Gabriel fired at the lock.
Metal sparked.
Still closed.
Eleanor found an old fire axe.
Together, she and Gabriel attacked the hinges.
The gas thickened.
My vision blurred.
Then the speaker activated.
Vincent.
“Alexander, can you hear me?”
Alexander looked up weakly.
“You always believed power meant people feared you.”
Vincent laughed.
“Your father believed the same thing.”
Alexander tried to stand.
I held him.
Vincent continued.
“But fear isn't power.”
“Control is.”
Margaret screamed at the speaker.
“You promised Nicholas would live!”
Alexander's head snapped up.
“What?”
Margaret realized her mistake.
Vincent laughed.
“Oh, Margaret.”
Alexander stared at his mother.
“You knew he planned to kill Nicholas?”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“I thought he was going to send him away.”
Alexander's face hardened.
“You traded one son for another.”
“No!”
“You haven't changed.”
Margaret began crying.
Then every light went out.
The gas stopped.
Emergency alarms sounded.
The locks clicked.
Gabriel ripped the door open.
“MOVE!”
We dragged Alexander into the hallway.
Fresh air.
Not enough.
His lungs were closing.
“We need medication!”
Then footsteps came from the stairwell.
Daniel appeared.
With Nicholas.
And behind them...
Mia.
I almost lost my mind.
“MIA?”
She ran toward me.
I grabbed her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I brought this.”
She held up a blue inhaler.
Alexander's spare.
The one she had told him he needed.
I stared.
“How?”
Nicholas answered.
“She refused to stay.”
“That is not an explanation!”
Daniel crouched beside Alexander and administered the medication.
Within seconds, Alexander's breathing began improving.
Mia watched him.
“Told you.”
Alexander managed a weak smile.
“Two.”
She nodded seriously.
“Two.”
I hugged her so tightly she complained.
“Mom. Breathing.”
I loosened my grip.
“How did you find us?”
Mia pointed at Daniel.
“He came.”
Daniel explained.
After discovering Margaret's involvement, he retrieved Nicholas and went to secure Mia.
But Vincent's men attacked the location.
Mia recognized one of them.
“The man from the mansion,” she said.
“What man?”
“The driver.”
Daniel nodded.
“He led us here.”
Alexander slowly stood.
“Where's Vincent?”
“Below us.”
Nicholas looked toward the elevator.
“Basement.”
Gabriel checked his weapon.
“We finish it.”
Alexander stopped him.
“No.”
Gabriel looked surprised.
Alexander turned toward Daniel.
“Police?”
“Already coming.”
That surprised everyone.
Nicholas smiled.
“You called police?”
Alexander looked at Mia.
“I'm trying something new.”
For the first time, I realized Alexander didn't want another Romano family execution.
He wanted the cycle to end.
Then Margaret disappeared.
One moment she stood behind us.
The next she was gone.
“Where's my mother?”
Daniel cursed.
We searched.
A stairwell door swung closed.
Alexander followed.
“Wait!”
Too late.
We descended.
Basement.
Dark corridors.
Old operating rooms.
Then we heard voices.
Margaret.
Vincent.
“You lied to me.”
Vincent laughed.
“I've lied to you for forty years.”
We reached the boiler room.
Vincent stood beside an open service tunnel.
Margaret faced him.
Gun raised.
Alexander stepped into view.
“Put it down.”
Both turned.
Vincent smiled.
“There he is.”
Margaret's hand shook.
Alexander looked at her.
“Don't.”
“He destroyed our family.”
“So did you.”
Pain crossed her face.
“Alexander.”
“If you shoot him, you don't fix anything.”
Vincent laughed.
“Listen to him. Anthony would be ashamed.”
Alexander looked at his uncle.
“My father is dead.”
“Because he was weak.”
“No.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“Because he trusted family.”
Vincent raised his weapon.
Daniel shouted.
Gunfire exploded.
Margaret fell.
Alexander fired.
Vincent disappeared into the tunnel.
“Mom!”
Alexander dropped beside Margaret.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
Alive.
She grabbed his hand.
“Go.”
He hesitated.
“Go!”
Alexander ran after Vincent.
Gabriel followed.
So did Daniel.
I stayed with Margaret.
Then I heard another sound.
A child's footsteps.
I turned.
Mia was gone.
“Mia?”
Nothing.
My heart stopped.
“MIA!”
I ran toward the tunnel.
May you like
And from somewhere in the darkness, Vincent's voice echoed:
“Looking for your daughter, Isabella?”
