Chapter 2 - THE GIRL BENEATH THE HOUSE
“Mom!”
Megan threw herself toward the open coal shaft.
Sebastian caught her around the waist before she could lean too far into the darkness.
“Lily!”
Her daughter screamed again.
This time the sound came from below and slightly to the east.
Not Union Station.
Not somewhere across Chicago.
Inside the estate.
Megan twisted in Sebastian’s grip.
“She’s here.”
“I know.”
“You said your men went to my apartment.”
“They did.”
“Then Daniel brought her here.”
Sebastian released her only after she stepped back from the shaft.
His face had gone completely still.
That frightened Megan more than anger would have.
He turned toward one of the two security men waiting near the office door.
“Lock the gates.”
The man nodded.
“Nobody leaves.”
Sebastian pointed toward the second guard.
“Find the generator controls. Vanessa cut the main power, but the security system has an independent battery.”
“What about police?”
Megan asked it before she could stop herself.
Sebastian looked at her.
“If you want them called, they get called.”
She hesitated.
Lily had been taken from school through forged paperwork.
A child had been threatened.
This had gone far beyond whatever private war existed inside the Rinaldi family.
“Yes.”
Sebastian nodded once.
“Call them.”
That surprised her.
She had expected resistance from a man whose name carried rumors through half of Chicago.
Instead, he pulled his phone out and handed it to his security chief.
“Tell them exactly what happened. No editing.”
Then he looked toward the shaft.
“But we find Lily before anyone gets here.”
Megan pressed both hands over her mouth.
Another sound came from below.
Metal scraping.
Then a child’s voice.
“Mom?”
“I’m here, baby!”
“It's dark.”
Megan’s throat closed.
Sebastian crouched beside the opening.
“Lily?”
Silence.
“My name is Sebastian. Your mom is right here with me.”
A small sniff.
“The tattoo man?”
Despite everything, Megan almost laughed.
Sebastian looked at her.
She nodded.
“She saw your picture on the staff Christmas card.”
From below, Lily whispered, “Mom said you look scary.”
Sebastian glanced at Megan.
Under any other circumstances, she might have wanted the floor to swallow her.
Instead he leaned toward the shaft.
“Your mom was right. But I’m helping her tonight.”
A faint voice answered.
“Okay.”
Sebastian’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
“Lily, can you see anything?”
“A little red light.”
“Anything near you?”
“A chair.”
“Are your hands tied?”
“No.”
“Can you walk?”
“I think so.”
“Good. Don’t move yet.”
Megan grabbed Sebastian’s forearm.
“She’s alone.”
“No.”
His gaze dropped to the coal cable.
“It moved after Vanessa spoke.”
Someone had operated it.
Someone was still down there.
They reached the old basement service corridor through a stairwell behind the kitchen.
Sebastian went first.
Megan followed despite three different people telling her to remain upstairs.
Nobody tried a fourth time.
The basement smelled of stone, damp wood, and something faintly metallic.
The emergency lights painted everything red.
Sebastian stopped at an iron door.
Fresh scratches marked the lock.
“This hasn’t been opened in years.”
He pushed.
Locked.
One of his security men raised a tool.
Sebastian shook his head.
“Wait.”
Megan stared at the door.
Then she saw it.
Black dust beneath the frame.
She touched the wall beside it.
“There.”
A narrow brass plate had been painted over.
Sebastian scraped it clean.
An old mechanical button appeared.
He pressed it.
Somewhere inside the wall, gears shifted.
The iron door opened three inches.
Megan pulled it wider.
“Lily!”
Her daughter sat on a wooden chair at the far end of the narrow room, clutching her purple backpack.
Megan ran.
Lily hit her hard enough to nearly knock her backward.
Megan dropped to her knees despite the pain and wrapped both arms around her.
“Oh, baby.”
“I didn’t know Uncle Daniel.”
Megan froze.
“What?”
“He said he was Uncle Daniel.”
Lily buried her face against Megan’s neck.
“He said you sent him.”
Sebastian had stopped several feet away.
“Did he hurt you?”
Lily shook her head.
“He gave me apple juice.”
Megan checked her wrists, her face, her neck.
No bruises.
No marks.
“Did Vanessa come here?”
Lily looked toward Sebastian.
“The pretty lady?”
“Yes.”
“She yelled at Uncle Daniel.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“What did she say?”
Lily thought.
Children never remembered the sentence adults wanted.
They remembered strange pieces.
“She said… ‘You weren’t supposed to bring her here.’”
Sebastian and Megan exchanged a look.
That mattered.
Vanessa had threatened Lily.
But Daniel had apparently changed the plan.
“Then what?” Megan asked.
“Uncle Daniel said trains had cameras.”
Union Station.
He had refused to take Lily there.
That meant Vanessa and Daniel were not moving together anymore.
The alliance was cracking.
Sebastian searched the room.
A paper cup.
A folding chair.
An old wool coat hanging from a nail.
A child’s drawing lay on the floor.
Megan picked it up.
It showed three stick figures.
One was Megan.
One was Lily.
The third was a tall man with black arms.
Sebastian stared at it.
“That’s you,” Lily said.
“I figured.”
“You need more fingers.”
He looked down.
She had drawn him with three.
“I’ll work on it.”
Megan almost smiled.
Then Sebastian noticed the coat.
He pulled it from the nail.
Dark brown.
Heavy.
Old.
Inside the lining was an embroidered name.
ISABELLA R.
Sebastian stopped breathing.
“My mother’s.”
He reached into one pocket.
Nothing.
The other.
His hand came out holding a silver bracelet.
Megan’s stomach dropped.
A tiny oval charm hung from it.
Engraved into the metal were two initials.
M.C.
Sebastian looked at Megan.
“Your initials.”
“I've never seen that.”
Lily leaned over.
“That looks like Grandma’s.”
Megan turned.
“What?”
“My grandma has one like that.”
Megan’s mother, Evelyn, lived forty minutes away in Oak Park.
She almost never wore jewelry.
Except one bracelet.
Silver.
Old.
With a missing charm.
Megan felt cold.
Sebastian noticed.
“What is it?”
“My mother has this bracelet.”
He stared at her.
“You’re sure?”
“She’s had it my whole life.”
Sebastian opened his palm again.
The charm trembled slightly against his skin.
Megan’s mind returned to Vanessa’s words.
A photograph.
Twenty-two years old.
Megan hidden with Isabella’s records.
“Sebastian…”
Footsteps sounded beyond the corridor.
His security men turned.
Daniel Rinaldi appeared beneath the red emergency light.
Sixty-eight years old.
Gray hair.
Expensive navy suit.
No weapon.
No Vanessa.
He raised both hands.
Megan immediately stood in front of Lily.
Sebastian moved between Daniel and them.
“You took a child.”
Daniel looked past him.
“I brought her here to keep Vanessa from taking her somewhere else.”
“You forged Megan’s signature.”
“Yes.”
“You terrified an eight-year-old.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
There was no excuse in his voice.
That made Megan pause.
Sebastian stepped closer.
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t break every bone in your hand.”
“Because Vanessa has already left for Union Station.”
Sebastian stopped.
Daniel continued.
“And if she opens Locker 118 before you do, your mother’s last chance to tell you the truth disappears.”
“You filed the petition.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to have me declared incompetent.”
“Yes.”
Megan stared at him.
Daniel seemed neither proud nor frightened.
Sebastian’s voice became deadly quiet.
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Isabella’s coat in his nephew’s hands.
Then at Megan.
“Because Vanessa believes the petition gives her access to the trust.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“No.”
Sebastian frowned.
Daniel swallowed.
“It gives me access.”
“We know.”
“You know half.”
Daniel pointed toward the bracelet.
“Your father changed the emergency clause six weeks before he died.”
Sebastian’s face hardened.
“To what?”
“If I activate it, I don’t gain control permanently.”
Daniel looked directly at Megan.
“I become custodian until Isabella’s designated beneficiary appears.”
Megan shook her head.
“This has nothing to do with me.”
Daniel’s eyes lowered to the silver charm.
“Megan.”
He sounded tired now.
“Your mother never told you where that bracelet came from?”
“No.”
Daniel closed his eyes for one brief second.
When he opened them, there was grief there.
Not fear.
“Then Evelyn kept her promise longer than I thought she would.”
Megan’s heartbeat began pounding in her ears.
“What promise?”
Daniel looked at Sebastian.
“Locker 118 was never meant for you alone.”
Then he looked at Megan.
“It was meant for both of you.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
Daniel answered with six words.
“Because Isabella Rinaldi was Megan’s godmother.”
May you like
And Lily, still holding her mother’s hand, whispered:
“Mom… who’s Isabella?”
