Chapter 4 - The Man at the North Door
The basement passage was narrow enough that Luca's shoulders nearly touched both walls.
He moved first.
Owen and Ben followed Rebecca.
Hannah stayed near Patricia.
Elisabetta walked behind them with surprising speed for a woman in her seventies.
Every thirty feet, weak emergency lights glowed near the floor.
“How many secret passages does this house have?” Hannah whispered.
Luca didn't turn.
“Apparently more than I have bedrooms.”
Patricia said, “Vittorio rebuilt sections during the eighties.”
“And nobody thought to mention it?”
“He didn't build them for family convenience.”
The corridor sloped upward.
Rebecca leaned against the wall.
Luca noticed instantly.
“You need to stop.”
“No.”
“You can barely stand.”
“My sons are in this tunnel.”
His jaw tightened.
“Our sons.”
Rebecca met his eyes.
The correction hurt both of them.
Luca stepped closer.
“What did they do to you?”
“Later.”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
“Luca, if you want me alive long enough to explain, later.”
He accepted it.
Barely.
Patricia stopped at a metal ladder.
“This opens behind the wine cellar.”
Luca climbed first.
Before pushing the hatch, he listened.
Nothing.
He drew a pistol Hannah hadn't realized he carried.
Rebecca noticed Hannah looking.
“He carries one even to charity dinners.”
Luca glanced down.
“Not helping.”
For one second, something almost human passed between them.
A remnant of marriage.
Then it disappeared.
He lifted the hatch.
The wine cellar was empty.
They climbed out one by one.
Luca checked his phone.
Signal.
He called Marco.
No answer.
Then another number.
“Dante.”
A man's voice answered immediately.
“Boss.”
“Lock down the property. Nobody leaves.”
“Already moving. Marco called before his line went dead.”
“How many?”
“Unknown. Cameras went dark seven minutes ago.”
“Police?”
A pause.
Luca rarely involved police in family matters.
This was no longer a family matter.
“Call Detective Hale.”
Rebecca looked surprised.
Luca ended the call.
“You trust a cop?”
“I trust one.”
The wine cellar door suddenly opened.
Luca raised the gun.
Celeste stumbled through.
Blood ran down her temple.
Ben hid behind Rebecca.
Celeste saw him.
Her face broke.
“Ben.”
Luca kept the weapon trained on her.
“Where's Marco?”
“Library.”
“Alive?”
“I think so.”
“Who came in?”
Celeste looked at Patricia.
Then Hannah.
“Michael Russo.”
Patricia closed her eyes.
Hannah felt the floor tilt.
“You know him?”
Celeste laughed weakly.
“Unfortunately.”
Luca's voice remained flat.
“Start talking.”
Celeste looked at him.
“I've been waiting ten years for you to ask the right question.”
“You could have spoken ten years ago.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they had Ben.”
Rebecca moved toward her.
“You had Ben.”
Celeste didn't defend herself.
“Yes.”
“You kept my child underground.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca slapped her.
The sound cracked through the cellar.
Celeste accepted it without moving.
“You deserve worse,” Rebecca said.
“I know.”
“Then why?”
Celeste looked at Ben.
“Because underground was the only place Bellini didn't control.”
Luca frowned.
“You expect me to believe you imprisoned him to protect him?”
“No.”
Celeste's voice broke.
“I expect you to hate me.”
Ben peeked around Rebecca.
Celeste looked at him.
“I told him he was sick because if he believed the outside world would kill him, he wouldn't try to run.”
Rebecca looked disgusted.
“You terrified a child.”
“I kept him alive.”
“For ten years?”
“For three.”
That changed something.
Luca caught it.
“Where was Ben before that?”
Celeste looked at Elisabetta.
The old woman said nothing.
“Elisabetta had him.”
Luca turned toward his mother.
“You knew he existed?”
“For three years.”
“You told me nothing.”
“I was trying to find Rebecca.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“You knew exactly where I was.”
“Not after Bellini moved you.”
Hannah's attention kept drifting toward the stairs.
Michael.
Her biological father.
Somewhere above them.
Luca noticed.
He handed Rebecca his second phone.
“Stay here.”
Hannah looked at him.
“Where are you going?”
“To meet your father.”
“My father is Daniel.”
Luca nodded once.
“Then I'm going to meet Michael.”
Hannah surprised herself.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“He came here for me.”
“Exactly.”
“You don't get to decide.”
Luca stared at her.
Under normal circumstances, few people spoke to him that way.
Hannah no longer cared.
“My mother is alive. My biological father is apparently attacking the house where I work. I was photographed in this family's arms as a baby. I'm finished being the last person told about my own life.”
Patricia whispered, “Hannah.”
“No.”
She turned on her.
“You don't get to protect me with silence anymore.”
Patricia had no answer.
Luca finally said, “You stay behind me.”
Hannah hated that she felt grateful.
They left the cellar.
The mansion seemed unnaturally quiet.
No staff.
No security.
A chandelier glowed above the main hall.
On the floor near the library entrance lay two spent shell casings.
Luca crouched.
“Suppressed weapon.”
Hannah barely understood the significance.
He did.
They entered the library.
Marco sat against a bookcase, conscious but pale.
Dante knelt beside him.
Luca approached.
“Where are they?”
Marco pointed toward the French doors.
“Three men. One older. He knew the camera blind spots.”
“Michael?”
“Called himself that.”
Hannah stepped closer.
Marco looked at her.
“He asked if Hannah Brooks still worked here.”
A voice came from the dark terrace.
“I don't need to ask anymore.”
Luca raised his gun.
A man stepped into the doorway.
Late forties.
Maybe fifty.
Tall.
Dark hair streaked with silver.
He had Luca's eyes.
Not similar.
The same.
Hannah forgot to breathe.
The man looked at her with something like grief.
“Hello, Hannah.”
She stood behind Luca.
“Michael?”
His mouth tightened.
“I haven't used that name in years.”
Luca aimed at his chest.
“Then give me the current one.”
“Gabriel Ross.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
He knew that name.
Everyone in New Jersey business circles did.
Gabriel Ross owned private security firms, logistics companies, and a chain of rehabilitation hospitals.
A legitimate empire.
At least publicly.
“You're Bellini,” Luca said.
“No.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I've spent twenty-nine years trying to destroy Bellini.”
Hannah laughed bitterly.
“By breaking into a house with armed men?”
“They weren't mine.”
Luca didn't lower his weapon.
“Convenient.”
Gabriel looked at the bullet holes in the wall.
“I came through the north gate alone. Bellini's people followed me.”
“Why come at all?”
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
“Because Patricia called me.”
Hannah turned.
Her mother had followed them from the cellar.
Patricia looked stricken.
“I didn't.”
Gabriel frowned.
“You sent the photograph.”
“What photograph?”
He removed his phone.
On the screen was the old image of newborn Hannah in Rebecca's arms.
Beneath it was a message:
SHE KNOWS. COME BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Patricia stared.
“I never sent that.”
Luca took the phone.
The message came from Patricia's old number.
The number Hannah remembered from childhood.
A number disconnected twelve years ago.
Gabriel said, “Someone wanted me here.”
Luca looked toward the ceiling.
A trap.
The realization came too late.
Every light in the mansion shut off.
Owen screamed somewhere below.
Luca turned toward the cellar.
Then emergency lights flashed red.
A mechanical voice sounded through the mansion.
FIRE SUPPRESSION ACTIVE.
Metal shutters began dropping over doors and windows.
Gabriel swore.
“They're sealing the house.”
Luca ran toward the cellar.
A speaker clicked overhead.
Dr. Adrian Bellini's calm voice filled the mansion.
“Good evening, DeLucas.”
Luca stopped.
Bellini continued.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Hannah looked at Gabriel.
Luca's voice was ice.
“What?”
Bellini laughed softly.
“Not what.”
A pause.
“Who.”
The library television switched on by itself.
A live camera feed appeared.
Daniel Brooks sat tied to a chair.
Hannah screamed.
Her father looked bruised but alive.
Beside him stood Dr. Bellini.
He smiled into the camera.
“Bring me Hannah by midnight.”
Hannah stared at the screen.
May you like
Bellini rested one hand on Daniel's shoulder.
“Or the father who raised her dies for the father who abandoned her.”
