Chapter 11
Vittorio did not break anything.
That frightened everyone.
He knelt beside Emma first.
Alive.
Breathing.
A bruise at her temple.
When she woke, her first word was:
“Lucy.”
“Gone.”
Emma’s face collapsed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Vittorio’s voice stayed calm.
“Tell me.”
Paul Neri had arrived saying Vittorio wanted Lucy moved to the safe room.
Emma knew him.
Trusted him.
That was all he needed.
Then he hit her.
Took Lucy.
Left through the old nursery service stairs.
Vittorio asked:
“Did Lucy cry?”
Emma shook her head.
“She said…”
Her voice broke.
“What?”
“She said Daddy will come.”
Vittorio closed his eyes once.
Then stood.
Downstairs, Bianca was hysterical.
“You have to bring her back.”
Vittorio looked at her.
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Please.”
He removed her hand.
“You taught her fear for five weeks.”
Bianca cried.
“I didn’t know this.”
“No.”
“You only prepared her for it.”
That hit.
Bianca stepped back.
Vittorio continued.
“You taught her adults can take food.”
“Drag her.”
“Humiliate her.”
“Threaten her for speaking.”
“So when a trusted guard came…”
Silence.
“…why would she believe resistance mattered?”
Bianca’s face broke.
No absolution.
Just consequence.
Marcus looked at the floor.
Caleb smiled faintly.
Vittorio saw.
“You’re pleased.”
Caleb raised an eyebrow.
“Silas has leverage.”
Vittorio walked toward him.
“You think that means control.”
“It does.”
“No.”
Caleb smiled.
“You’re already thinking about the south route.”
Vittorio said nothing.
He was.
That was the problem.
Caleb continued.
“One child.”
“One sentence.”
“Open the south.”
He shrugged.
“Easy.”
Vittorio looked at him.
“You would.”
“Yes.”
“Without hesitation.”
“Correct.”
Vittorio almost smiled.
“That’s why you’ll never understand what happens next.”
Caleb frowned.
Vittorio turned to Thomas.
“River house?”
“Surrounded discreetly.”
“No entry.”
“Not yet.”
Bianca shouted:
“What are you waiting for?”
Vittorio looked at her.
“Silas wants me rushing.”
“I don’t give him what he wants.”
“Lucy—”
“Is alive because he needs me.”
Silence.
Painfully rational.
Vittorio hated it.
Still true.
Then Emma picked up her damaged phone.
Screen cracked.
She looked at it.
“Boss.”
Vittorio turned.
A new video had uploaded automatically from the nursery camera Emma had hidden weeks earlier.
Paul Neri carrying Lucy.
But before leaving, he stopped.
Spoke into his phone.
“Uncle Silas, the girl keeps asking about the blue room.”
Vittorio stared.
Blue room?
Emma looked confused.
Then Lucy’s recorded voice came from Paul’s arms.
“Mommy said Daddy keeps the truth there.”
The room went silent.
Bianca stared.
Vittorio stopped breathing.
May you like
Lucy’s mother had died two years earlier.
And apparently she had left a secret Vittorio himself did not know existed.
