Chapter 1 - THE SECRET UNDER SOPHIE'S BED
:
At 12:41 a.m., the DeLuca estate went into lockdown.
Every gate closed.
Every hallway camera switched to active surveillance.
Every member of my security team received the same instruction:
Find out who had entered our perimeter.
I didn't care about the threat yet.
I cared about Sophie.
Dr. Ramirez had moved her to the private medical suite beside the east wing.
She remained unconscious, an IV running into her arm, a monitor tracking her heart rate.
Rosie sat on a chair beside the bed.
She refused to leave.
I understood why.
When I was nine years old, my mother had collapsed at a restaurant.
I remembered being told to sit in the hallway.
I remembered adults whispering.
I remembered the terrible certainty that if I closed my eyes, she might disappear.
So I stayed with Rosie.
For thirty minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then she whispered:
“Is Mommy in trouble?”
“Yes.”
Her lower lip trembled.
“Because of Derek?”
“Yes.”
“Did he find us?”
I looked at her.
“Find you?”
She nodded.
“Mommy said he would.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Rosie tightened her fingers around the teddy bear.
“She said if a man named Derek ever found the house, I had to knock on your door.”
My chest tightened.
“Why my door?”
“Mommy said you were the only bad man who might still be good.”
I stared.
Children didn't normally say things like that.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
She looked toward her mother.
“Mommy said your family was dangerous.”
I almost smiled.
Accurate.
“And she said you were different.”
“That I was different from what?”
“From your brother.”
My smile disappeared.
“What brother?”
Rosie looked surprised.
“Uncle Luca.”
I stood.
Luca DeLuca.
My younger brother.
My father's favorite.
The man who handled the legitimate side of our operations.
The man who had spent the last five years telling me that Derek Voss was our family's greatest threat.
I looked toward Dr. Ramirez.
“Doctor.”
He stepped into the room.
“Yes?”
“Can you keep Sophie asleep for another thirty minutes?”
He frowned.
“She needs rest.”
“I need answers.”
He hesitated.
“She may wake naturally.”
“Then wake her.”
He sighed.
I turned to Rosie.
“Do you have anything your mother told you to protect?”
She nodded.
“Something small.”
“What?”
She looked toward the bedroom.
“Under my bed.”
I frowned.
“You live in the staff apartments.”
She nodded.
“Come on.”
We walked downstairs.
Rosie led me to the tiny room.
Her bed was barely large enough for an adult to sit on.
She knelt.
Then pulled out a small wooden box.
She placed it on the floor.
“This.”
The box had no lock.
Inside was a folded handkerchief.
A silver key.
And a piece of paper.
I unfolded it.
Three lines were written in black ink.
D. VOSS IS NOT THE FIRST TRAITOR.
THE DE LUCA FAMILY HAS A SECOND SON.
TRUST NO ONE WITH THE INITIAL L.
I stared at the final letter.
L.
Luca.
Rosie watched my face.
“Is that bad?”
I folded the paper.
“Yes.”
She looked frightened.
“Are we going to leave?”
I looked at her.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever wrote this wants us afraid.”
I picked up the silver key.
“What does this open?”
Rosie shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I turned the key over.
An engraved number appeared.
17.
I knew that number.
Vault 17.
A storage room beneath my father's old office.
It had been sealed after his death.
No one had entered it in nineteen years.
At least, officially.
My phone buzzed.
Marcus, my security chief.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something in the west alley.”
“What?”
“A surveillance camera.”
“Whose?”
“It was installed three days ago.”
I frowned.
“Three days?”
“Yes.”
“Can you identify the installer?”
“We have a face.”
“Send it.”
My phone displayed a photograph.
Derek Voss.
I looked at the image.
Then at the note.
Not the first traitor.
I whispered:
“Luca.”
Marcus heard me.
There was a long silence.
Then he said:
“Boss…”
“What?”
“We found another vehicle.”
“Where?”
“In the underground garage.”
“Who owns it?”
Marcus hesitated.
“It belongs to Luca.”
I stared at the photograph.
A vehicle belonging to my brother.
Parked beneath my estate.
On the same night Sophie was poisoned.
The coincidence was too perfect.
I looked toward Rosie.
She was hugging her teddy bear.
I suddenly remembered the first thing she had asked me.
“May I tell you something, Mister Marco?”
“Yes?”
She had looked into my eyes.
“Mommy said you don't know what your family did.”
Now I finally understood.
May you like
Sophie wasn't hiding from Derek.
She was hiding from my family.
