Chapter 3 - THE GRAVE THAT HELD NO BODY
Victor Romano had buried his father twelve years earlier.
He had watched the coffin disappear into the ground.
He had stood beside his mother while rain soaked through his black suit, promising himself that nobody would ever threaten the family again.
Now someone was telling him the coffin had been empty.
Nora watched Victor's expression become unreadable.
“Leo,” he said, “bring the car.”
Camilla moved toward him.
“Victor, please. Whatever Thomas told you, he's lying.”
Victor studied her.
“You seem remarkably familiar with a man you've supposedly never met.”
Camilla swallowed.
“My father has been trying to protect your family.”
“From what?”
She looked at Nora.
“From her.”
Nora froze.
Victor's voice hardened.
“Be careful.”
Camilla laughed bitterly.
“You think she's an innocent little secretary? You think she accidentally walked into your company with the perfect credentials?”
Nora felt heat rise to her cheeks.
“I applied through the public recruitment portal.”
“Of course you did.”
Victor stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Camilla leaned closer.
“Ask her why she kept the silver key.”
Nora's breath caught.
The key.
Her father had given it to her on her twenty-first birthday.
A small silver key attached to an old leather cord.
He had told her it belonged to her late mother and asked her never to lose it.
She wore it beneath her blouse every day.
Victor noticed her hand moving toward her neckline.
“Nora?”
She slowly pulled out the necklace.
Camilla stared at it.
Then she went white.
“Where did you get that?”
“My father.”
Victor held out his palm.
“May I?”
Nora hesitated before placing the key in his hand.
He examined the engraved symbol.
A small crown.
Three narrow lines beneath it.
Victor looked stunned.
“My mother had one exactly like this.”
Nora stared at him.
“What does it open?”
“I don't know.”
But his hesitation betrayed him.
Camilla suddenly began laughing.
It wasn't amusement.
It was panic.
“You're already too late.”
Victor turned.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing you can undo.”
Leo unlocked the door and entered.
“The car's ready.”
Victor handed Nora back the necklace.
“Stay close to me.”
Outside, Chicago glittered beneath a cold rain.
Nora stepped toward the waiting SUV.
Her phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Her father sat tied to a chair in a windowless room.
His face was bruised, but his eyes were open.
Beneath the image was a message.
BRING THE SILVER KEY TO ST. AGNES CEMETERY AT MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE.
Nora looked at Victor.
He read the message without speaking.
Then another image arrived.
This one showed an open grave.
Inside the coffin lay a photograph of Nora's mother.
May you like
On the back, someone had written four words.
SHE WAS VICTOR'S FIRST BETRAYAL.
