Chapter 2 - THE NAME UNDER THE FLOOR
The first gunshot came from the kitchen.
The second came from outside.
Vincent grabbed Evelyn and pulled her beneath the table.
Marcus returned fire toward the rear door.
Nora dropped behind the booth, hands over her head, pulse hammering so hard she could barely hear.
Glass shattered.
Someone screamed.
Then darkness settled again.
“Emergency exit!” Marcus shouted.
Vincent pulled Evelyn up.
Nora reached for her other arm.
They moved through the narrow service hallway while two Caldero men covered them.
Nora had worked at Bellweather House for three years.
She knew every door.
Every pantry.
Every shortcut.
She also knew something Marcus didn’t.
“The wine cellar.”
Vincent looked at her.
“What?”
“There’s a street exit through the cellar.”
They descended.
Behind them, footsteps thundered across the kitchen.
Nora unlocked the cellar door.
Inside, rows of wine disappeared into darkness.
The emergency bulb flickered.
Evelyn stopped.
She stared at the floor.
Then began signing.
Not outside.
Nora frowned.
“What?”
Evelyn pointed at the stone tiles.
Here.
Vincent’s patience broke.
“Ma, people are shooting at us.”
Evelyn stamped her foot.
Then signed again.
Antonio hid it here.
Marcus went still.
Vincent noticed.
“What did my father hide?”
Marcus said nothing.
Nora translated.
“The ledger.”
Silence.
The second ledger.
Vincent looked around.
“Where?”
Evelyn moved toward an old wooden wine rack bolted to the wall.
She pointed behind it.
Marcus cursed.
“We don’t have time.”
Vincent stared at him.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew something.”
“I knew Antonio came here the night before he died.”
Together, Vincent and one of his men dragged the rack aside.
Behind it was a square of newer mortar.
Nora found a hammer.
Vincent smashed through the wall.
Three blows.
Five.
Seven.
Then the brick collapsed inward.
A metal box sat inside.
Vincent pulled it free.
Footsteps hit the cellar stairs.
Marcus raised his gun.
“Move!”
They escaped through the street door seconds before armed men entered from above.
Two SUVs waited outside.
Vincent pushed Evelyn and Nora into the first vehicle.
Marcus climbed in after them.
The convoy tore through rain-soaked Providence.
No one spoke until they reached a gated house on the outskirts of Cranston.
Then Vincent placed the metal box on the dining table.
Inside were photographs.
Birth certificates.
Hospital records.
Police reports.
And a black ledger.
Nora expected lists of names.
Instead, she saw codes.
Initials.
Dates.
Locations.
Marcus stared at one page.
“Oh, God.”
“What?” Vincent asked.
Marcus pointed.
E.C.
April 11.
Saint Gabriel House.
Transfer approved.
Vincent looked at his mother.
“Saint Gabriel?”
Evelyn’s face changed.
She signed.
Nora translated.
“It was a private maternity home.”
Vincent frowned.
“For pregnant women?”
Evelyn nodded.
Then she pointed at the date.
Nora did the math.
Twenty-one years ago.
One year before the explosion.
Vincent looked between them.
“Why were you there?”
Evelyn slowly placed both hands over her stomach.
Vincent stopped breathing.
Nora whispered, “She was pregnant.”
Marcus looked away.
Vincent’s voice dropped.
“I don’t have a brother or sister.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
She signed.
You did.
Nora felt her throat close.
Vincent gripped the table.
“What happened?”
Evelyn answered.
They told me the baby died.
Marcus slammed a fist against the wall.
Vincent turned.
“You knew this too?”
“I knew there had been a pregnancy.”
“Was my father the father?”
Marcus said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Vincent stepped toward him.
“Marcus.”
Marcus finally looked up.
“No.”
The room went dead.
Vincent’s voice became almost inaudible.
“No what?”
“Antonio wasn’t the father.”
Evelyn began shaking her head violently.
Marcus continued anyway.
“The baby belonged to someone else.”
Vincent stared at his mother.
“Who?”
Before Evelyn could sign, Nora noticed a photograph inside the box.
A baby.
Wrapped in a white blanket.
On the back was written:
GIRL. HEALTHY. PLACEMENT COMPLETE.
Below it was a surname.
ELLIS.
Nora’s hand went numb.
She turned the photograph over again.
Then looked at Evelyn.
“My last name is Ellis.”
Nobody moved.
May you like
Nora whispered:
“What exactly happened to that baby?”
