Chapter 5 – THE GHOST IN THE ROOM

Gunfire shattered the quiet of the house.

The sound was deafening, bouncing off the concrete basement walls.

“Move!” I shoved Chloe and Leo toward the small, wooden storm doors at the back of the basement.

Luca didn’t retreat. He took cover behind the heavy steel furnace, firing precisely up the wooden stairs. A man cried out and tumbled down, crashing onto the concrete floor.

“Go, Emma!” Luca shouted over the noise.

I kicked the storm doors open. The freezing wind bit my face. I pushed Chloe up first, then lifted Leo into her arms.

I scrambled up behind them. We ran through the snow-covered backyard, dodging through the neighbor’s broken fence.

We didn’t stop until we reached the 24-hour diner where Chloe used to work. It was a neon oasis in the bleak suburban winter.

We huddled in a back booth, shivering and terrified.

Leo clung to my sister, his small face buried in her coat.

“How long, Chloe?” I demanded, keeping my voice low. “How long have you had him?”

“Three months,” she cried. “Julian brought him to me. He said the Bellinis found out he was still in Chicago. He said if he didn’t surrender to them, they would hunt Leo down.”

“And Dad knew?”

“Dad was the one who built the room for him. He wanted to help.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Unknown number.

I answered it, my hands shaking. “Hello?”

“Emma.” It was Luca. His voice was out of breath, but steady. “Are you safe?”

“We’re at the diner. Are you okay? Who was in the house?”

“Bellini’s men. They’re dealt with.” He paused. “Vanessa’s father isn’t in Rome. He sent them.”

“What do we do now?”

“We end this,” Luca said. “Julian is alive, and I know where they’re keeping him.”

“Where?”

“The one place I swore I would never go back to.”

He hung up.

I stared at the phone.

Then I looked at the photograph Leo had given us. The one of Vanessa and the scarred man.

I realized what was in the background of the photo.

Marble statues. Oil paintings.

It was Luca’s mansion.

Vanessa hadn’t hidden Julian in a warehouse or a secondary location.

She had hidden him right under Luca’s nose. In the locked room upstairs.

His mother’s old room.

“Stay here,” I told Chloe. “Do not leave this booth.”

“Where are you going?”

“To finish my shift.”

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