Chapter 5 - THE CHILD IN THE CELLARThe estate went into immediate lockdown.
Vincent ordered every room searched and every employee detained. No boats were allowed to leave the shore, and all communication with Chicago was cut.
Claire survived the gunshot, but the bullet had damaged her lung. Dr. Romano placed her in a medically induced coma.
Her warning remained unexplained.
Gabriel’s second daughter was somewhere inside the estate.
Marco assembled the staff in the ballroom: cooks, cleaners, guards, groundskeepers, and drivers. Thirty-six people stood beneath the crystal chandeliers.
Only one was a child.
A quiet ten-year-old girl named Mia lived at the estate with the head housekeeper, Ruth Collins. Ruth claimed Mia was her granddaughter.
Mia had straight black hair, brown eyes, and a pale scar beneath her chin.
When Vincent entered, she stared at the floor.
“How long have you worked here?” Vincent asked Ruth.
“Eleven years.”
“And the girl?”
“She came to live with me last spring after my daughter died.”
“What was your daughter’s name?”
Ruth hesitated.
Vincent noticed.
Marco did too.
Ruth suddenly grabbed Mia and pressed a kitchen knife against her throat.
Guards raised their weapons.
“Stay back!”
Mia did not scream. She closed her eyes as if she had expected this moment.
Vincent ordered the guards to lower their guns.
“What do you want?”
“Safe passage.”
“You won’t reach the front gate.”
“Then the girl dies.”
Sophie entered the ballroom before Elena could stop her.
“Mia?”
The older girl opened her eyes.
The children recognized each other.
Sophie had seen Mia watching from the hallway earlier that evening.
Ruth pulled the knife tighter.
Vincent stepped forward.
“If you harm her, Isabella will kill you before I can.”
Ruth’s expression changed.
That confirmed everything.
“You work for my sister,” Vincent said.
“I work for whoever keeps me alive.”
“Is Mia Gabriel’s daughter?”
Ruth said nothing.
Vincent moved another step closer.
“She is useless to Isabella dead.”
“You don’t understand. This girl isn’t leverage.”
Mia finally spoke.
“I’m the key.”
Ruth looked down in shock.
Mia drove her heel into Ruth’s foot and twisted free. Marco rushed forward, knocking the knife away.
Ruth was forced onto the floor.
Vincent knelt beside Mia.
“What did you mean?”
The girl reached beneath her shirt and removed a small metal cylinder hanging from a cord.
“My father told me to give this to Sophie when she turned eight.”
“Your father was Gabriel?”
Mia nodded.
“He visited me in foster homes. He said I couldn’t live with him because dangerous people were watching Sophie.”
Elena entered slowly.
She stared at Mia, devastated.
“Who was your mother?”
“Her name was Anna Bennett.”
Claire’s younger sister.
The truth was painful but clear. Before meeting Elena, Gabriel had loved Anna. Mia had been born in secret and hidden through the foster system.
Sophie approached her half sister.
“Did Daddy love you?”
Mia’s guarded expression cracked.
“He said he did.”
Sophie held out her hand.
“Then we’re family.”
Mia began to cry for the first time.
Inside the metal cylinder was a fragment of microfilm containing half of a coded map. Sophie’s silver pendant contained the other half.
When combined, the pieces revealed the location of the Torino vault beneath Saint Augustine’s Church.
The same church where Gabriel’s photograph had been taken.
Ruth refused to answer questions until Vincent placed her inside the estate cellar.
There, surrounded by old wine barrels, she finally spoke.
“Isabella raised an army inside your organization,” Ruth said. “Judges, police officers, guards—even members of your own council.”
“Names.”
“I only dealt with one handler.”
“Who?”
“Dominic Russo.”
Vincent stared at her.
Ruth smiled.
“You spared him because the little girl walked into the room. Isabella knew she would.”
“How?”
“Because she has been watching Sophie since birth.”
Vincent left Ruth with Marco and returned upstairs.
Dominic had disappeared.
So had Elena.
Security footage showed Dominic escorting her through the eastern gardens. Elena appeared to follow willingly.
Vincent found a note in her room.
Vincent, I cannot risk Sophie’s life. Dominic says he can take me to Gabriel. Protect the girls. Do not follow me.
Sophie discovered the note before Vincent could hide it.
“My mommy left me?”
“She went to find your father.”
“What if the bad woman takes her?”
Vincent knelt.
“I’m bringing her back.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
Mia studied Vincent suspiciously.
“My dad said Torino promises always have a price.”
“He was right.”
“What’s the price for this one?”
Vincent looked at both girls.
“Everything I have.”
Marco traced Dominic’s vehicle to Saint Augustine’s Church.
Vincent prepared an assault team, but before they left, Claire regained consciousness.
She pulled the oxygen mask from her face.
“Dominic isn’t the traitor,” she whispered.
Vincent leaned closer.
“Ruth named him.”
“Ruth is lying. Dominic helped Gabriel hide Mia.”
“Then why did he take Elena?”
“Because she asked him to.”
Claire struggled to breathe.
“Elena has been communicating with Isabella for months.”
Vincent stared at her.
“No.”
“She promised to trade the vault for Gabriel.”
“That does not make her a traitor.”
“You don’t understand. Isabella never wanted the money.”
Claire gripped Vincent’s wrist.
“She wants Sophie to open the vault because something inside can destroy every Torino.”
At Saint Augustine’s Church, Elena descended into the catacombs with Dominic.
She carried a pistol behind her back.
Dominic stopped before an iron door.
“He’s inside,” he said.
Elena raised the weapon and pointed it at his head.
“I’m sorry.”
A slow clap echoed through the darkness.
Isabella stepped from behind a stone pillar.
Beside her stood Gabriel Torino.
Alive, unchained, and smiling.
May you like
He looked at Elena without affection.
“You brought her exactly where we needed her.”
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