Chapter 4: When the Lights Went Out
The darkness lasted three seconds.
For Vittorio DeLuca, those three seconds were enough to turn suspicion into certainty.
Someone had planned this.
Someone knew what was inside the music box.
And someone was willing to enter his home to make sure he never discovered why his wife had hidden the truth about Elena.
“Lucy!”” he shouted.
“She's in her room, sir!”” Giovanni called through the earpiece.
“Stay with her. Do not leave that door.””
Vittorio pulled his phone from his pocket and switched on its flashlight. The narrow beam cut through the hallway, illuminating Bianca's frightened face.
She stood perfectly still, one hand pressed against her mouth.
“Who did this?”” he demanded.
“I don't know.””
He caught her wrist.
“Stop lying to me.””
“I'm not!””
“Then tell me why you looked at the ceiling before the lights went out.””
Bianca froze.
Vittorio had seen it. Just before the blackout, her eyes had moved toward the small security camera above the staircase.
She knew something.
Perhaps not everything.
But enough.
“Bianca,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet, “you have one chance to tell me the truth before I stop asking.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You don't understand what these people are capable of.””
“Then help me understand.””
She shook her head.
“They said they would leave Lucy alone if I cooperated.””
Vittorio released her wrist.
For a moment, he couldn't speak.
“They threatened our daughter?””
Bianca nodded.
“When?””
“Months ago.””
“And you thought the best way to protect her was to make her kneel on the kitchen floor and eat scraps?””
She recoiled as if he had struck her.
“That wasn't part of the agreement.””
“No. That was your own cruelty.””
Her face twisted.
“I was angry! She kept asking about Elena. She found those letters, and she wouldn't stop asking questions. I needed her to understand that some things were none of her business.””
“She is eight years old.””
“She was going to ruin everything!””
The words escaped her in a desperate shout.
Silence followed.
Vittorio stared at his wife.
Bianca covered her mouth.
She had finally said what she truly believed.
Not that Lucy was difficult.
Not that Lucy was spoiled.
But that an eight-year-old child was a threat to her carefully constructed life.
Vittorio stepped away.
“Rafael,” he said into his earpiece, “restore the emergency lighting. Get every officer inside. Nobody moves alone.””
“Understood, sir.””
A faint red glow appeared along the floor as the emergency system activated.
Vittorio moved toward the staircase, keeping Bianca in sight.
Then he heard something.
A soft metallic click.
It came from the study.
He turned.
“Stay here.””
Bianca grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't go in there.””
Vittorio looked down at her hand.
“Why?””
She released him.
“I just—”
He pulled free and walked toward the study.
The door stood open.
Inside, his desk drawers had been pulled out, papers lay scattered across the carpet, and the framed photograph of Elena had been knocked facedown.
The window was still locked.
Nobody was visible.
But the drawer containing the documents from Anthony's estate stood open.
Vittorio crossed the room.
The envelope Stephen Vale had delivered was gone.
So was the original letter.
He stood motionless, listening.
Then he noticed a small red light blinking beneath the desk.
A second phone.
Not his.
Someone had placed it there to record conversations.
He crouched and picked it up.
The screen showed a timer counting upward.
The recording was still running.
He stopped it and played the last thirty seconds.
At first, he heard only static.
Then a man's voice.
“Confirm the key is in his possession.””
Another voice answered.
“Not yet.””
“Then retrieve the child.””
Vittorio's blood turned to ice.
A third voice interrupted.
“Negative. The girl stays alive until the document is recovered.””
He recognized that voice.
He had heard it less than an hour earlier.
Stephen Vale.
The attorney who had disappeared from his foyer.
Vittorio replayed the recording.
The final words came through clearly.
“Tell Bianca the original agreement still stands. If DeLuca refuses to cooperate, we move to the second arrangement.””
The recording ended.
Vittorio slowly lowered the phone.
A second arrangement.
He thought of the guardianship papers Emma had recorded.
He thought of Lucy asking whether she would have to eat from the floor tomorrow.
Then he heard a crash upstairs.
Vittorio ran.
He reached Lucy's bedroom in seconds.
Giovanni stood outside the open door, one hand gripping his radio.
“What happened?””
“Someone tried the window, sir.””
Vittorio rushed inside.
Lucy was sitting upright on the bed, clutching her stuffed rabbit. The nurse knelt beside her, whispering reassurance.
The window was open.
Cold air swept the curtains inward.
Beyond the glass, the garden lay dark beneath the trees.
Vittorio crossed the room and slammed the window shut.
“Did you see anyone?”” he asked Giovanni.
“A shadow on the eastern roofline. I called it in, but the perimeter team hasn't located anyone.””
Vittorio examined the latch.
It hadn't been forced.
Someone had unlocked it from the inside.
He turned toward the nurse.
“Did anyone enter this room?””
“No, sir. I was here the entire time.””
Lucy looked at him.
“Daddy?””
He sat beside her.
“I'm here.””
“Was someone trying to take me?””
He couldn't lie to her.
“Someone was trying to frighten us.””
“Did Mommy send them?””
The question caught him off guard.
“No, sweetheart. Your mother didn't send anyone.””
Lucy looked down at her rabbit.
“Aunt Bianca said Mommy was coming back to get me.””
Vittorio felt his stomach tighten.
“When did she say that?””
“Yesterday.””
“What else did she tell you?””
Lucy twisted one of the rabbit's ears between her fingers.
“She said Mommy was alive, but she didn't want me anymore.””
Vittorio closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, Lucy was watching him.
“Daddy, if Mommy is alive, why hasn't she come home?””
He had no answer.
Not one he could give an eight-year-old without breaking something inside her.
He pulled her against his chest.
“I don't know yet. But I'm going to find out.””
“Promise?””
“I promise.””
Lucy rested her cheek against his shoulder.
After a moment, she whispered, “There's something else.””
Vittorio held her gently.
“What is it?””
“Before Aunt Bianca took my letters, I saw her talking to a man in the garden.””
“What man?””
“I don't know his name. He had a scar here.””
She touched the left side of her neck.
“He told Aunt Bianca that the little girl was the only person who could open the door.””
Vittorio went still.
“What door?””
Lucy shook her head.
“He said I would know when it was time.””
Vittorio looked toward Giovanni.
“Secure the entire floor. Nobody enters this room without my permission.””
Then he kissed Lucy's forehead.
“I'm going downstairs for a few minutes. You'll stay with Giovanni and the nurse.””
“Don't let Aunt Bianca come back.””
“I won't.””
“And Daddy?””
“Yes?””
Lucy hesitated.
“Don't let them make you disappear too.””
The words followed him out of the room.
Downstairs, the emergency lights had brightened. Rafael and two security officers were searching the study while another officer examined the open window.
Bianca stood in the foyer, guarded by a uniformed man.
She looked up when Vittorio approached.
“Is Lucy safe?””
“For now.””
“Thank God.””
He studied her face.
“Who is the man with the scar?””
Bianca's expression changed.
It was brief, but unmistakable.
“You've seen him?””
“Answer me.””
She shook her head.
“I don't know what you're talking about.””
Vittorio took out the recording phone.
“Then explain this.””
He played the conversation.
Bianca's knees seemed to weaken as Stephen's voice filled the foyer.
When the recording ended, she sat down heavily on the bottom stair.
“Oh, God.””
“Who is he?””
She looked up at Vittorio.
“His name is Gabriel Shaw.””
The name meant nothing to him.
“Who does he work for?””
“No one works for Gabriel. That's what makes him dangerous.””
Vittorio crouched in front of her.
“Start talking.””
Bianca's hands twisted together.
“Anthony introduced us two years ago. He said Gabriel could help protect the family if something happened to him.””
“Protect us from whom?””
“From the people who wanted Elena.””
Vittorio stared at her.
“Why would anyone want Elena?””
Bianca's eyes filled with tears.
“Because she had proof that Anthony and your father had been involved in something illegal.””
Vittorio slowly stood.
“My father died twelve years ago.””
“I know.””
“And Anthony is supposedly dead.””
“I know.””
“Then who is still looking for this proof?””
Bianca looked toward the ceiling.
“Someone who has been inside this house for years.””
Before Vittorio could respond, Rafael hurried toward them with a tablet.
“Sir, we've recovered footage from the east gate.””
He turned the screen around.
A black car had entered the property shortly before the lights went out.
The driver had worn a cap and kept his face hidden.
But the passenger was clearly visible.
Stephen Vale.
Vittorio stared at the image.
“Where did the car go?””
“It never left through the main gate. We believe it exited through the old service road.””
“That road has been closed for years.””
“Someone reopened it, sir.””
Vittorio looked toward Bianca.
She had begun to cry silently.
“Who has access to the service road?””
She shook her head.
Then she looked at him with an expression that made his skin crawl.
“Your father built it.””
Vittorio turned back to Rafael.
“Get me the original property plans. Every tunnel, every access point, every sealed room.””
“Sir?””
“Now.””
Rafael hurried away.
Vittorio looked at Bianca.
“You said someone has been inside this house for years. Who?””
She swallowed.
“The man who knows where Elena is.””
Vittorio took one step toward her.
“Where is my wife?””
Bianca's lips parted.
Then the security alarm sounded.
A red light flashed above the foyer.
Rafael's voice erupted through the speakers.
“Mr. DeLuca! We have an unauthorized entry in the west wing!””
Vittorio turned.
“Who?””
A second voice answered over the radio.
The voice of a guard who had worked for him for fifteen years.
“It's the housekeeper, sir.””
Vittorio frowned.
“Emma?””
“No, sir.””
The guard sounded terrified.
“It's Mrs. DeLuca's personal maid. She's carrying a weapon.””
Vittorio's gaze snapped toward Bianca.
Her face had gone white.
May you like
Then she whispered six words that changed everything.
“She's the one who buried Elena.””
