Chapter 3: The Son Who Was Buried Alive
Lucas Moretti had buried his son three years earlier.
He had stood beside a tiny white coffin while rain soaked through his black suit.
He had watched the priest lower his head.
He had listened to people whisper that the Moretti family had finally paid the price for its sins.
And he had gone home that night to a house where every toy reminded him of the child he had lost.
Now, standing in the staff quarters, he was staring at a phone that had just shown him the face of that same child.
“Play it again,” he ordered.
Elias took the phone.
“The call ended.””
“Recover it.””
“I'm trying.””
Lucas grabbed the device back.
“Daniel?””
There was no answer.
Grace was crying silently beside the empty bed.
Lucas turned toward her.
“You knew.””
She shook her head.
“Not everything.””
“You knew my son was alive?””
“Mr. Moretti, please—”
“You stood in my house for three years. You watched me walk past his photograph every morning. You watched me visit his grave.””
Grace covered her mouth.
“I didn't know he was alive until tonight.””
Lucas stepped closer.
“Then explain why Isabella wrote that note.””
Grace looked at him.
“Because she was afraid.””
“Of whom?””
Grace's eyes moved toward the hallway.
“Victor.””
Lucas went still.
“Tell me everything.””
Grace wiped her cheeks.
“Three years ago, Isabella came to me in the kitchen. It was late. Daniel was asleep upstairs, and she looked like she hadn't slept in days.””
Lucas remembered that evening.
He remembered Isabella standing by the staircase, asking him not to go to the warehouse.
He had kissed her forehead.
He had promised to return before midnight.
He had never seen her alive again.
Grace continued.
“She asked me whether I would help her if something happened. I thought she was talking about the arguments between you and your father’s old associates.””
“What did she say?””
“She told me Daniel wasn't safe.””
Lucas closed his eyes.
Grace's voice trembled.
“She said someone inside the house was preparing to take everything from you. She said they had been watching your movements, changing your appointments, and interfering with your medical treatment.””
Lucas looked at Elias.
Elias's expression was grim.
“Continue,” Lucas said.
“Isabella gave me a small package. She told me to keep it somewhere nobody would look. Then she made me promise that if anything happened to her, I would never let Daniel be handed over to Victor.””
Lucas felt his chest tighten.
“What package?””
Grace hesitated.
“I don't have it.””
“Where is it?””
“I gave it to someone.””
“Who?””
Grace looked at him.
“Your wife.””
Lucas stared.
“What?””
“Isabella came back for it two days later. She told me she was leaving the mansion with Daniel.””
Lucas gripped the edge of the bed.
“Why didn't she tell me?””
Grace's eyes filled.
“Because she didn't know who she could trust.””
The room became unbearably quiet.
Lucas looked at the empty bed.
Then he whispered:
“She should have trusted me.””
Grace shook her head.
“She wanted to. But she said something that night.””
“What?””
Grace swallowed.
“She said you were a good man trapped inside a dangerous family. And she was afraid that if she told you everything, someone would use you to get to Daniel.””
Lucas looked away.
He couldn't bear the thought that Isabella had been protecting him while he believed she was simply afraid of his enemies.
Elias approached.
“Boss, I found something.””
He held up a tablet.
“The video call came through an unregistered number. But the signal briefly connected to a private server.””
“Location?””
“An old property in Queens.””
Grace suddenly lifted her head.
“Queens?””
Elias nodded.
“Do you know it?””
Grace hesitated.
Then she whispered a name.
“The house on Bell Street.””
Lucas looked at her.
“What house?””
“It's where Isabella used to teach piano.””
At 2:10 a.m., Lucas's convoy left the mansion.
Three black SUVs moved through the wet streets of New York.
Lucas sat in the back of the first vehicle, staring at the photograph on his phone.
Daniel at four years old.
Daniel with a chocolate-covered face.
Daniel asleep against his father's shoulder.
The boy in the video looked older.
But not by three years.
That was the first thing Lucas noticed.
He looked perhaps seven.
Daniel would have been eight.
The math was wrong.
Or the image was old.
“Elias.””
“Yes, boss?””
“How long ago was that video recorded?””
“I'm checking the metadata.””
“Find out.””
Elias looked at him through the rearview mirror.
“Do you believe it was really Daniel?””
Lucas stared out at the city.
“I heard my son's voice.””
“That doesn't answer my question.””
Lucas slowly turned.
“Yes.””
Elias nodded.
“Then we'll find him.””
Lucas looked down at the empty inhaler in his hand.
The little girl had saved his life.
And somewhere in the city, his son was calling him from the dark.
The house on Bell Street stood between a closed bakery and an abandoned laundromat.
Its windows were covered with old curtains.
A faded sign above the door still read:
*ISABELLA'S MUSIC LESSONS.*
Lucas stepped out of the SUV.
He had not been there since the funeral.
The memory returned instantly.
Isabella standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee.
Her laughing at him because he couldn't play a simple piano scale.
Her telling him that a man who controlled half of New York should at least learn how to play one song.
Lucas walked to the door.
It was unlocked.
Inside, dust covered the furniture.
A piano stood near the window.
He approached it slowly.
There was a small wooden music box on top.
He opened it.
A familiar melody played.
The same melody Isabella used to play for Daniel before bedtime.
Lucas's hand tightened around the lid.
Then he noticed something.
A small photograph had been placed beneath the music box.
It showed Isabella holding a baby.
Not Daniel.
A newborn girl.
Lucas stared.
“Who is that?””
Grace, who had accompanied them, stepped into the room.
She looked at the photograph.
Then she began to cry.
“That's Lily.””
Lucas turned.
“What?””
“Isabella was there when Lily was born.””
Lucas looked again at the photograph.
“Why would my wife be holding your daughter?””
Grace took a shaky breath.
“Because Isabella helped me when I had nowhere else to go.””
She explained that three years earlier, she had been working at the mansion when her husband died in a construction accident. She had no savings, no family nearby, and a newborn daughter who had been born prematurely.
Isabella had found her crying in the laundry room.
Instead of dismissing her, she had arranged medical assistance and helped her find a place to stay.
“She treated Lily like family,” Grace said.
“She used to say that children shouldn't have to pay for the mistakes of adults.””
Lucas looked down at the photograph.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because Isabella made me promise.””
“Promise what?””
“That I would protect Lily if anything happened to her.””
Lucas stared at her.
“From whom?””
Grace opened her mouth.
But a noise came from upstairs.
A floorboard creaked.
Elias immediately raised his weapon.
“Who's there?””
Silence.
Then a small voice answered.
“Don't shoot.””
Lucas froze.
A boy appeared at the top of the staircase.
He was wearing a faded blue sweater and holding a wooden toy airplane.
His hair was darker than Lucas remembered.
His face was thinner.
But his eyes—
Lucas knew those eyes.
“Daniel?””
The boy stared down at him.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Daniel whispered:
“Daddy?””
Lucas climbed the stairs two at a time.
He dropped to his knees and pulled the child into his arms.
Daniel was real.
Warm.
Alive.
Lucas pressed his face into the boy's hair.
“Oh, God.””
Daniel began crying.
“I thought you weren't coming.””
Lucas held him tighter.
“I'm here. I'm here, son.””
“You took so long.””
The words nearly destroyed him.
Lucas closed his eyes.
“I know.””
Daniel pulled away slightly.
“Mommy said you would find me.””
Lucas looked at him.
“Where is your mother?””
Daniel's face crumpled.
“She went away.””
“When?””
“Yesterday.””
“Where?””
Daniel shook his head.
“She said she had to make sure the bad man couldn't find us.””
Lucas looked toward Grace.
“Who was the bad man?””
Daniel glanced at Elias.
Then at the doorway.
And finally whispered:
“Uncle Victor.””
Lucas brought Daniel downstairs.
The boy sat beside Grace, who wrapped her arms around him.
He seemed frightened of the guards, so Lucas ordered everyone except Elias to wait outside.
A plate of food was brought in.
Daniel ate slowly, holding the spoon with both hands.
Lucas sat opposite him.
“Tell me what happened, buddy.””
Daniel looked down.
“Mommy said we couldn't go home.””
“Why?””
“Because Uncle Victor was angry.””
“Did he hurt you?””
Daniel nodded.
Lucas felt the world narrow.
“When?””
Daniel looked at his wooden airplane.
“The night you went to the warehouse.””
Lucas stopped moving.
Daniel continued.
“Uncle Victor came to our room. He said you needed help. Mommy told him to leave, but he took me downstairs.””
Lucas's jaw tightened.
“What happened next?””
“He said we were going somewhere safe.””
“Did he tell you where?””
Daniel shook his head.
“I was scared.””
Lucas leaned closer.
“Did he take you away from your mother?””
Daniel nodded.
“He said Mommy was bad. He said she had done something wrong.””
Grace covered her mouth.
Lucas's hands curled into fists.
“Did you see your mother again?””
Daniel's eyes filled.
“Once.””
“When?””
“After the funeral.””
Lucas went completely still.
“What funeral?””
Daniel looked at him.
“Yours.””
The room fell silent.
Daniel explained in a small voice that Victor had taken him to a house outside the city. He had been told that his father was dead and that his mother had disappeared.
For months, he had believed it.
Then one night, Isabella had appeared at the house.
She had climbed through a window and carried him out.
They had moved between safe apartments, always changing locations.
But Victor had found them again.
“Mommy said we had to hide,” Daniel whispered.
“She told me not to cry because Uncle Victor could hear everything.””
Lucas looked toward the window.
“Where did she go yesterday?””
Daniel shook his head.
“She gave me a phone. She said if I ever saw you, I had to call.””
Lucas felt his throat tighten.
“Did she tell you what number to call?””
Daniel nodded.
He reached into his sweater and removed a small folded piece of paper.
Lucas opened it.
There was a phone number written in Isabella's handwriting.
And beneath it, one sentence:
*If Lucas finds Daniel, tell him the truth about the night he almost died.*
Lucas read the words twice.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message from Elias appeared.
*BOSS. WE JUST FOUND DR. PRICE.*
Another message followed.
*HE'S ALIVE. HE'S AT THE POLICE STATION.*
Lucas looked up.
“Where?””
Elias answered.
“Brooklyn. He turned himself in.””
Lucas stared at the message.
Then another notification appeared.
A photograph.
It showed Victor Romano entering the Moretti mansion's underground garage.
The timestamp was three minutes earlier.
Lucas slowly stood.
“Elias.””
“Yes, boss?””
“Call the house.””
Elias immediately dialed.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Then a third message arrived.
It was from an unknown number.
A photograph of Lily Carter.
She was sitting in a dark room, wearing the same pink pajamas.
Her eyes were wet.
Beside her stood Victor Romano.
May you like
Under the photograph were seven words.
*You found your son. Now lose your daughter.*
