Chapter 10 - THE DARK FLOOR
Emergency lights painted the security room red.
I heard the lock click.
Someone had disabled the electronic system.
My phone showed no signal.
I moved away from the door.
The monitor displaying Alessandro’s conference room went black.
“Alessandro?”
No answer.
I grabbed the metal flashlight mounted beneath the desk.
Footsteps moved outside.
Slow.
Deliberate.
The handle turned.
I raised the flashlight.
The door opened.
A man in a security uniform stepped inside.
I recognized the uniform.
I did not recognize him.
“Ms. Reed, come with me.”
“Where is Gabriel?”
“Evacuating Mr. Vitali.”
“What is Gabriel’s security code?”
The man paused.
Wrong pause.
I swung the flashlight.
It hit his forearm as he reached for me.
He cursed.
I ran.
The hallway was dark except for red emergency strips.
Another man appeared near the elevators.
I turned toward the stairwell.
The first man caught my jacket.
Fabric ripped.
I screamed.
Then a body slammed into him.
Alessandro.
He drove the man into the wall.
“Go.”
I ran for the stairs.
Gabriel appeared below with two real security officers.
“Elizabeth.”
“I’m okay.”
“Move.”
Behind us, Alessandro followed.
His lip was bleeding.
“What happened?”
“I’ll survive.”
Gabriel spoke into a radio.
“Secure stairwell B.”
No answer.
“Systems are compromised.”
We descended six floors.
Then gunfire cracked somewhere above.
My body locked.
Alessandro immediately covered me.
“Keep moving.”
We reached a maintenance level.
Sofia waited near a service elevator.
“How did they get into the building?”
I asked.
Gabriel’s expression was furious.
“Someone gave them access.”
“A mole?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro wiped blood from his lip.
“Who controls building security?”
“Operations.”
“Under whom?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Alessandro already knew.
“My cousin.”
I remembered the personnel folder.
“Which cousin?”
“Daniel Vitali.”
I had seen him in newspapers.
Thirty-three.
Vice president of corporate operations.
Matteo’s son.
The service elevator opened.
We entered.
Halfway down, the elevator stopped.
My stomach dropped.
The lights flickered.
Sofia grabbed the rail.
“Backup system failure.”
Then a voice came through the speaker.
Matteo.
“Alessandro.”
No one moved.
His voice sounded almost affectionate.
“You could have avoided this.”
Alessandro looked toward the camera.
“Open the elevator.”
“I warned you about the girl.”
“You threatened my child.”
A soft laugh.
“Is that what she told you?”
“You sent the blanket.”
“No.”
Silence.
For the first time, Alessandro looked uncertain.
Matteo continued.
“If I wanted the child gone, we would not be having this conversation.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The drive.”
My heart stopped.
He knew.
“Thomas Shaw stole information belonging to this family.”
Alessandro’s voice hardened.
“Evidence of your crimes does not belong to you.”
Matteo sighed.
“Your father said things like that.”
Then the elevator jerked.
Sofia grabbed me.
Matteo spoke again.
“You have one hour.”
“Bring the drive to the old lake house.”
“Come alone.”
“If the police appear, I release everything I have on Elizabeth Shaw.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“What does he have?”
Matteo answered as if he could hear the question in my face.
“Ask her why she really survived the night her parents died.”
The speaker went silent.
I could barely breathe.
Alessandro turned toward me.
“What is he talking about?”
I looked away.
Because there was one thing I had never told Liam.
One thing I had never told Patrick.
One thing I had spent seven years trying to forget.
The night my parents died, I had not been home.
May you like
I had been in the car.
And before the SUV went over the barrier, I had seen the face of the man who forced us off the road.
