Chapter 8 - THE ROOM BEHIND THE WALL
The cellar door slammed shut above them.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then Lily whispered:
"Daddy?"
Adrian pulled her closer.
"I'm here."
Sarah stood beside them, breathing hard.
Vincent pressed his ear against the door.
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No gunfire.
No voices.
That frightened him more than the shooting.
"He's waiting," Vincent said.
Adrian looked at him.
"Who?"
"The man outside."
"Who is he?"
Vincent shook his head.
"I don't know."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"Everybody seems to know something except me."
Sarah looked away.
That was when Adrian noticed something strange.
The wall behind the wine racks had a small metal panel.
He walked toward it.
"What's that?"
Vincent followed his gaze.
"I've never seen it."
Adrian wiped dust from the surface.
There was a fingerprint scanner.
He stared at it.
Then looked at Sarah.
"Did you know this was here?"
"No."
He placed his thumb against the scanner.
A green light appeared.
The wall clicked.
Sarah stepped backward.
The entire wine rack shifted several inches.
Behind it was a narrow doorway.
Adrian stared into darkness.
Vincent whispered:
"Your father built this place."
Adrian stepped inside.
A light automatically turned on.
Then another.
And another.
The hidden room wasn't a storage area.
It was an archive.
File cabinets lined every wall.
Photographs covered one entire section.
Adrian walked toward them.
The first photograph showed Giovanni.
The second showed a younger Vincent.
The third showed Sarah.
Then Lily.
Adrian stopped.
There were photographs of Lily from infancy.
Hundreds.
Every birthday.
Every school year.
Every Christmas.
Every doctor appointment.
Someone had been watching her since the day she was born.
Sarah covered her mouth.
"Oh my God."
Adrian opened the nearest drawer.
A file was labeled:
LILY CALLAWAY.
His hands tightened.
He opened it.
Birth certificate.
Medical records.
Daycare reports.
School records.
And underneath them—
A DNA report.
Adrian stared at the page.
Sarah immediately knew what he had found.
"Adrian..."
He read the result.
His face went blank.
"The father is listed as unknown."
Sarah nodded.
"I never gave them his name."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't know."
Adrian looked at her.
"You said Lily's father was your secret."
"I said I didn't tell you everything."
"What aren't you telling me now?"
Sarah shook her head.
"I don't know who her biological father is."
Adrian stared at the DNA report.
"Then why does my father's file say Matteo?"
Sarah stepped closer.
"I don't know."
Vincent opened another folder.
His face changed.
"Boss."
Adrian turned.
Vincent held up a photograph.
It showed a young man.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
A thin scar over his eyebrow.
Adrian stared.
He knew that face.
Not from memory.
From the drawings.
The faceless father.
Except now the face was there.
Matteo.
On the back of the photograph was a date.
Seven years before.
The same year Lily was born.
Adrian's stomach dropped.
"Where was he?"
Vincent looked at the file.
"New York."
"Doing what?"
"Working for Giovanni."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Doing what?"
Vincent swallowed.
"Watching Sarah."
Silence.
Sarah stepped backward.
"No."
Adrian turned.
"You knew Matteo?"
"No."
"You knew someone was watching me?"
"No."
"Then why are you scared?"
Sarah looked at the photograph.
"Because I saw that face."
"When?"
"The night Lily was born."
Adrian went completely still.
"Tell me."
Sarah closed her eyes.
"It was raining."
Her voice trembled.
"I had been in labor for eighteen hours. You were gone. I called you."
Adrian remembered.
He had been overseas.
A business operation had gone wrong.
His phone had been confiscated.
He hadn't received the calls until two days later.
Sarah continued.
"At around two in the morning, someone came into the hospital room."
"Matteo?"
"I didn't know his name."
"What did he say?"
"He said he was there because Giovanni sent him."
Adrian's fists tightened.
"What did he do?"
"He looked at Lily."
"And?"
"He cried."
Adrian froze.
Sarah whispered:
"He said, 'She's beautiful.'"
Adrian looked at the photograph again.
"Did he touch her?"
Sarah nodded.
"He held her."
The room went silent.
"Then he said something I'll never forget."
"What?"
Sarah looked directly at Adrian.
"He said, 'Tell Adrian I never wanted this.'"
Adrian's expression changed.
"Never wanted what?"
"I didn't know."
Sarah's voice cracked.
"He left before sunrise."
Adrian stared at the photograph.
Then he noticed something else.
A small notation beneath Matteo's name.
STATUS: DECEASED.
Date of death.
The day Lily turned four.
Adrian looked at Vincent.
"Is he really dead?"
Vincent shook his head.
"I don't know anymore."
A sound came from the hallway.
A faint metallic click.
Everyone froze.
Adrian pulled Lily behind him.
Vincent raised his weapon.
The hidden room door began to open.
A figure stood in the doorway.
Adrian aimed.
"Don't move."
The figure stepped into the light.
A woman.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
Silver necklace.
Adrian's blood ran cold.
He recognized her.
His mother.
Except she had supposedly died eighteen years ago.
She looked at him and smiled.
"Hello, Adrian."
Lily grabbed his hand.
Adrian could barely breathe.
"You're dead."
His mother laughed softly.
"So was your father."
She looked at Sarah.
"And you still haven't told him everything."
Sarah whispered:
"Maria..."
Maria Moretti's eyes moved toward Lily.
"She's beautiful."
Adrian stepped in front of his daughter.
"Stay away from her."
Maria smiled.
"I came here because of her."
"Why?"
"Because she is the last piece."
"The last piece of what?"
Maria's expression hardened.
"The family."
Suddenly, the lights went out.
A scream came from somewhere outside.
Then an explosion shook the entire house.
The cellar ceiling cracked.
Dust rained down.
Vincent shouted:
"Move!"
Adrian grabbed Lily.
Sarah grabbed Adrian's arm.
Maria disappeared into the darkness.
And when the emergency lights returned—
she was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A photograph on the floor.
Adrian picked it up.
It showed him.
Sarah.
Lily.
And a fourth person.
A young man standing behind them.
Matteo.
On the back, someone had written:
HE HAS BEEN PROTECTING HER FROM THE BEGINNING.
Adrian looked toward Sarah.
"Where is Matteo?"
Sarah's lips parted.
"I think..."
She stopped.
May you like
Then whispered:
"I think he's alive."
