Chapter 5 - The Night the Hotel Went Into Lockdown
Luca’s brother was named Matteo Romano.
According to Luca, he had been dead for six years.
According to the photograph hidden inside my husband’s wedding ring, he had been alive eleven months earlier.
“You’re sure?” I asked.
Luca didn’t blink.
“I buried him.”
“That sounds fairly sure.”
Daniel enlarged the image.
Matteo looked similar to Luca.
Same dark hair.
Same build.
But thinner.
A scar crossed his left cheek.
Luca stood so still he barely seemed to breathe.
“How did he die?”
“Car explosion.”
“Did you see the body?”
“Yes.”
Daniel quietly said, “Not his face.”
Luca looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“The identification came from dental records.”
Luca’s expression darkened.
“Which could have been altered.”
I stared at the screen.
“What does your brother have to do with Liam?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then open the video.”
Daniel hesitated.
Luca nodded.
The recording began.
Shaky phone footage.
A warehouse office.
Liam’s voice.
My dead husband’s voice.
“If anybody finds this, the fire isn’t an accident.”
My hand flew to my mouth.
Noah was asleep again in the adjoining room.
I moved closer to the screen.
Liam continued.
“I responded to two smaller incidents here last month. Both involved storage areas that weren’t listed on fire maps.”
The camera turned.
Shipping crates.
Numbers.
Documents.
Then another voice shouted somewhere outside.
Liam spoke faster.
“I found payment records involving Warren Bell, Deputy Mayor Thomas Hale, and someone using the name M. Romano.”
Luca’s hands curled into fists.
“The shipments include weapons, stolen pharmaceuticals, and—”
A loud bang interrupted him.
The footage shook.
Liam whispered, “Somebody’s coming.”
Then the screen went black.
I realized I was crying.
Not dramatically.
Just silently.
Tears dropping onto my hands.
Luca closed the laptop.
“No.”
I grabbed it.
“Open it.”
“There’s nothing else.”
“I want to see.”
“Rachel.”
“I waited eleven months for someone to explain why my husband didn’t come home. Open it.”
Daniel reopened the file.
The last seven seconds showed Liam hiding the device.
Then another man entered the room.
Only part of his face appeared.
Captain Bell.
The video ended.
I sat in silence.
“Bell knew.”
“Yes,” Luca said.
“He knew Liam found evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And he gave me the ring.”
Daniel frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Unless—
“He was helping Liam,” I said.
Luca looked at me.
“Maybe.”
Before anyone could continue, every light in the penthouse went out.
Darkness.
Then red emergency lamps activated.
Daniel immediately pulled a gun.
“Lockdown!”
Guards moved.
Luca was already running toward Noah.
I reached him first.
“Noah!”
He woke crying.
“What happened?”
“I’m here.”
A gunshot echoed somewhere below.
Then another.
I froze.
Luca grabbed my shoulder.
“Stay behind me.”
“What’s happening?”
Daniel checked his radio.
No response.
“Communications are down.”
Luca looked toward the elevator.
“They’re inside.”
“Who?”
“The people who want that chip.”
I clutched Noah.
“We have to leave.”
Luca moved toward a bookshelf.
He pulled one volume.
A section of the wall opened.
I stared.
“You have a secret door?”
He looked at me.
“You expected fewer clichés?”
Despite everything, I nearly laughed.
Then glass shattered in the hallway.
Luca pushed us through.
“Move.”
The hidden corridor was narrow and dark.
Daniel followed.
Two guards remained outside.
Noah whispered, “Mommy, I’m scared.”
“I know.”
Luca crouched while we moved.
“Remember the little bear?”
Noah nodded.
“What did he do when the forest got dark?”
“He kept walking.”
“Exactly.”
Noah tightened his grip on his dinosaur.
“I can keep walking.”
Luca looked at me.
“So can we.”
We reached a steel staircase.
Then a voice came over an emergency speaker.
“Luca.”
Luca stopped.
I knew instantly.
The voice belonged to someone he recognized.
“Matteo.”
A soft laugh filled the stairwell.
“Hello, brother.”
Noah buried his face against me.
Matteo continued.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Luca pressed an intercom button.
“You burned twenty-seven people alive for a memory card?”
“Not twenty-seven. Three firefighters died. The rest made it out.”
My stomach turned.
Luca’s face became murderous.
Matteo continued.
“And Liam Carter complicated things.”
I grabbed the intercom.
“You killed my husband?”
Silence.
Then Matteo laughed quietly.
“Rachel.”
Hearing my name from him terrified me more than the gunfire.
“You’ve been difficult to predict.”
“Stay away from my son.”
“Your son was never the target.”
“He was four years old and you used him as bait!”
“That was Eric’s mistake.”
Luca said, “Where are you?”
“Close.”
A gunshot struck the steel door above us.
Daniel shouted.
“Move!”
We ran down the stairs.
Matteo’s voice followed us.
“Bring me the chip, Luca.”
“No.”
“Then this hotel becomes another Pier Nineteen.”
Luca stopped.
May you like
“What did you do?”
The fire alarm began screaming.
