Chapter 5 - The Dead Woman in the HallwayVictor replayed the security footage twelve times.
Nobody sat.
Rosa had worked for his family for eleven years.
She had served Elena coffee during morning sickness.
She had slept beside Nico’s crib when he had pneumonia.
She had cried at Elena’s funeral.
Matteo had trusted her with his child.
Now Nico screamed whenever he saw her.
Matteo pointed to the chair.
“Sit.”
Rosa obeyed.
Liana held Nico again because he refused to settle otherwise.
Victor stood behind Rosa.
“What did Elena know?” Matteo asked.
Rosa shook her head.
“She made me swear.”
“Elena is dead.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
Matteo’s voice became quieter.
“My wife died thinking I would protect our son. Someone entered my house and took him. Someone drugged him. Someone is watching us right now.”
He leaned closer.
“You don’t get to protect her secrets anymore.”
Rosa opened her eyes.
“She thought the baby wasn’t safe.”
Matteo stared.
“When?”
“Before he was born.”
“From whom?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Start at the beginning.”
Rosa twisted her hands together.
“About six months into the pregnancy, Mrs. Varric received a letter.”
“What letter?”
“No return address. Inside was a photograph of a woman.”
Liana’s breath caught.
“Beth?”
Rosa looked at her.
“Yes.”
Liana swayed.
Matteo moved closer.
“What did it say?”
“Three words on the back.”
Rosa swallowed.
Ask Bellrose why.
Matteo’s chest tightened.
Elena had never told him.
“She went to the clinic?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“With me.”
Anger flashed through Matteo.
“You let my pregnant wife investigate a threat without telling me?”
“She begged me.”
“And you listened?”
“She believed somebody inside your organization was involved.”
That silenced him.
Victor’s expression sharpened.
“Why?”
“Because Bellrose had records they shouldn’t have had.”
“What records?”
“DNA.”
Liana hugged Nico.
“Whose?”
Rosa looked at Matteo.
“Yours.”
The room became very still.
Matteo’s voice dropped.
“Explain.”
“Mrs. Varric discovered Bellrose kept genetic profiles of wealthy patients, donors, spouses, children. Not routine medical information. Full genomic data.”
Victor cursed under his breath.
“For what purpose?”
“She never learned all of it.”
“What did she learn?”
“That some babies born through affiliated clinics had their identities manipulated.”
Liana whispered, “Beth’s warning.”
Rosa nodded.
“She used the same words.”
“They steal identities.”
“Yes.”
Matteo felt the pieces shifting.
Not fitting.
But moving.
“What does that mean? Switched babies?”
“Sometimes.”
Liana turned pale.
Matteo looked instantly at Nico.
Rosa shook her head.
“No. Nico is yours. Elena tested him privately.”
“Then what?”
“Birth certificates changed. Medical records altered. Children registered under false parentage. Donor embryos implanted without consent.”
Victor said, “That’s trafficking.”
“Worse,” Rosa whispered.
Matteo stared.
“How is that worse?”
“Because the children were selected.”
“Selected for what?”
Rosa began crying again.
“I don’t know.”
Matteo slammed his palm onto the desk.
“Stop saying that!”
Nico startled.
Matteo immediately stepped back.
Liana stared at him but said nothing.
Rosa wiped her eyes.
“Elena found Bethany’s name in an archived employee record. She believed Beth discovered the program years earlier.”
“And they killed her?”
“I don’t know.”
Liana’s voice cracked.
“Did Elena find out what happened to my sister?”
Rosa looked at her.
“She believed Beth was alive.”
Liana’s entire body went still.
“What?”
“She found financial records showing payments to a woman using Bethany’s employee number three years after Beth disappeared.”
“Where?”
“A clinic outside Milwaukee.”
Liana covered her mouth.
“Why didn’t she find her?”
“She tried.”
Matteo asked, “What happened?”
“She went there. The building was empty.”
Liana whispered, “Seven years.”
Rosa nodded.
“Elena kept searching.”
Matteo felt betrayed by the dead.
He hated himself for it.
“How long?”
“Until the week she died.”
Matteo stared.
Rosa slowly reached into her pocket.
Victor immediately grabbed her wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“A key.”
He searched her, then allowed her to remove it.
Small.
Brass.
Number 314.
“Elena gave me this forty-eight hours before the accident,” Rosa said.
Matteo took it.
“What does it open?”
“She said you would know when the right person arrived.”
Liana looked at the key.
“The right person?”
Rosa stared at her.
“You.”
Liana shook her head.
“That makes no sense.”
“Elena showed me your photograph.”
Liana froze.
“What?”
“She said if anything happened to her, one day a woman named Liana Graves might come looking for answers.”
Matteo stared at Liana.
“You said you didn’t know my wife.”
“I didn’t.”
Rosa nodded.
“Elena knew you.”
“How?”
“She had been watching you for almost a year.”
Liana’s face hardened.
“Why?”
“She wanted to protect you.”
“From what?”
Rosa whispered, “From learning what happened to Beth too soon.”
Liana stood.
“Too soon?”
“Beth was connected to people who could reach anyone. Police. Hospitals. Judges.”
“And Elena?”
“She thought she could expose them.”
Matteo’s grief became fury.
“And instead she died.”
Nobody answered.
Victor took the key.
“Three fourteen.”
He studied it.
“Could be a train locker. Storage facility. Hotel room.”
Rosa shook her head.
“Elena said the place was where Matteo proposed.”
Matteo’s expression changed.
Victor looked at him.
“Where?”
Matteo thought back nine years.
A winter evening.
Snow.
Elena laughing because his supposedly private restaurant proposal had been interrupted by a fire alarm.
Afterward they walked through Union Station and sat inside an old private waiting lounge that Elena loved.
Then Matteo remembered.
“There were luggage lockers in the restored east corridor.”
Victor was already moving.
“We go now.”
Matteo looked at Rosa.
“You stay here.”
She nodded.
“And Victor?”
“Yes?”
“Put two men on her.”
Rosa flinched.
“Sir—”
“Until I know whether you’re protecting us or protecting them.”
Nico reached toward Liana again.
Matteo saw it.
“You’re coming.”
Liana nodded.
Twenty minutes later, their armored SUV moved through downtown Chicago.
Rain streaked the windows.
Nico slept against Liana in the back seat.
Matteo sat opposite her.
“You really never met Elena?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“She knew your face.”
“I don’t understand it either.”
Matteo watched Nico’s tiny hand wrapped around Liana’s finger.
“Why does he trust you?”
Liana looked down.
“Maybe babies remember things adults forget.”
Matteo said nothing.
Union Station was nearly empty when they arrived.
Victor’s men cleared the corridor.
Locker 314 stood beneath an old brass sign.
The key turned.
Inside was a single black box.
Matteo opened it.
There was no money.
No weapon.
No evidence file.
Only a small digital recorder.
And an envelope addressed in Elena’s handwriting.
MATTEO — IF LIANA GRAVES IS WITH YOU, THEN THEY TOOK NICO.
Matteo stopped breathing.
Liana whispered, “She knew.”
His hands shook as he opened the letter.
Inside were two lines.
May you like
Do not trust the kidnapping footage.
The woman carrying our son out of the nursery was already dead.
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