Chapter 9 - The Sister Who Never DiedLiana hit Beth before she hugged her.
The second from directly outside Nico’s nursery.
Matteo reached the stairs before anyone else.
Victor shouted behind him.
“Wait!”
Matteo did not.
Nothing on earth could have made him.
He took the steps three at a time.
Another gunshot.
Then silence.
Matteo reached the corridor.
One guard lay against the wall, conscious but bleeding from his shoulder.
Another held his weapon toward the nursery.
“Sir!”
“Where is Nico?”
“Inside.”
“With who?”
“Miss Graves.”
Matteo’s heart stopped.
He kicked open the door.
Liana stood beside the crib holding Nico against her chest.
A man in black lay on the floor.
Rosa stood over him.
Gun in hand.
Matteo raised his own weapon.
“Drop it.”
Rosa looked at him.
“Matteo, listen.”
“Drop the gun.”
She did.
Victor arrived.
Two guards secured the attacker.
Alive.
Barely.
Matteo crossed to Liana.
“Nico?”
“He’s okay.”
Matteo inspected him.
No blood.
No marks.
The baby grabbed his father’s shirt.
Matteo closed his eyes for half a second.
Then turned toward Rosa.
“You ran.”
“To get him.”
“Explain.”
“The men watching me weren’t yours.”
Victor stared.
“What?”
Rosa pointed to one unconscious guard outside.
“The real guard is downstairs in a storage room.”
Victor checked his radio.
Silence.
His face hardened.
The estate security network had been infiltrated.
Again.
Rosa said, “I recognized the substitute. Samuel used him years ago.”
Matteo looked at the attacker.
“Meridian?”
“Yes.”
Vale appeared at the door with two guards behind him.
He saw the attacker.
His face changed.
“You know him?” Matteo asked.
Vale nodded.
“Caleb Dorne.”
“Circle?”
“Enforcement.”
Victor searched the attacker’s pockets.
Phone.
Knife.
Plastic syringe.
Matteo looked at it.
The same type of micro-infusion setup found in the kidnapping photographs.
Liana held Nico tighter.
“What was he going to inject?”
Vale stared at the syringe.
“Not the baby.”
Everyone looked at him.
Vale pointed toward Liana.
“Her.”
Liana went pale.
“Why?”
Vale asked Victor for the syringe.
Victor refused.
“Label says L-9,” Vale said.
“What is it?” Matteo demanded.
“A dissociative.”
“Poison?”
“No. Memory suppression agent.”
Liana stared.
“You can’t erase memories.”
“Not cleanly. But you can disrupt recent recall.”
Matteo understood.
“They wanted her to forget today.”
“Probably.”
“Why not kill her?”
Vale looked at him.
“Because Bethany would know.”
Liana froze.
“What?”
Vale sighed.
“Beth has a condition attached to her cooperation.”
“What condition?”
“If anything happens to Liana, information is released.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Liana stepped closer.
“My sister is protecting me?”
“She has been for years.”
Tears filled Liana’s eyes.
“Then where is she?”
Before Vale could answer, the attacker on the floor laughed.
Everyone turned.
Caleb Dorne opened his eyes.
Blood covered his teeth.
“She’s dead.”
Liana stopped.
Matteo crouched beside him.
“Where is Bethany?”
Dorne grinned.
“Ask your wife.”
Matteo punched him.
Victor pulled him back.
“Alive, Matteo. We need him alive.”
Dorne laughed again.
“Your wife was better at this.”
Matteo’s eyes went cold.
“What did you do to Elena?”
Dorne said nothing.
Matteo grabbed the syringe.
Vale stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Matteo held it inches from Dorne’s neck.
“You came into my son’s room carrying this.”
Dorne’s smile vanished.
“You won’t.”
Matteo pressed the needle against his skin.
“Try me.”
“Matteo,” Liana said.
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
“Don’t become the reason he never talks.”
Matteo stared at her.
Then withdrew the needle.
Victor cuffed Dorne.
Rosa leaned against the wall.
“I know where Beth went.”
Liana turned.
“What?”
Rosa looked guilty.
“Elena left me one more instruction.”
Matteo’s patience snapped.
“You have an entire library of instructions from my dead wife?”
“She was trying to protect you.”
“I am getting very tired of being protected.”
Rosa reached beneath the collar of her dress.
She removed a tiny key sewn into the lining.
“Beth had a fallback location.”
“Where?”
“Lake Geneva.”
Matteo knew immediately.
“Elena’s old family cabin.”
Rosa nodded.
“It was sold years ago.”
“On paper.”
Victor said, “We leave now.”
Vale stepped forward.
“You can’t.”
Matteo looked at him.
“You’ve confused your role here.”
“If Dorne found this house, Meridian knows you’re close.”
“All the more reason.”
“They’ll watch the roads.”
Victor nodded reluctantly.
“He’s right.”
Liana looked at Nico.
“Then we don’t use the roads.”
Matteo stared.
“What?”
She pointed toward the estate’s rear windows.
“You own a helicopter.”
Victor almost laughed.
“They’ll track it.”
“Then make them track it somewhere else.”
Matteo studied her.
“Explain.”
“One helicopter leaves with a convoy moving toward Wisconsin.”
Victor understood.
“While we leave another way.”
“How?”
Liana looked at Rosa.
“You said Elena prepared for this.”
Rosa slowly nodded.
“There’s an old service tunnel.”
Matteo stared.
“In my house?”
“It predates your renovation.”
“Where does it lead?”
“Half a mile into the woods.”
Matteo looked around his own nursery.
His own estate.
His own people.
He had never felt less in control.
Forty minutes later, Victor’s helicopter lifted from the lawn.
Three armored vehicles departed through the north gate.
Every visible sign suggested Matteo Varric was fleeing with his family.
Meanwhile, beneath the mansion, Matteo carried Nico through a narrow brick tunnel no modern blueprint showed.
Liana followed.
Rosa behind her.
Victor led with a flashlight.
Adrian Vale remained under guard.
At the far end, they emerged beneath an abandoned greenhouse.
A plain SUV waited nearby.
Rosa looked stunned.
“I didn’t arrange that.”
Everyone froze.
Matteo raised his gun.
Headlights flashed once.
Then the driver’s door opened.
A woman stepped out.
Dark hair.
Thin face.
A scar behind her left ear.
Liana stopped breathing.
The woman looked at her.
Seven years disappeared from both their faces.
“Beth?”
Bethany Graves began to cry.
May you like
“Hi, Li.”
Liana ran to her.
