Chapter 4 - The Box of Paper Stars
The brass key fit nothing Dante recognized.
That bothered him.
Dante knew every lock in his house.
Or he believed he did.
By sunrise, the storm had weakened, but nobody inside the Romano residence had slept.
Arya finally returned to bed.
Mara remained in Dante's study with the photograph of Emily and Vivien between them.
Luca had men searching discreetly for Vincent.
No result.
His phone was off.
His house stood empty.
His driver claimed he had dismissed security before midnight.
A man did not disappear that efficiently without planning to disappear.
"He's running," Mara said.
"Maybe."
"You don't believe that?"
"I believe Vincent is many things. Coward isn't one of them."
"Then why vanish?"
"Because he wants us looking in the wrong direction."
Mara studied the brass key.
"Or because he knows what this opens."
Dante called the architect who had renovated the residence nine years earlier.
He arrived shortly after eight, confused and nervous.
The house predated Dante's ownership by almost a century, though most of the interior had been reconstructed.
When shown the key, the architect shook his head.
"Not ours."
"Old lock?"
"Possibly."
"Blueprints."
Within an hour, rolled architectural drawings covered Dante's dining table.
Mara examined them.
"You have a ridiculous house."
"I didn't design it."
"You approved it."
"I was married."
She looked at him.
"Blaming your dead wife is cowardly."
Dante almost smiled.
The architect pointed toward the western section.
"There was an original service corridor beneath the library."
Dante frowned.
"There isn't."
"Not anymore. We sealed it."
"Why?"
"Structural instability."
Mara leaned closer.
"Where?"
"Behind the wine cellar."
Dante looked toward the brass key.
Twenty minutes later they stood underground.
The cellar smelled of oak and stone.
Rows of expensive bottles lined one wall.
The architect touched a section of limestone.
"This was the old entrance."
Luca brought tools.
They removed a decorative panel.
Behind it stood a narrow iron door.
Mara's pulse increased.
Dante inserted the key.
It turned.
The door opened.
Cold air drifted upward.
A narrow corridor stretched into darkness.
Dante looked at Mara.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Mara."
"Vivien specifically wrote that I had to find whatever is down there first."
"Vivien isn't here."
"Exactly. So perhaps stop ignoring the instructions she died trying to leave."
Luca looked away, hiding amusement.
Dante stared at Mara.
"Behind me."
"Fine."
They entered.
The passage ended at a small room beneath the library.
There was no treasure.
No weapons.
No money.
Only boxes.
Dozens of boxes.
Children's case files.
Mara knelt beside the nearest one.
She read a label.
"Oh my God."
Dante looked down.
"What?"
"These are placement numbers."
"So?"
"They belong to foster children."
She opened the file.
Names.
Birth dates.
Addresses.
Photographs.
Beside several names was a red mark.
Mara's hands began trembling.
"I've seen this."
"Where?"
"Emily's notes."
"You said her notes disappeared."
"Not all of them. She once mailed me three pages because she was afraid to keep everything together."
"What does the mark mean?"
Mara swallowed.
"It means missing."
Dante became still.
"How many?"
They opened another box.
Then another.
Thirty-two children.
Some had vanished from legitimate foster homes.
Others had supposedly run away.
Several had been officially transferred to private residential programs.
All the transfers were signed through organizations associated with the Vivien Romano Foundation.
Mara looked sick.
"Your wife's charity—"
"No."
Dante's voice was sharp.
"You don't know that."
"I'm saying somebody used it."
"Vivien would never—"
"I know."
Dante stopped.
Mara looked at him.
"I never knew her, but a woman trafficking children does not hide evidence proving children were being trafficked."
Dante looked away.
It was the first time she had defended Vivien to him.
Luca examined a ledger.
"Dante."
"What?"
"These payments."
Dante took it.
Large transfers.
Shell companies.
Warehouses.
Transportation firms.
One company appeared repeatedly.
CARUSO FAMILY SERVICES.
Mara whispered, "Vincent."
Luca shook his head.
"Too obvious."
"Sometimes obvious is correct."
"Not with Vincent."
Dante turned pages.
Another name appeared.
GABRIEL MORETTI.
The second person who had known the Calumet route.
Mara looked between them.
"Who is Gabriel?"
Dante's voice flattened.
"My cousin."
"Close?"
"Close enough to be Arya's godfather."
Mara closed her eyes.
"Your family seems exhausting."
"You have no idea."
A floorboard creaked overhead.
Everyone stopped.
Luca drew his gun.
Dante raised one finger.
They listened.
Another sound.
Someone was inside the library.
Dante motioned Mara behind him.
Footsteps moved slowly overhead.
Then silence.
Luca whispered, "Security?"
"No."
Dante had intentionally told nobody where they were.
A shadow blocked the faint light coming through gaps in the old floor.
Someone was searching.
Mara noticed something on the far wall.
A second exit.
She pointed.
Dante nodded.
Luca moved toward it.
Suddenly something heavy slammed against the cellar door behind them.
Then came the smell.
Smoke.
"They're burning the cellar," Luca said.
Mara's face drained.
Dante looked at the files.
Whoever was upstairs knew exactly what they had discovered.
"Take what matters."
They grabbed boxes.
Smoke entered the tunnel.
Luca forced open the second door, revealing narrow stairs leading toward an exterior maintenance entrance.
Dante pushed Mara ahead.
"I can carry—"
"Move."
They emerged behind the mansion as smoke alarms finally began screaming.
Security rushed toward them.
Flames filled a section of the wine cellar.
The fire suppression system activated.
Dante scanned every face.
Someone inside his own estate had started that fire.
He saw Mrs. Alvarez standing outside holding Arya.
Arya ran toward him.
"Papa!"
He crouched and caught her.
"I'm okay."
She looked toward the smoke.
"House burning?"
"No."
Mara approached.
Arya reached for her too.
The three stood together in falling snow while firefighters arrived.
For one strange second, Dante felt a sensation he had almost forgotten.
Family.
Then Luca walked toward him carrying one partially burned folder.
"We've got another problem."
Dante opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Mara at sixteen.
Emily beside her.
The picture had been taken from across the street without either woman knowing.
Beneath it was a typed document.
SUBJECT: MARA ELLISON.
Status: Observe only.
Dante read farther.
The surveillance had continued for twelve years.
Mara stared over his shoulder.
"They've been watching me since I was sixteen?"
Dante turned the page.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Do not approach Mara until Arya chooses her.
The handwriting belonged to Vivien.
Mara looked toward the little girl holding her hand.
A terrifying possibility formed.
Their meeting at Harbor Light had felt accidental.
The crash.
The storm.
Arya escaping the SUV.
Mara volunteering that exact night.
But what if it hadn't been?
"What if someone wanted Arya to find me?" Mara whispered.
Dante's eyes moved toward the convoy.
Toward his guards.
Toward the city beyond the gates.
And then Luca's phone rang.
He listened for five seconds.
His expression changed.
"We found Vincent."
"Where?"
"St. Catherine's Hospital."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"Room 314?"
Luca shook his head.
"No."
He looked directly at Mara.
"He checked himself into the emergency room two hours ago."
"Why?"
Luca lowered the phone.
May you like
"Someone tried to kill him."
---
