Chapter 8 - Vivien’s Hidden Letter
Dante didn't shout.
That frightened Mara more than if he had.
The entire mansion moved within sixty seconds.
Gates locked.
Cameras reviewed.
Security questioned.
Every vehicle checked.
Arya had been seen sixteen minutes earlier walking toward the greenhouse with someone wearing a staff coat.
The camera angle never showed the person's face.
The greenhouse was empty.
One exterior service gate had opened for eleven seconds.
No authorization appeared in the system.
Dante watched the footage three times.
"Inside access," Luca said.
Dante looked at him.
Luca held his stare.
Neither looked away.
Mara understood the problem.
Vivien's warning.
Someone you love.
Anyone near Dante could be Shepherd.
Including Luca.
Dante's phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone became still.
He answered.
"Arya."
A distorted voice responded.
"The girl is safe."
"If she's hurt—"
"Open Vivien's archive."
Dante's eyes went toward Mara.
"What do you want?"
"The original ledger."
"We don't have it."
"You'll find it."
"Let me speak to my daughter."
Silence.
Then Arya's voice.
"Papa?"
Dante closed his eyes for half a second.
"I'm here, little star."
"I'm scared."
"I know."
"Mara?"
Mara grabbed the phone.
"I'm here."
Arya began crying.
"Make the quiet stop."
Mara's throat tightened.
"Listen to me. We're going to breathe, okay?"
Dante stared at her.
Mara continued.
"One corner."
Arya sniffed.
"Other corner."
A breath.
"Then turn."
Another breath.
"Again."
The distorted voice returned.
"Midnight."
The call disconnected.
Dante immediately turned to Luca.
"Trace."
"Already trying."
Mara grabbed his arm.
"We have five hours."
"We'll find her."
"You don't know that."
His eyes met hers.
"No."
The honesty hurt.
"Then we find the ledger."
They returned to Vivien's hidden underground room.
Most records had survived the fire.
Mara searched star markings.
Dante searched dates.
Vincent, still recovering, joined by video call.
At 9:40 p.m., Mara found a pattern.
Every missing child's record contained a small star in one corner.
Different numbers of points had been darkened.
"Coordinates?" Luca suggested.
"No."
Mara spread files across the table.
"Emily used indexing codes."
She ordered them chronologically.
The darkened points translated into letters.
S.
T.
C.
A.
T.
H.
"St. Catherine's," Dante said.
Room 314.
They drove to the hospital.
The old room had been converted into storage.
Behind a vent Mara found an envelope.
Vivien's handwriting covered the front.
FOR DANTE — ONLY WHEN ARYA IS IN DANGER.
His hands shook opening it.
My love,
If you are reading this, then everything I was afraid of has happened.
First, forgive me.
I kept secrets because I thought I was protecting you from becoming the man your father wanted you to be.
That was arrogant.
And wrong.
Dante stopped reading.
Mara touched his arm.
"Continue."
He did.
Emily Ellison found Sofia Reyes and twenty-six other children being moved through organizations your father created. Gabriel inherited pieces of that network, but he is not Shepherd.
Dante exhaled.
Gabriel wasn't Shepherd.
Shepherd helped Salvatore hide the network before Gabriel was old enough to control anything.
Shepherd arranged Emily's death.
Shepherd knows I discovered the truth.
If I die, Shepherd killed me too.
Dante looked down.
The final section had been underlined.
The ledger is not paper.
It is a child.
Mara frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Dante continued.
Sofia memorized everything Emily showed her because Emily feared written records could disappear. Sofia knows names, dates, accounts, houses, drivers, officials. That is why they hunted her.
Mara covered her mouth.
Sofia was the ledger.
But if Shepherd ever takes Arya, there is only one person who knows Sofia's current location.
Mara Ellison.
Mara stepped backward.
"No."
Dante read the final line.
Emily gave Mara the location without telling her what it was.
Dante looked at Mara.
"You know where Sofia is."
"I don't."
"Vivien believed you do."
"I don't!"
Luca stepped forward.
"Think."
Mara paced.
Emily.
Six years.
Memories.
Trips.
Letters.
Birthdays.
Then Mara remembered.
The stars lead back to the beginning.
"Summer camp."
Dante turned.
"What?"
"When I was seventeen, Emily sent me to a summer program in Wisconsin."
"So?"
"She visited me there the summer before she died."
"And?"
"She brought a little girl."
Dante became still.
"Sofia?"
"I don't know. She called her Sophie."
"Where?"
"Starlight Lake."
Dante was already moving.
"How far?"
"Three hours."
In winter conditions, four.
Midnight was less than two hours away.
Then Luca's trace returned.
The kidnap call came from northern Wisconsin.
Near Starlight Lake.
Dante looked at Mara.
"They aren't waiting for us to tell them."
"They already know."
Someone had followed the same clues.
They drove north.
Snow began falling again.
At 11:42 p.m., they reached an abandoned summer lodge beside a frozen lake.
One light burned inside.
Dante ordered his men to stay back.
Mara refused.
"They want me."
"Exactly why you're staying."
"If Sofia trusts Emily's sister, I may be the only person who can get her out."
Dante stared at her.
"If you die—"
"I won't."
"You don't know that."
"Neither do you."
She stepped closer.
"Your daughter needs us to stop arguing."
Dante looked at the lodge.
Then back.
"Behind me."
Mara almost smiled.
"You really love saying that."
They entered.
Arya sat in a chair near the fireplace.
Unhurt.
Mara's knees nearly gave way.
"Arya."
The girl looked up.
"Mara!"
A man stepped from the shadows.
Gabriel.
Dante raised his weapon.
"Where's Shepherd?"
Gabriel smiled.
"Closer than you think."
Then another person entered from the rear door.
Dante's gun lowered half an inch.
Shock emptied his face.
Mara stared.
Because Shepherd wasn't Luca.
Wasn't Vincent.
Wasn't Gabriel.
It was the person Dante had trusted with Arya every day since Vivien died.
Mrs. Alvarez.
May you like
And she was holding a gun.
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