Chapter 12 - The Nurse Finally Told the Truth
Emergency lights activated within seconds.
Gabriel's security team moved faster than before.
Doors sealed.
Backup systems came online.
Leo's safe room locked automatically.
Maya was already inside.
Lorenzo entered behind her.
"Nobody opens this door except Gabriel."
"What about Matteo?"
"He can't access it."
"You said that about the mansion."
Lorenzo looked at her.
"Helpful."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
He checked the security screen.
Several cameras were offline.
Others showed guards moving through corridors.
Maya picked up Leo.
He stirred but didn't wake.
"Mrs. Bell called me."
Lorenzo turned sharply.
"What?"
"She said Matteo is coming for Leo."
"When?"
"Seconds before the power failed."
"Why didn't you say—"
"I was about to."
He took a breath.
Stopped himself.
"What exactly did she say?"
Maya repeated it.
Lorenzo frowned.
"She called Matteo reckless."
"Maybe they're fighting."
"Or she's manipulating us."
"Probably both."
The intercom activated.
Gabriel.
"Boss."
"Status?"
"Perimeter breach attempt at west gate. Vehicle abandoned."
"Matteo?"
"No visual."
"Decoy."
"Agreed."
"Interior?"
"Clear so far."
Maya remembered something.
"The service tunnel."
Lorenzo immediately keyed the radio.
"West garage tunnel."
Gabriel cursed.
"We sealed it."
"Check again."
Minutes passed.
Then:
"Seal was cut."
Lorenzo's face hardened.
"He's inside."
Maya held Leo tighter.
The safe room door could withstand forced entry.
But Matteo didn't need force if someone still loyal to him had access.
"How many people know this room exists?" Maya asked.
Lorenzo considered.
"Gabriel. Me. Elena knew."
"Bell?"
His silence answered.
Maya felt cold.
"Then she could've told Matteo."
Lorenzo picked up his weapon.
"Behind me."
"I'm holding a baby."
"Exactly."
The security camera outside the library flickered.
A figure appeared.
Not Matteo.
Nurse Evelyn.
Barefoot.
Hospital gown beneath a borrowed coat.
She looked terrified.
Maya stared.
"What's she doing here?"
Evelyn approached the hidden safe room entrance and pressed the intercom.
"Mr. Rossi."
Lorenzo didn't answer.
"Please."
Maya looked at him.
"She shouldn't even know this room exists."
"Exactly."
Evelyn began crying.
"He's in the house."
Lorenzo pressed the speaker.
"Who?"
"Matteo."
"How do you know?"
"Because I let him in before."
Maya's stomach dropped.
Lorenzo's entire posture changed.
"You have thirty seconds."
Evelyn spoke quickly.
"Mrs. Bell recruited me. She said Leo's formulas needed special supplements that Dr. Grant couldn't know about because of insurance and medical licensing."
Dr. Grant, standing in the far corner, stared.
"That's absurd."
"I know that now."
Evelyn sobbed.
"I questioned it after he kept getting worse."
"Why didn't you report it?"
"Bell threatened my daughter."
Silence.
"I owe money. My daughter has a record. Bell knew everything."
The same system.
Vulnerable employees.
Leverage.
Maya felt sudden sympathy despite her anger.
Evelyn continued.
"Matteo started bringing the altered supplies himself. I stopped using some. I lied in the logs. I tried giving Leo normal formula."
Dr. Grant stepped closer to the intercom.
"Is that why some days he improved?"
"Yes."
Lorenzo's jaw flexed.
"You could have told me."
"I was afraid of you."
That sentence stopped him.
Not Matteo.
Not Bell.
Lorenzo.
His reputation had made a frightened woman believe confessing was more dangerous than continuing.
Elena's warning again.
Choose differently.
Evelyn pressed her forehead against the wall outside.
"Last night I decided I was done. I was going to tell Dr. Grant."
"The wine?"
"Marcus brought me water."
"You drank it."
"Yes."
Maya asked, "Why are you here now?"
"Because police took me to the hospital. I left when Bell called."
Lorenzo almost exploded.
"You left medical supervision because Bell called?"
"She told me Matteo had copied an emergency override code."
Everyone stared.
"For this room?" Lorenzo asked.
Evelyn nodded.
"He got it months ago."
Lorenzo checked the door panel.
A red light blinked.
Someone had already attempted access.
"How long before he opens it?" Maya asked.
Gabriel answered through the radio.
"If he has the master seed code, minutes."
Lorenzo looked around.
The safe room suddenly felt like a trap.
"Secondary exit?"
Maya asked.
"There is one."
"Where?"
Lorenzo opened a concealed floor panel.
A narrow staircase descended.
"Where does it go?"
"Garden utility building."
Maya almost laughed.
"Your house has too many tunnels."
"Agreed."
They moved.
Dr. Grant carried medical supplies.
Maya held Leo.
Lorenzo led.
Evelyn followed after Gabriel's team reached her.
The passage smelled like stone and dust.
Halfway through, the lights behind them failed.
Maya looked back.
"He's opened the room."
Lorenzo didn't answer.
They moved faster.
At the utility exit Gabriel waited with officers.
Maya stepped outside into cold morning air.
For the first time she realized she had been holding her breath.
"Vehicle," Gabriel said.
They rushed toward an armored SUV.
Then a gunshot cracked from the mansion.
Maya flinched.
Lorenzo turned.
Gabriel grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
"He's in my house."
"We have police inside."
"Leo—"
"Leo is here."
Gabriel pointed toward Maya.
Lorenzo looked.
His son.
Safe.
Elena's words seemed to echo around him.
Protect our son before you protect the Rossi name.
Lorenzo climbed into the SUV.
That decision mattered.
Because Matteo expected Lorenzo to come hunting him.
Instead Lorenzo left.
Police took the mansion.
Twenty minutes later Matteo escaped through another service exit.
But he left something behind.
A phone.
Messages connected him to the sabotage.
Financial accounts.
Instructions sent to Marcus.
Payments to Evelyn disguised through intermediaries.
And one audio recording.
Mrs. Bell.
Arguing with Matteo.
"You said the child would never be in danger."
"He isn't."
"He nearly died."
"Temporary complications."
"He's Elena's son."
"He's leverage."
"He's a Rossi."
"So am I."
Then Bell's voice:
"No. You're your father's worst mistake."
The recording ended.
Maya listened twice.
Mrs. Bell had helped create the plan.
Then tried to stop it when Matteo went too far.
That didn't absolve her.
But it changed something.
She was no longer simply protecting Matteo.
She was fighting him.
Later that morning Bell called again.
This time Lorenzo answered.
"Where are you?"
"Trying to correct what I did."
"Tell me where."
"You'll send police."
"Yes."
A bitter laugh.
"Elena really did change you."
"She tried."
Silence.
Then Bell whispered:
"Saint Catherine's chapel."
Lorenzo looked toward Gabriel.
Police were already moving.
"Is Matteo there?"
"No."
"Then why are you?"
"Because this is where your father made me promise to protect the family."
Lorenzo's face tightened.
Bell continued.
"I protected the name so long I forgot to protect the people."
For the first time, remorse entered her voice.
"There's a ledger beneath the altar. Everything your father did. Everything Matteo continued."
"Why tell me?"
"Because Matteo is coming for Maya."
Maya froze.
Lorenzo looked at her.
"Why?"
Bell answered.
"Because Daniel told him Maya knows where the second copy is."
Maya shook her head.
"I don't."
Bell went silent.
Then:
"Yes, you do."
"Where?"
"The one place Daniel knew you would never throw away."
Maya's heart stopped.
Lily.
Again.
The nursery supplies in her apartment.
The hospital bracelet.
The rabbit had contained the key.
But Daniel had hidden something else.
Something Matteo believed Maya could find.
And before Bell could explain further, the line cut out.
This time, not voluntarily.
A loud crash sounded before disconnection.
Then silence.
Matteo had found her.
May you like
And now he knew she had betrayed him.
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