Chapter 11 - Bruno Came Home Alone
I had no intention of going alone.
I had even less intention of allowing Damon to know that.
Saint Matthew’s Children’s Home occupied an entire block near the old cathedral district. The orphanage had closed ten years earlier, but its chapel remained open twice a month for private services funded by anonymous donors.
At eleven thirty, I entered through the front gate carrying Sofia’s ledger.
No visible weapons.
No armor.
No men.
Enzo and Luca were positioned in abandoned buildings across the street. Anna coordinated with two federal agents she still trusted. Elena and Gabriel remained beneath Café Nate with twenty armed guards.
That was the plan.
Plans survive until fear gives someone a better idea.
I crossed the courtyard toward the stone lion.
Seven stars had been carved into its base.
Beneath them, a circular stone could be turned clockwise.
I inserted Sofia’s bracelet into a narrow opening at the center.
A mechanism clicked.
The lion’s chest opened.
Inside was an empty compartment.
A note waited there.
MARCO ALWAYS LOOKS WHERE HE IS TOLD.
I heard a vehicle accelerate behind me.
A van smashed through the orphanage gate.
The rear doors opened.
Maeve was thrown into the courtyard.
I ran toward her.
The van sped away before my men could intercept.
Maeve lay unconscious, wrists tied, blood covering one side of her face.
Bruno jumped from the passenger seat before the vehicle disappeared.
The puppy hit the ground, rolled, then ran toward Maeve.
He had been inside the van.
My blood turned cold.
“Elena.”
I called Enzo.
No answer.
Luca’s line went directly to voicemail.
Then the café alarm activated on my phone.
The children were under attack.
I lifted Maeve and carried her toward the chapel while Anna’s agents moved from hiding.
She regained consciousness in my arms.
“They know,” she whispered.
“What?”
“They know Elena remembers the rhyme.”
“Where are they taking her?”
“They’re not taking her to the orphanage.”
A gunshot echoed across the district.
One of Anna’s agents fell from a rooftop.
The operation had been compromised from the beginning.
Damon’s voice boomed through the chapel speakers.
“Marco, you have spent your entire life believing strength means surrounding yourself with men. Tonight, you will learn how many of those men belong to me.”
Police vehicles appeared at both ends of the street.
Not rescue.
Containment.
The commissioner was one of the Nine.
Anna pulled me through a side door.
“We have to leave now.”
“My daughter is at the café.”
The word escaped before I considered it.
Maeve heard.
So did I.
Elena was not my daughter.
But the fear inside me did not recognize legal distinctions.
We escaped through the chapel crypt while police searched above.
The tunnel opened beneath an old bakery two blocks away.
Enzo waited inside.
His shirt was torn. Blood ran from his temple.
“Where is Elena?”
“They hit the café with smoke grenades. Half our guards were police officers on Damon’s payroll.”
“And Luca?”
“He disappeared with the children.”
My hand tightened around Enzo’s collar.
“You let him take them?”
“He saved them.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Damon’s men were shooting at his car.”
Maeve gripped the wall.
“Luca knows where the original ledger is.”
We looked at her.
“He attended Saint Matthew’s after Alessandro adopted him. Sofia once told him about a hidden archive beneath the cathedral.”
“Why would he never mention it?”
“Because he didn’t know its significance.”
Enzo took out his phone.
A message from Luca had arrived seconds earlier.
DO NOT FOLLOW. THEY ARE TRACKING MARCO’S VEHICLES. I HAVE THE CHILDREN.
A second message appeared.
GABRIEL REMEMBERED THE BLACK BIRD MAN. DAMON VISITED ANNA BEFORE THE ABDUCTION.
Anna went still.
“That’s impossible.”
“When?” I asked.
She swallowed.
“Two years ago. He used another name.”
“What did he want?”
“To offer protection.”
“From whom?”
“Luca.”
My brother had hidden a son.
Anna had hidden a deal.
“I thought the Morettis would eventually find us,” she said. “Damon said he could arrange new identities.”
“You told him about Gabriel.”
“I didn’t know who he was.”
Maeve stared at her.
“You led him to the child.”
Anna covered her mouth.
A vehicle stopped outside.
We raised our weapons.
The door opened.
Bruno ran in alone.
His leash had been cut.
Blood stained his black fur, though we found no wound on his body.
Tied around his collar was Elena’s silver necklace.
The brass key was gone.
A tiny recording device had been attached beneath it.
I pressed play.
Elena’s voice filled the bakery.
“Mr. Marco, Uncle Luca says I have to be brave. The bird man wants the song, but I told him I forgot.”
A man shouted in the distance.
She continued quickly.
“Mommy said the truth sleeps where no king owns. I know what that means now.”
The recording shook.
May you like
Then Elena whispered one final sentence.
“The ledger is inside Aunt Sofia’s grave.”
