Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT THE ESTATE BURNED
Carmine dragged Ivy behind the heavy desk.
“Stay down.”
She dropped beside him as another shot cracked through the study.
The room smelled of shattered glass and gunpowder. Somewhere in the corridor, men were shouting into radios. Footsteps thundered across the upper landing.
Carmine drew his weapon.
Ivy had never seen him look frightened.
Now she understood that fear did not always make a person shake. Sometimes it made him frighteningly still.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then when I tell you, you run to the service stairwell. Daniel will meet you there.”
“What about you?”
“I'm coming.”
She wanted to believe him.
He waited until the gunfire moved farther down the corridor, then opened the study door.
“Go.”
Ivy ran.
She made it halfway to the stairwell before a man stepped from an alcove and grabbed her arm.
She screamed.
He clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Quiet.”
She recognized him as one of Rocco's associates, a guard named Peter who had delivered supplies to the kitchen several times a week.
He dragged her toward the east wing.
Ivy fought, driving her heel into his shin. He cursed and tightened his grip.
Then a voice rang out behind them.
“Let her go.”
Carmine stood at the far end of the corridor, his weapon aimed at Peter.
Peter's hand moved toward his own gun.
“Don't,” Carmine said.
For a moment, neither man moved.
Then Peter released Ivy and raised his hands.
Two guards emerged from the stairwell and restrained him.
Carmine reached Ivy in seconds.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, struggling to catch her breath.
His gaze swept over her face and arms, searching for injuries.
“I told you to go to the stairwell.”
“I was trying!”
He closed his eyes briefly, as if fighting the urge to say something he would regret.
Then he took her hand.
“Come on.”
They reached the underground garage, where Mrs. Bennett and Daniel were waiting beside an armored vehicle.
As Ivy climbed inside, she heard an explosion from somewhere in the house.
The windows flashed orange.
The estate's west wing caught fire.
Carmine stood in the garage entrance, staring at the smoke rising beyond the courtyard.
His home was burning.
But it was the look on his face that frightened Ivy most.
He wasn't surprised.
He was recognizing something.
“What is it?” she asked.
He turned toward her.
“Someone knew exactly where we'd be.”
“Victor Hale?”
“Possibly. Or someone who has been feeding him information.”
Daniel approached.
“We found Peter's phone. He received a message ten minutes before the shooting.”
Carmine took the device.
The message contained a photograph of Ivy entering the estate that morning.
Beneath it were six words.
THE DAUGHTER MUST NEVER REACH THE DOCKS.
Ivy felt cold.
“What docks?”
Carmine stared at the message.
“Pier Nineteen. That's where Elena was supposed to meet Thomas Vale on the night she died.”
“Why would I go there?”
“Because your mother left something there. We found a reference to it in the hospital records.”
“Then we're going.”
“No.”
Ivy's anger returned.
“You can't keep telling me what I can and can't do.”
“Someone just tried to kill you.”
“And someone killed my mother by making her live in fear for years. If the answer is at those docks, I'm going.”
Carmine looked at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
“We go together.”
They left the estate before dawn and reached Pier Nineteen shortly after sunrise. The harbor was deserted except for a few workers unloading cargo from a fishing vessel.
Carmine brought two trusted guards. Ivy carried the music box in a small bag, along with her mother's letter and the photograph of Elena.
At the end of the pier stood a weather-beaten storage building.
The brass key from the east-wing closet opened its side door.
Inside, dust covered the shelves. An old metal cabinet stood against the far wall.
Carmine forced it open.
There was a single envelope inside.
Ivy recognized her mother's handwriting.
She opened it carefully.
The letter was addressed to her.
Ivy, if you are reading this, then the man I feared has finally found you.
You deserve to know the truth. The Bellandis paid for my silence because your father was a man they believed would destroy their family if the truth came out.
I never accepted the money to hide you. I accepted it because Elena begged me to protect you from someone who would use your birth to start a war.
Ivy stopped reading.
“Who is my father?”
Carmine took the letter gently and examined the final page.
There was a name written beneath the signature.
Matteo Bellandi.
Carmine went pale.
“My older brother.”
Ivy stared at him.
“You told me your brother died.”
“He did.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Before or after my mother died?”
Carmine didn't answer.
A sound came from behind the storage building.
Someone was approaching.
Carmine drew his weapon and moved toward the doorway.
A man stepped into the light.
He was older, leaner than Carmine, with gray at his temples and a scar running beneath his left ear.
Carmine's gun lowered by an inch.
The man's eyes settled on Ivy.
Then he smiled sadly.
“You look exactly like your mother.”
Carmine whispered a name.
“Thomas.”
The missing driver removed his cap.
“I know what you're thinking,” he said. “And you're right. Matteo didn't die in that accident.”
May you like
He looked directly at Ivy.
“Your father is alive.”
