Chapter 12 - The House That Burned TwiceThe Moretti lake house had burned twice.
The first fire destroyed the building.
The second destroyed Gabriel’s childhood.
They reached the property shortly after noon.
Nothing remained except stone foundations buried beneath snow and a collapsed chimney rising like a gravestone among the trees.
Sheree stepped out of the SUV.
“This is cheerful.”
Gabriel stared at the ruins.
He had barely spoken during the drive.
Anthony and Matteo followed.
Amelia was safe with Mrs. Alvarez at a secure property in Chicago, an arrangement Sheree had approved only after Gabriel promised not to relocate their daughter to Switzerland.
He had apparently considered it.
They approached the foundation.
Gabriel held the brass key.
“I came here every summer until I was thirteen.”
“With your mother?” Sheree asked.
“No. She was already dead.”
Matteo looked uncomfortable.
Gabriel noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“I was six. I remember almost nothing.”
“Almost?”
Matteo looked toward the trees.
“The night of the fire, I heard Dad arguing with a woman.”
Gabriel stared.
“You never told me.”
“I thought it was a dream.”
“What did she say?”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“She said your name.”
Wind moved through the pines.
Sheree stepped closer to Gabriel.
“Maybe the key opens something that survived.”
Anthony began searching the foundation.
Twenty minutes later, he found a steel hatch beneath several inches of frozen soil.
The brass key fit.
Gabriel opened it.
A narrow staircase descended underground.
“Absolutely not,” Sheree said.
Gabriel looked at her.
“We’re going down.”
“I know. I just wanted history to record my objection.”
Anthony went first.
The underground room smelled of rust and damp concrete.
Shelves lined the walls.
Most were empty.
One metal cabinet remained.
Inside were photographs.
Gabriel picked up the first.
Vittorio Moretti stood beside a beautiful dark-haired woman.
Gabriel’s mother.
Elena.
She was holding a baby.
Matteo.
Another photograph showed young Gabriel standing beside her.
The date was printed in the corner.
Gabriel stared.
It had been taken three years after her supposed death.
His hand began shaking.
Sheree touched his back.
“She was alive.”
Gabriel’s voice sounded almost childlike.
“My father told me she was dead.”
Anthony opened another drawer.
Letters.
Dozens.
Every envelope addressed to Gabriel and Matteo.
None opened.
Gabriel unfolded one.
My Gabriel,
I don’t know what your father has told you. I pray someday you understand that leaving you was never my choice.
He stopped reading.
Sheree took his hand.
Matteo turned away, wiping his eyes.
Then Anthony found a cassette recorder.
Beside it was a tape labeled:
IF MY SONS EVER FIND THIS.
The batteries were dead.
Anthony found replacements in the emergency equipment.
The machine crackled.
A woman’s voice filled the bunker.
“My name is Elena Moretti.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“If Gabriel or Matteo are hearing this, Vittorio failed to destroy everything.”
The recording continued.
Elena described discovering that Vittorio and Salvatore were building financial relationships with politicians, judges, and criminal organizations.
She threatened to expose them.
Vittorio hid her.
Not to protect her.
To silence her.
“He told my sons I died.”
Gabriel sat down.
Sheree had never seen him look so devastated.
Then Elena said something none of them expected.
“I escaped the lake house on December eighteenth, 2005.”
Matteo whispered, “Escaped?”
The recording continued.
“If Vittorio discovers where I went, he will kill me.”
A long pause.
“I am leaving Chicago tonight.”
Another pause.
“And I am not leaving alone.”
Gabriel looked up.
Elena’s voice trembled.
“I have a daughter.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Matteo stared at Gabriel.
Gabriel stared at the recorder.
Sheree blinked.
“You have a sister?”
The tape clicked.
Then Elena whispered one final sentence.
“Her name is Sofia.”
The recording ended.
Anthony swore quietly.
Gabriel stood.
“Find her.”
“Gabriel—”
“Find Sofia Moretti.”
Anthony nodded.
Then Sheree noticed something behind the cabinet.
Fresh footprints.
Not theirs.
Someone had been inside recently.
She followed them toward a second exit.
“Gabriel.”
He came over.
A message had been scratched into the wall.
Fresh.
SOFIA FOUND YOU FIRST.
Matteo read it.
“So our secret sister is threatening Amelia?”
“No,” Sheree said.
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed at the lettering.
“If Sofia wanted Gabriel dead, why lead him here? Why show him proof his mother survived?”
Gabriel understood.
“This isn’t a threat.”
“Then what is it?” Anthony asked.
Sheree looked toward the staircase.
“A warning.”
A gunshot exploded above them.
Anthony shoved Sheree against the wall.
Gabriel drew his weapon.
Another shot.
Then another.
Someone was firing into the entrance.
Matteo shouted, “Back exit!”
They ran.
The second tunnel opened fifty yards into the forest.
They emerged into heavy snow.
A black SUV accelerated away through the trees.
Anthony fired at the tires.
Missed.
Gabriel started after it.
Sheree grabbed him.
“No.”
“They know where Sofia is.”
“Maybe.”
Gabriel looked at her.
Sheree held up something she had found beside the scratched message.
A photograph.
A woman around thirty.
Dark hair.
Moretti eyes.
Standing beside Elena Moretti.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken three weeks earlier.
On the back was an address.
Chicago.
May you like
And one sentence.
Come alone if you want your mother back.
Related Stories
