Chapter 6 - THE MOTHER WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD“Twenty seconds.”
Evelyn's voice was barely audible.
Cassian glanced at the timer.
Nineteen.
Eighteen.
“Who put that on you?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“They said they'd kill Lydia if I refused.”
Seventeen.
Lydia reached toward her mother's voice.
“Mom, come here.”
“No!” Cassian shouted.
Sixteen.
He turned to Rosa.
“Get Lydia out the back!”
Lydia fought against Rosa's grip.
“I'm not leaving her!”
Fifteen.
Evelyn began backing toward the ruined doorway.
“I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry.”
Fourteen.
Cassian studied the device.
It was compact, crudely secured, and connected to a small receiver.
He knew enough about explosives to understand one thing.
Trying to remove it without specialized equipment could kill everyone in the room.
“Evelyn,” he said, “who has the detonator?”
“I don't know.”
Thirteen.
A phone rang inside Evelyn's coat.
Cassian recognized the trap immediately.
Someone wanted him close enough to die with her.
Twelve.
He seized the phone and answered.
Vincent Romano's voice filled the kitchen.
“Hello, Cassian.”
“Turn it off.”
Vincent laughed softly.
“Such a demanding tone.”
“Turn it off, Vincent.”
“Tell me where Daniel's archive is.”
“I don't have it.”
“Then perhaps your little musician does.”
Ten.
Lydia heard every word.
She stopped struggling.
“I don't know where it is!”
Vincent ignored her.
“Nine seconds, Cassian.”
Cassian looked at the timer.
Then he looked at Evelyn.
“Vincent, if she dies, you lose your only witness.”
A pause.
“Eight.”
“You need her alive. Otherwise you wouldn't have kept her for ten years.”
Seven.
Vincent's breathing changed.
Cassian pressed harder.
“Whatever Daniel hid, Evelyn is the only person who can confirm it.”
Six.
“Five.”
Cassian raised his voice.
“You kill her, and I'll burn every account connected to your family. Every bank. Every political ally. Every dollar.”
Four.
The timer stopped.
Evelyn collapsed to her knees.
Lydia sobbed.
Cassian kept the phone against his ear.
Vincent spoke quietly.
“Now we understand each other.”
“What do you want?”
“Bring the girl to the old Metropolitan Opera warehouse tomorrow night.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel Hayes left something behind.”
“What?”
Vincent chuckled.
“A final performance.”
The call ended.
Cassian did not move until Samuel entered with a bomb technician from a private emergency response team Cassian had summoned during the attack.
The technician examined the device.
“Everyone out. Now.”
Evelyn was taken into the backyard, where the team isolated the device and carefully removed it.
Only after it was declared safe did Lydia finally touch her mother.
She recognized Evelyn's face with trembling fingertips.
The familiar shape of her cheekbones.
The small indentation near her chin.
The thin scar above her eyebrow.
Her mother was older.
But she was real.
Lydia began to cry.
Evelyn pulled her close.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Lydia pushed her away.
“Why?”
Evelyn's hands fell.
“Sweetheart—”
“Why did you let me bury you?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I thought it was the only way to keep you alive.”
“You let me think you were dead for ten years!”
“I know.”
“You let me go through rehabilitation alone. You let me graduate alone. You let me learn how to live without my sight while you were somewhere else!”
Every word seemed to wound Evelyn physically.
“I tried to come back.”
“When?”
“More times than you know.”
Lydia shook her head.
“That's not an answer.”
Evelyn looked toward Cassian.
“Can we speak privately?”
Lydia immediately stiffened.
“No. Whatever you have to say, say it in front of him.”
Evelyn's expression changed.
“You don't understand who he is.”
“I know exactly who he is.”
“No,” Evelyn whispered. “You don't.”
Cassian felt the warning beneath her words.
“Evelyn.”
She turned toward him.
“You promised Daniel.”
“I promised to protect Lydia.”
“And did you?”
Cassian said nothing.
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“You built a criminal empire on the ashes of our family.”
Lydia's face tightened.
“Mom, what are you talking about?”
Evelyn took a shaky breath.
“Your father didn't work for Alessandro Moretti because he wanted money. He was helping federal investigators build a case against him.”
Cassian frowned.
“I know.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “You know what your father told you.”
She reached into her coat.
Cassian tensed.
Evelyn withdrew a small brass key.
“Daniel discovered that the Moretti organization had been financing a network of corrupt officials. But the money wasn't the real secret.”
“What was?” Lydia asked.
“Children.”
The word chilled the room.
Evelyn continued.
“Families threatened into silence. Children separated from parents. Identities changed. Some were hidden to protect them. Others were used as leverage against witnesses.”
Cassian stared at her.
“My father never told me about that.”
“Of course he didn't.”
Lydia felt sick.
“What does this have to do with me?”
Evelyn reached for her hand.
“Daniel found proof that the network was still operating. He planned to expose everyone involved.”
“And the archive?”
“He concealed it somewhere no one would think to search.”
“Where?”
Evelyn's fingers tightened around Lydia's.
“Inside something he knew you would never abandon.”
Lydia's breath caught.
Her cello.
Cassian turned sharply.
“The Testore.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Daniel had a specialist alter the case shortly before the accident. He placed a sealed compartment beneath the internal padding.”
Lydia shook her head.
“I've had that case for years. I've never found anything.”
“Because it wasn't designed to be opened normally.”
Cassian reached for his phone.
“Where is the instrument?”
Rosa answered.
“Your apartment. Mateo placed it in the music room before everything happened.”
Cassian went still.
The penthouse had been attacked.
The security systems had been compromised.
Gabriel had escaped.
And the one object everyone was willing to kill for had been left behind.
Cassian called the emergency team.
“Find the cello case.”
A tense minute passed.
Then a man's voice answered.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“We found the music room.”
“And?”
“The case is here.”
Cassian exhaled.
“Open it.”
A pause.
“Sir, there's something you need to know.”
Cassian's blood went cold.
“What?”
“The case is empty.”
Lydia clutched her mother's hand.
The voice continued.
“And someone left a note inside.”
Cassian closed his eyes.
“Read it.”
The man hesitated.
Then spoke.
The music belongs to its rightful owner.
May you like
Beneath the message was a signature.
Adrian Mercer.
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