Chapter 1 - THE NUMBER ON HIS FATHER'S HAND
# THE MAFIA BOSS SAW HIS FIANCÉE PUSH HIS PARALYZED FATHER AWAY FROM THE DINNER TABLE—THEN THE MAID WHISPERED, “HE'S BEEN COUNTING.”
“GET HIM AWAY FROM THE TABLE! HE'S RUINING EVERYONE'S DINNER!” THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE SHOVED HIS PARALYZED FATHER'S WHEELCHAIR AWAY FROM TWENTY WEALTHY GUESTS. THE OLD MAN COULDN'T SPEAK, BUT HIS FINGERS KEPT TAPPING THE ARMREST. EVERYONE THOUGHT HE WAS CONFUSED—UNTIL A YOUNG MAID REALIZED HE WAS TRYING TO TELL THEM SOMETHING TERRIFYING.
“Vanessa, please. He hasn't finished eating.”
Clara Hayes, twenty-four, hurried toward the wheelchair.
Vanessa Sterling ignored her.
Antonio Romano, seventy-nine, sat trembling in his dark blue cardigan.
His dinner plate was still half-full.
“Your father is embarrassing us,” Vanessa snapped. “Look at him!”
She pushed the wheelchair toward the hallway.
Antonio's right hand slipped from the armrest.
Clara caught the chair before it struck the doorway.
“Please don't push him like that!”
Vanessa turned furiously.
“Get your hands off his wheelchair!”
Suddenly, a deep voice came from behind them.
“What's going on?”
Sebastian Romano stood at the dining room entrance.
Thirty-eight years old. Black suit. Cold expression.
His eyes moved from the abandoned dinner plate to his father's frightened face.
“Vanessa?”
She sighed.
“He's confused again.”
Sebastian approached.
“Dad?”
Antonio looked at him.
His lips trembled, but no words came.
A stroke had left him unable to speak clearly or move his legs.
Then his right index finger began tapping the wheelchair armrest.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Sebastian frowned.
“Dad, are you trying to tell me something?”
Antonio pointed at Vanessa.
Then tapped once more.
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“See? He's doing it again.”
But Clara suddenly stepped forward.
“No, sir. He's counting.”
Sebastian turned.
“What?”
Clara swallowed.
She'd been watching Antonio for three weeks.
Every morning, he tapped his fingers.
Every morning, the number increased.
She had finally understood why.
Clara leaned closer and whispered:
“That's the fifth time she's taken him downstairs at night.”
Sebastian went still.
“Downstairs?”
Clara nodded.
“To the basement.”
Vanessa's face changed.
“That's a lie!”
Sebastian looked at his father.
“Dad, has Vanessa been taking you to the basement?”
Antonio tapped once.
Clara whispered, “One tap means yes.”
Sebastian stared.
“Five times?”
Antonio tapped again.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Sebastian, your father hasn't left his bedroom at night in months!”
But Antonio suddenly grabbed Clara's wrist.
His trembling finger traced something against her palm.
A number.
17.
Clara looked up.
“Sir… he's been trying to tell me that number since yesterday.”
Sebastian frowned.
“Seventeen?”
Antonio nodded desperately.
Then pointed toward the floor.
Vanessa backed away.
Sebastian slowly turned toward her.
“What's in basement room seventeen?”
Vanessa's lips parted.
Nothing came out.
Because room seventeen wasn't supposed to exist.
Sebastian's father had sealed that section of the mansion twenty years earlier, after his younger brother disappeared during a family property dispute.
And Vanessa had told everyone she didn't even know where the basement keys were kept.
Sebastian crouched beside Antonio.
“Dad, what did she make you do down there?”
The old man's eyes filled with tears.
His finger moved again.
This time, he traced three letters across Clara's palm.
S-I-G.
Sebastian's expression hardened.
“Sign?”
Antonio tapped once.
Clara covered her mouth.
Vanessa suddenly turned toward the hallway.
“I don't have to listen to this!”
Sebastian's voice stopped her.
“You're not leaving until you explain why my father has been taken to a locked basement room five times.”
Antonio began crying.
Then he pulled something from beneath his cardigan.
A small piece of folded paper.
Clara carefully opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of a legal document.
At the bottom was Antonio's name.
And a signature he could no longer physically write.
Sebastian stared.
The document authorized the transfer of a controlling share of the Romano family estate.
To a private trust.
Managed by Vanessa Sterling.
His hands went cold.
Then Clara noticed another name printed beneath Vanessa's.
She pointed at it.
“Mr. Romano… isn't that your brother?”
Sebastian froze.
His younger brother, Michael, had assured him their father was receiving excellent care.
Michael was also the only person besides Sebastian who had access to the old basement.
Sebastian looked at Antonio.
“Dad… was Michael there too?”
The old man began shaking violently.
Then he tapped the armrest.
Once.
Yes.
Sebastian slowly stood.
But before he could speak, Antonio grabbed his sleeve and traced one final word across his palm.
ALIVE.
Sebastian stared at his father.
“Who's alive?”
Antonio pointed toward the basement.
And for the first time that evening, Vanessa began crying.
Not because she'd been caught mistreating an elderly man.
But because Antonio was about to reveal what she'd been hiding behind the locked door of room seventeen.
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Read Chapter 2 in the first comment to discover who was hidden in the basement—and why Vanessa and Michael needed Antonio's signature. Thank you for reading!
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