Part 2
Daniel’s grip tightened around my wrist.
The knife rested lightly against my throat.
Not enough to cut.
Just enough to remind everyone that he still controlled the room.
The front door swung open.
Luca Moretti stepped inside without saying a word.
He wore a dark charcoal overcoat over a tailored black suit. Rainwater dripped from his shoulders onto the hardwood floor, but his attention never left Daniel.
Or rather…
The man Daniel claimed to be.
Behind Luca stood six men.
None carried visible weapons.
They didn’t need to.
The silence in the room was more threatening than shouting could ever be.
For several long seconds, nobody moved.
Finally Luca spoke.
“You’ve changed your name.”
Daniel smiled.
“I’ve changed many things.”
“You buried Matteo Moretti seven years ago.”
“I buried that name.”
Luca’s expression didn’t change.
“My brother never would have held a knife to a woman’s throat.”
Daniel laughed.
“You still think I’m your brother.”
I felt his heartbeat through the arm wrapped around my shoulders.
It wasn’t racing.
He wasn’t frightened.
He had planned for this.
“Emily,” Luca said calmly.
“Can you walk?”
“I think so.”
“Good.”
“Because you’re leaving this house tonight.”
Daniel pressed the blade slightly closer.
“Not unless I say so.”
Luca looked almost disappointed.
“You’ve become predictable.”
The woman standing behind Luca finally stepped forward.
She couldn’t have been older than thirty-five.
Dark hair.
Gray coat.
The exact same face from the passport hidden beneath the bedroom floor.
Daniel’s smile disappeared.
“So…”
“You survived.”
The woman nodded slowly.
“My name isn’t Elizabeth Ward.”
She looked directly at me.
“My real name is Claire Donovan.”
I frowned.
“The passport…”
“Was made after Daniel kidnapped me.”
The room seemed to shrink around us.
Claire continued.
“He does this every few years.”
“He finds someone living alone.”
“Earns her trust.”
“Moves in.”
“Changes her identity.”
My blood ran cold.
I whispered,
“And then?”
She looked at Daniel.
“He disappears her.”
Daniel sighed dramatically.
“You always exaggerate.”
Claire ignored him.
“I escaped before he could finish.”
“Three others didn’t.”
She glanced toward Luca.
“I’ve been helping him search ever since.”
My knees nearly gave out.
The photographs.
The passports.
The fake names.
None of them had been random.
Daniel hadn’t chosen me because he loved me.
He had chosen me because I fit a pattern.
Luca finally took one slow step forward.
“Where is Matteo?”
Daniel smiled again.
“I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
“I haven’t used that name in years.”
Another step.
“Where is my brother?”
Daniel tilted his head.
“What if I told you…”
“…you’re talking to him?”
Nobody spoke.
Even the rain outside seemed to stop.
Daniel slowly lowered the knife.
Not because he trusted Luca.
Because he wanted him to listen.
“You’ve spent seven years looking for a victim.”
“You never considered another possibility.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Daniel continued quietly.
“The fire.”
“The explosion.”
“The river.”
“Everything happened exactly as they wanted.”
“They?”
Daniel laughed softly.
“You still think I built this.”
“I didn’t.”
“I inherited it.”
Before anyone could ask another question…
The lights went out.
The entire house dropped into darkness.
Someone outside had cut the power.
One of Luca’s men immediately switched on a flashlight.
Another whispered,
“Movement outside.”
Then came the sound of engines.
Not one.
Not two.
At least six vehicles.
Doors slammed.
Heavy footsteps surrounded the house.
One of Luca’s bodyguards looked through the front window.
“We’re boxed in.”
“How many?”
“Twelve…”
He paused.
“…maybe more.”
Daniel smiled in the darkness.
“They’re early.”
Luca looked toward him.
“You expected company.”
“I invited them.”
Claire grabbed my arm.
“We have to leave.”
“How?”
She pointed toward the basement door.
“There’s another exit.”
We rushed downstairs while Luca and three of his men remained upstairs.
The basement smelled of concrete and machine oil.
Old shelves lined the walls.
At the far end stood a heavy steel door.
Claire inserted a key.
Nothing happened.
She frowned.
“It should open.”
Daniel’s voice echoed down the stairs.
“It won’t.”
We turned.
He stood at the top of the staircase.
The knife was gone.
Instead he held a small remote control.
“You forgot.”
“I changed the locks.”
A deafening crash exploded upstairs.
Gunshots?
No.
The sound of armored battering equipment smashing through the front entrance.
Someone far larger than Luca’s organization had arrived.
Voices shouted unfamiliar commands.
“Federal agents!”
“Nobody move!”
Daniel actually laughed.
“You called the wrong people, Luca.”
Luca didn’t answer.
He stared at the badge one of the newcomers had dropped during the chaos.
Not FBI.
Not local police.
A black shield marked only with three silver letters.
OSI.
Claire’s face turned white.
“Oh no…”
I looked at her.
“What is OSI?”
She whispered only one sentence.
“They don’t exist.”
The basement lights suddenly flickered back on.
Every phone inside the house vibrated simultaneously.
A news alert filled the screens.
BREAKING: Billionaire philanthropist Adrian Blackwood found dead aboard his private jet. Authorities believe the death was due to natural causes.
Daniel stared at the headline.
For the first time that night…
He looked genuinely afraid.
Luca noticed.
“You knew him.”
Daniel slowly lowered the phone.
“No.”
“I worked for him.”
The room fell silent.
Daniel looked directly at me.
“I wasn’t choosing women for myself.”
His voice had completely changed.
“I was choosing them…”
“…for the people who own everything.”
Before anyone could react, the steel door behind us unlocked by itself with a loud metallic click.
It slowly swung inward.
Beyond it stretched a brightly lit underground corridor that shouldn’t have existed beneath an ordinary suburban house.
At the far end…
A man in an immaculate gray suit stood waiting with his hands behind his back.
He smiled politely.
Then addressed Luca by his full name.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“We’ve been expecting your family for seven years.”