Chapter 3 - The Letter Beneath the Frozen Earth
Anthony opened Michael Romano’s envelope in Claire’s bedroom.
He had not entered the room in almost three years.
Nobody had.
The pink sweater still hung over the chair.
The storybook remained open beside the bed.
Yellow rain boots stood beneath the window.
Dust covered everything except the memories.
Sofia stopped at the doorway.
“I can wait outside.”
“No.”
Anthony’s voice was barely audible.
“If Michael put this in Claire’s box, you stay.”
Vincent closed the door behind them.
Anthony unfolded the papers.
The first sheet contained bank transfers.
The second contained company names.
The third contained photographs.
Daniel Mercer appeared in two of them.
Anthony’s jaw tightened.
Then he found Michael’s letter.
Anthony—
If you are reading this, I probably failed to reach you.
Someone inside your organization arranged the transfers I showed you. I originally believed it was theft. I was wrong.
The money funded surveillance.
Vehicles.
Temporary phones.
And a payment made forty-eight hours before your wife and daughter were killed.
Anthony stopped reading.
His hand shook.
Sofia looked away.
Vincent whispered, “Keep going.”
Anthony did.
I cannot prove who ordered the explosion yet, but Daniel Mercer authorized the shell accounts that paid the intermediaries.
Do not confront him until you have the ledger.
I hid the evidence where the little girl said nobody would ever steal her treasure.
Claire helped me without understanding what she was protecting.
Anthony closed his eyes.
Claire.
She had unknowingly protected evidence connected to her own death.
The next sentence was worse.
If something happens to me, protect Sofia and Emma. They know nothing. Mercer knows I have a family.
Anthony lowered the letter.
Sofia covered her face.
“He knew.”
Her voice broke.
“Michael knew they might come after us.”
Anthony stared at the final page.
There was a sequence of numbers.
A bank deposit box.
And beneath it:
THE LEDGER IS NOT HERE.
Anthony looked at Vincent.
“Find the bank.”
Vincent took a photograph of the numbers.
Sofia sat on Claire’s bed.
For the first time, Anthony saw her not as an employee but as someone who had lived inside the same nightmare.
Someone had taken Michael from her.
Someone had taken Elena and Claire from him.
Possibly the same person.
“Why didn’t Michael go to police?” Anthony asked.
“He tried.”
Sofia looked at him.
“Two days before he died, he met a detective.”
“Name?”
“Robert Keane.”
Vincent stiffened.
Anthony noticed.
“What?”
“Keane retired two years ago.”
“And?”
Vincent hesitated.
“He works private security now.”
“For whom?”
Vincent looked directly at Anthony.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Silence.
Anthony folded Michael’s letter.
His grief was changing.
For three years, he had believed the explosion came from an external rival.
He had punished enemies.
Broken alliances.
Destroyed businesses.
But what if the man responsible had been sitting beside him the entire time?
Anthony remembered Daniel at Elena’s funeral.
A hand on Anthony’s shoulder.
“I’ll handle everything. You take care of yourself.”
Perhaps Daniel had not been helping.
Perhaps he had been cleaning up.
Anthony walked to Claire’s window.
Below, Emma was standing with Mrs. Parker in the courtyard.
She held Daisy.
She looked tiny from this height.
Michael’s words repeated in Anthony’s mind.
Protect Sofia and Emma.
A knock sounded.
One of Vincent’s men entered.
“Mr. Moretti, there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“Sofia’s landlord called.”
Sofia stood.
“What happened?”
“He says the building has been sold.”
Her face drained.
“To who?”
The man handed Anthony a document.
Anthony read the company name.
North Shore Urban Holdings.
Vincent swore under his breath.
“What?”
Vincent pointed.
“That company is connected to Mercer.”
Sofia grabbed Anthony’s arm.
“Emma.”
Anthony was already moving.
They rushed downstairs.
Mrs. Parker stood in the kitchen.
Alone.
Anthony’s blood turned cold.
“Where is Emma?”
Mrs. Parker looked confused.
“With Sofia’s cousin.”
“I don’t have a cousin in Chicago,” Sofia whispered.
Anthony’s voice became terrifyingly calm.
“Who took her?”
“A man came to the service entrance. He said Sofia sent him. Emma recognized him.”
Sofia shook her head frantically.
“No. No.”
Anthony looked at Vincent.
“Lock the estate.”
Within seconds, doors closed.
Security moved.
Cameras were reviewed.
A sedan had entered using valid staff credentials.
Anthony watched the footage.
Emma walked willingly toward the man.
Then stopped.
She looked back.
The man crouched and showed her something.
Emma followed.
Sofia was sobbing now.
“Who is he?”
Anthony enlarged the image.
Vincent stared.
“Robert Keane.”
The retired detective.
Daniel Mercer’s security man.
Anthony’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Daniel Mercer’s voice came through.
“Anthony.”
Anthony’s face became stone.
“Where is she?”
A sigh.
“You should have left the garden alone.”
Sofia heard him and covered her mouth.
Anthony spoke slowly.
“She is three years old.”
“I know.”
“If she is frightened—”
“She’s perfectly safe.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
Every violent instinct he had ever learned screamed inside him.
But Emma needed calm.
Not rage.
“What do you want?”
“The envelope.”
Anthony looked toward Claire’s bedroom upstairs.
“And the copies.”
“There are no copies.”
Daniel laughed softly.
“You always were a terrible liar.”
Anthony said nothing.
Daniel continued.
“Bring everything Michael Romano left behind.”
“Where?”
“You’ll receive instructions.”
The line disconnected.
Sofia grabbed Anthony’s coat.
“You have to give him everything.”
“I will.”
Vincent looked at him.
“Anthony—”
“I said I will.”
“But if that evidence disappears—”
Anthony turned.
“I buried my daughter once.”
His voice cracked.
“I will not let Sofia bury hers because of a piece of paper.”
No one argued.
Twenty minutes later, another message arrived.
An address.
An abandoned greenhouse on the western edge of the city.
Anthony prepared to leave.
Sofia stepped in front of him.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“That is why you’re staying.”
“I’m not staying here while—”
Anthony held out Michael’s photograph.
Sofia stopped.
“Emma needs one parent waiting when she comes home.”
Tears rolled down Sofia’s face.
Anthony placed the photograph in her hand.
“And she will come home.”
He turned toward Vincent.
“Car.”
Before leaving, Anthony looked once toward Claire’s staircase.
For years he had believed he could never save another child because he had failed to save his own.
Tonight, he had a chance to prove himself wrong.
The greenhouse stood dark beneath falling snow.
Anthony entered alone carrying Michael’s envelope.
A single work light illuminated the center.
Robert Keane stood near a table.
Emma sat in a chair beside him.
She was not tied.
She clutched Daisy.
When she saw Anthony, her eyes widened.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Anthony’s heart nearly broke.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Mommy said I shouldn’t go with strangers.”
Keane looked uncomfortable.
Anthony kept his eyes on Emma.
“Your mommy was right.”
“I made a mistake.”
“No.”
Anthony slowly crouched.
“Adults lied to you. That isn’t your mistake.”
Keane extended his hand.
“The papers.”
Anthony placed the envelope on the table.
“Let her walk to me.”
Keane hesitated.
Then nodded.
Emma jumped down.
She ran toward Anthony.
He caught her.
Her arms wrapped around his neck.
Anthony closed his eyes.
For one second, Claire was five again.
Then Emma whispered against his ear.
“That man said Daddy hid another secret.”
Anthony opened his eyes.
“What?”
Emma pulled back.
“He said Daddy gave Mommy a key.”
Keane heard her.
His expression changed.
Anthony understood instantly.
The envelope had been bait.
Daniel did not have the ledger.
Neither did Anthony.
But Michael had left Sofia a key.
And Daniel believed she still possessed it.
Anthony stood, holding Emma.
Keane reached inside his coat.
Vincent’s voice came from the darkness.
“Don’t.”
Keane froze.
Security emerged from both sides of the greenhouse.
Anthony walked past him without looking back.
Outside, Emma rested her head against his shoulder.
“Is Mommy mad?”
“No.”
“Are you?”
Anthony looked at her.
“No.”
She touched his cheek.
“You look mad.”
“I look like that most of the time.”
Emma considered this.
Then smiled.
Anthony almost smiled too.
Back at the mansion, Sofia ran down the steps.
Emma flew into her arms.
Mother and daughter collapsed together on the marble floor.
Anthony turned away.
He could not watch.
Not because it hurt.
Because it reminded him too strongly of what he no longer had.
Later, after Emma fell asleep, Sofia found Anthony in his office.
She placed something on his desk.
A brass key.
Anthony stared.
“Michael gave me this the week before he died.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know what it opened.”
Anthony picked it up.
Stamped into the metal were three letters.
C.U.S.
Vincent entered carrying information about Michael’s deposit box.
Then stopped when he saw the key.
“What?”
Anthony held it up.
Vincent’s expression changed.
“Chicago Union Station.”
Sofia stared.
“What?”
Vincent pointed toward the engraving.
“C.U.S. They have old private luggage lockers beneath the terminal.”
Anthony stood.
Michael had hidden the ledger somewhere Daniel could not find.
A public place.
A place Sofia could reach without attracting attention.
Anthony closed his fist around the key.
For the first time in three years, the man called Stone felt something stronger than grief.
Hope.
But across Chicago, Daniel Mercer had just learned that Emma was safely back inside Anthony Moretti’s mansion.
And Daniel understood something Anthony did not yet know.
May you like
Whatever Michael Romano had hidden at Union Station was dangerous enough to destroy them all.
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