Chapter 3 - THE NOTEBOOKSienna barely slept.
At six in the morning, she called her mother.
No answer.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Then a message appeared.
Stop asking questions.
Sienna's blood froze.
She called immediately.
The phone was off.
Damian entered the room moments later.
He took one look at her face.
"What happened?"
"My mother."
He approached.
"Tell me."
Sienna showed him the message.
Damian's expression became cold.
"Where does she live?"
"Queens."
"We're leaving."
The drive was silent.
Two SUVs followed them.
Sienna watched Manhattan disappear behind the tinted glass.
"Why do you have so many guards?"
"Because people have tried to kill me."
"How many times?"
"Enough."
She looked at him.
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"What?"
"Living like everyone wants you dead."
Damian stared out the window.
"Eventually, you stop noticing."
Sienna didn't believe him.
They arrived at her mother's apartment.
The front door was open.
Sienna ran inside.
"Mom!"
The apartment had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Mattress overturned.
Photographs ripped.
Sienna's breathing became shallow.
Then she saw blood.
A small smear near the kitchen.
"Mom..."
Damian grabbed her before she could touch it.
"Don't."
"It's hers."
"We don't know that."
He gestured to Silas.
"Search."
Minutes later, Silas returned.
"No body."
Relief and terror collided.
Damian crouched beside the blood.
"Not much."
"Is she alive?"
"Probably."
"How do you know?"
"Because whoever did this wanted you to see it."
He looked at Sienna.
"It's a message."
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice whispered:
"Your father wasn't dead."
Sienna froze.
"Who are you?"
"You need to stop trusting Russo."
Damian held out his hand.
She gave him the phone.
"Who is this?"
The caller laughed.
"You really don't remember me?"
The line went dead.
Damian stared at the phone.
"Find the number."
Silas nodded.
Sienna looked around the apartment.
Then remembered the notebook.
She ran to the bedroom.
Her mother's closet.
The third shelf.
Behind an old winter coat.
Nothing.
She searched again.
Then found a loose panel.
Inside was a black notebook.
Exactly like the one in the photograph.
Damian took it.
The first page contained names.
Dates.
Payments.
Police badge numbers.
Politicians.
Judges.
Then one sentence:
THE RUSSO FAMILY DID NOT START THE WAR. THEY INHERITED IT.
Damian turned another page.
His face changed.
Sienna leaned closer.
There was her father's handwriting.
If anything happens to me, protect Sienna.
Damian stared at the words.
"When was this written?"
Sienna whispered:
"I don't know."
He turned another page.
A location.
A date.
A name.
THE OBSIDIAN ROOM — ROOM 19.
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Room 19 doesn't exist."
Sienna frowned.
"What?"
"The Obsidian Room has eighteen private rooms."
She looked at the notebook.
"Then why would my father write it?"
Damian didn't answer.
He turned to Silas.
"Get everyone ready."
"For the club?"
"Yes."
Sienna looked at him.
"We're going back?"
"We're going to find Room 19."
They returned after midnight.
The club was crowded.
Music shook the walls.
Damian walked through the main floor like he owned it.
Because he did.
They reached the private corridor.
Room 18.
Then a blank wall.
Sienna touched it.
"Nothing."
Damian examined the molding.
He pressed a hidden switch.
The wall opened.
Behind it was a narrow staircase.
Sienna stared.
"Room 19."
They descended.
At the bottom was a steel door.
Damian opened it.
Inside was a small office.
Dust.
Old files.
And a chair.
Sienna's father had been there.
She knew it instantly.
On the desk sat a single photograph.
Her family.
Sienna.
Her mother.
Leo.
And Robert.
On the back:
THE GIRL WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
Damian turned the photograph over.
Another sentence had been written beneath it.
SHE WAS THE KEY.
Sienna looked at him.
"What key?"
Before Damian could answer, the lights went out.
A gunshot cracked through the room.
Damian grabbed Sienna and pulled her behind the desk.
Silas shouted:
"Contact!"
More shots.
Then a voice came through the darkness.
"Ask her what her father really hid."
Sienna's heart pounded.
The voice continued.
"Because Russo isn't protecting you."
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A pause.
"He's protecting himself."
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