Chapter 2 - THE KEY
Mara couldn't breathe.
The brass key lay between them.
Small.
Old.
Almost worthless.
But she knew it.
Her mother had worn one exactly like it on a thin silver chain.
Mara had been nine when she'd asked what it opened.
Her mother had answered only once.
“Something that should never be opened.”
Then she'd hidden it beneath her shirt.
Three months later, she disappeared.
Mara had spent twenty years believing she was dead.
Now the same key lay inside Luca Varelli's mansion.
Luca noticed her expression.
“Mara?”
She didn't answer.
Mrs. Vale was still being held by two guards.
“Let me see it.”
Mara stepped forward.
Mrs. Vale kicked the key away.
“Don't touch it!”
Everyone froze.
Luca's voice dropped.
“Why?”
Mrs. Vale looked at Mara.
Not Luca.
Mara.
And there was recognition in her eyes.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Mara's heart slammed against her ribs.
“What did you say?”
Mrs. Vale closed her eyes.
“I shouldn't have said that.”
Luca moved closer.
“How do you know her?”
“I don't.”
Mara whispered, “You do.”
Mrs. Vale shook her head.
“No.”
“You know my mother.”
The woman's face collapsed.
Luca looked between them.
“Who was your mother?”
Mara ignored him.
“What was her name?”
Mrs. Vale's lips trembled.
“Evelyn Collins.”
The room seemed to disappear.
Luca turned toward Mara.
“Mara…”
But she was already moving.
She grabbed the woman's shoulders.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“She's alive.”
“I don't know.”
“You recognized the key.”
Mrs. Vale began crying.
“I recognized the chain.”
Mara went still.
“What chain?”
“The key wasn't yours.”
Mrs. Vale looked toward the hidden panel.
“It belonged to your mother.”
Luca's expression darkened.
“Why would Mara's mother have a key to a secret room in my house?”
Mrs. Vale didn't answer.
“Tell me,” Luca ordered.
She looked at him.
Then at Mara.
“Because twenty-one years ago, your father hired her.”
Luca's face became completely still.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he hire her to do?”
Mrs. Vale swallowed.
“To protect someone.”
“Who?”
She looked at Luca.
“You.”
Mara stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does.”
Mrs. Vale's voice broke.
“Your mother was assigned to watch Luca when he was fifteen.”
Luca's face drained of color.
“My father had enemies.”
“Not just enemies.”
Mrs. Vale looked at the hidden panel.
“He knew someone inside the family wanted his son dead.”
A sudden metallic click sounded from the wall.
Everyone turned.
The keypad lit up.
Three numbers appeared automatically.
Luca whispered, “Nobody touched it.”
Mara stepped closer.
The screen displayed:
0 7 1
She recognized the numbers.
Her mother's birthday.
July first.
Mara whispered, “My mother.”
The panel opened.
Inside was a narrow compartment.
There was a photograph.
An old cassette recorder.
And a sealed envelope.
On the envelope were four words.
FOR MARA, WHEN LUCA DIES.
Luca stared at it.
His breathing became uneven.
“Mara…”
She picked it up.
There was one more thing inside.
A photograph.
Her mother stood beside a teenage Luca.
And behind them stood Luca's father.
But someone had been cut out of the photograph.
Only a man's hand remained on Luca's shoulder.
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On the back, written in faded ink:
THE MAN WHO KILLED EVELYN IS STILL INSIDE THE HOUSE.
