Chapter 12 - THE CHILDREN IN THE WALL
Maya knew the estate better than most adults who worked there.
Children notice different architecture.
Adults saw doors.
Children saw gaps.
Adults saw formal rooms.
Children saw places beneath stairs.
Maya had discovered an old service passage behind the linen closet during her second week at the estate.
Tommy had immediately declared it “the best thing rich people ever built.”
Now they were inside it.
The passage was narrow.
Dusty.
Dark.
Tommy held Luca’s old emergency flashlight.
Maya held the tablet containing Daniel’s notebook photographs.
Dominic moved somewhere outside the wall.
They could hear him opening doors.
Tommy whispered.
“He’s bad at hiding being quiet.”
Maya covered her mouth.
Dominic’s footsteps stopped.
Both children froze.
A shadow moved beneath the panel.
Then continued.
Maya breathed again.
Tommy pointed deeper.
“We should go.”
“Where?”
“Kitchen.”
“He’ll check.”
“Not kitchen.”
Tommy pointed upward.
The passage connected to an old dumbwaiter shaft.
Maya stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You fit.”
“So do you.”
“I’m bigger.”
“You’re not that big.”
Tommy looked offended.
Then a door slammed outside.
They moved.
Back at the depot, Luca listened to Tommy’s whispers through the phone.
Matteo stared.
“You gave the kid a phone?”
“He stole one.”
Tommy whispered.
“I borrowed it.”
Luca almost laughed.
Matteo did not.
“Tell them to come out.”
“No.”
“Dominic won’t hurt them.”
Luca stared at him.
“You believe that?”
Matteo’s eyes shifted.
That was answer enough.
Luca leaned forward.
“Call him.”
“No.”
“Call Dominic.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Matteo tightened his grip.
Luca smiled faintly.
“Because you don’t know what he’ll say.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
Luca continued.
“You think he sees you as a brother.”
“I don’t care.”
“You care more than you care about anything.”
“Shut up.”
“You killed for him.”
“I killed for myself.”
“That’s sadder.”
Matteo raised the gun.
Elena stepped between them.
“No.”
Luca’s eyes widened.
“Elena.”
She did not move.
“You already took one father from Maya.”
Her voice shook.
“You don’t get another person.”
Matteo stared at her.
For a second, something human crossed his face.
Then it vanished.
“Move.”
“No.”
Luca’s voice hardened.
“Elena.”
She looked back.
“Move.”
She obeyed.
Luca looked at Matteo.
“You know what Daniel’s last recording said?”
Matteo’s face changed.
“He recorded you?”
“He recorded everything.”
A lie.
But useful.
Matteo stared.
Luca continued.
“He named Dominic.”
“Vale.”
“Harlan.”
“You.”
Matteo swallowed.
“And he said something interesting.”
“What?”
“He said Dominic ordered Daniel frightened.”
Luca paused.
“But you killed him.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“He shouldn’t have run.”
There.
Elena gasped.
Matteo realized too late.
Luca’s phone was still connected.
Recording.
Federal investigators were monitoring the call.
Luca looked at the device.
“You just confessed.”
Matteo’s face went white.
He lunged.
One guard tackled him.
The gun slid across the floor.
Elena kicked it away.
Matteo fought violently.
Two guards restrained him.
Luca looked at the phone.
“Anthony?”
A federal agent answered.
“We heard it.”
Luca exhaled.
One brother down.
One remained.
Matteo shouted.
“You think this fixes anything?”
Luca wheeled closer.
“No.”
“It starts.”
Matteo laughed bitterly.
“Dominic will burn everything.”
“He tried.”
“He’ll kill the kids.”
Luca’s face changed.
Matteo saw it.
And smiled.
Back at the estate, Dominic reached the library.
He found the hidden panel.
Not because he knew Maya.
Because he knew the house.
He opened it.
Dust floated.
Fresh footprints marked the floor.
Dominic smiled.
“Maya.”
No answer.
He entered.
The passage was too narrow for comfort.
His shoulder scraped the wall.
He continued.
Tommy and Maya heard him behind them.
Tommy whispered.
“Faster.”
They reached the dumbwaiter.
The ancient platform barely fit both.
Tommy pulled the rope.
It moved six inches.
Then stopped.
Maya’s eyes widened.
“It’s stuck.”
Tommy pulled again.
Nothing.
Dominic’s flashlight appeared at the far end.
“There you are.”
Maya pushed Tommy into the platform.
“Go.”
“What about you?”
“Go.”
“No.”
“Tommy.”
“No.”
Dominic moved closer.
Maya grabbed the rope with both hands.
She pulled.
The platform rose.
Tommy reached down.
“Maya.”
She jumped.
He caught her wrist.
For one second, Maya hung halfway inside.
Dominic grabbed her shoe.
She kicked.
The loose sole tore free.
Dominic was left holding the shoe.
Again.
Maya scrambled onto the platform.
Tommy pulled.
The dumbwaiter rose.
Dominic swore.
Maya looked down through the gap.
“My shoe!”
Tommy stared.
“You have a problem with shoes.”
They reached the second-floor pantry.
Tommy pushed the door.
Locked.
His face fell.
Maya looked around.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Tommy.”
“We’re stuck.”
Below them, the rope moved.
Dominic was pulling the dumbwaiter down.
Maya grabbed the door handle.
Nothing.
Tommy kicked.
The panel rattled.
Dominic pulled harder.
The platform descended.
Maya shouted.
“Help!”
No response.
The estate was under partial lockdown.
Most staff had been evacuated.
The children dropped another foot.
Then the pantry door opened.
A hand reached in.
Maya screamed.
Sarah Keene pulled her out.
Tommy followed.
Keene slammed the dumbwaiter door and locked it with a metal cart.
“Run.”
They ran.
Dominic struck the panel from inside.
Keene grabbed both children.
They reached the main corridor.
Two guards appeared.
Keene pointed.
“Service shaft.”
The guards moved.
Dominic emerged from a lower access panel before they arrived.
He ran toward the west wing.
Alarms sounded.
Maya looked at Keene.
“He wants my tablet.”
Keene grabbed it.
“What’s on it?”
“My dad.”
“Then he doesn’t get it.”
She handed it to a guard.
“Take this outside.”
The guard nodded.
He turned.
Then struck the other guard.
Keene froze.
The traitor grabbed the tablet.
Maya stared.
Another inside man.
He ran.
Tommy stuck out his foot.
The guard tripped.
The tablet slid.
Maya grabbed it.
Keene shoved the children behind her.
The loyal guard recovered.
He tackled the traitor.
Maya clutched the tablet.
Tommy grinned.
“Kids are useful.”
Keene glared.
“Run.”
At the depot, Luca received the update.
“Maya safe.”
His entire body loosened.
“Dominic?”
“Still inside.”
“Seal the estate.”
“Already done.”
Matteo, restrained nearby, laughed.
“You’ll never catch him.”
Luca looked at him.
“He taught me everything.”
Matteo smiled.
“Exactly.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“That was his mistake.”
The trust deadline was forty-nine minutes away.
Luca’s attorney called.
They had obtained emergency relief.
Temporary only.
The judge wanted proof of Luca’s recovery and fraud hearing on Monday.
The transfer was frozen seventy-two hours.
Luca almost laughed.
Delay.
For once, delay belonged to him.
He returned to the estate.
Dominic had vanished.
Again.
No gate exit.
No vehicle.
Security searched every room.
Nothing.
Maya met Luca in the front hall with one shoe.
He looked down.
“Again?”
She frowned.
“He keeps taking the wrong things.”
Luca opened his arms.
Maya hugged him.
Elena arrived behind him.
Mother and daughter held each other.
For a moment, the conspiracy disappeared.
Then Tommy approached.
“He’s still here.”
Everyone looked at him.
Anthony, arm bandaged, frowned.
“We searched.”
Tommy shook his head.
“Not everywhere.”
“Where?”
Tommy pointed down.
“Old tunnel.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
The estate had been built over prohibition-era service tunnels.
Most were sealed.
Dominic knew them all.
Anthony pulled plans.
One tunnel ran beneath the baseball diamond.
Luca’s chest tightened.
Home plate.
The place Elena buried Daniel’s box.
Dominic had probably seen the excavation.
He knew.
Security rushed outside.
Home plate was moved.
The soil beneath had been disturbed again.
They dug.
A metal hatch appeared.
Tommy looked proud.
“Experience.”
Anthony opened it.
Dark stairs descended.
Luca stared.
More stairs.
He almost laughed.
Maya looked at him.
“You hate stairs.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going anyway.”
“Yes.”
Keene appeared.
“No.”
Luca sighed.
“Everyone in this house says no too much.”
Keene folded her arms.
“You walked nineteen meters today.”
“Nineteen.”
“Yes.”
“Not twenty.”
“Still walking.”
Luca looked at the tunnel.
“Get the chair lift.”
Anthony’s team entered first.
They found fresh footprints.
A discarded jacket.
Then a room beneath the field.
Dominic had built a hidden control space.
Monitors showed cameras throughout the estate.
Bedrooms.
Hallways.
Medical suite.
Rehabilitation room.
Maya’s hedge.
The porch.
For years, Dominic had watched Luca.
Not protected.
Watched.
One screen showed archived footage.
Luca sleeping.
Luca receiving injections.
Luca struggling during therapy years ago.
Luca alone after his father’s funeral.
Every vulnerable moment preserved.
Maya looked disturbed.
“He watched you be sad.”
Luca stared at the screens.
“Yes.”
Then Anthony found something else.
A live camera.
Dominic sat in an unknown room.
He looked directly toward the lens.
“Hello, Luca.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
The recording continued.
“If you found this, Matteo failed.”
Matteo’s failure had been expected.
Dominic never trusted him either.
“I know you think this ends with me arrested.”
Dominic smiled.
“It doesn’t.”
A document appeared onscreen.
Luca recognized it.
His father’s second will.
Dominic held the original.
Then a lighter.
“You want your company?”
Flame touched the corner.
“Come get it.”
The camera widened.
Behind Dominic was a familiar structure.
Wooden seats.
Old scoreboard.
Chain fence.
Luca stared.
Not his estate diamond.
A public baseball field.
The one where Luca and Dominic played as teenagers.
The field where Salvatore first recruited them into his businesses.
Dominic was taking the story back to its beginning.
Then another figure entered frame.
Congressman Harlan.
Hands bound.
Face bruised.
Luca stared.
Dominic smiled.
“Bring Vale.”
The screen went black.
Luca understood.
Dominic did not want to escape anymore.
He wanted a trade.
Harlan.
Vale.
The will.
Evidence.
And Luca.
One final meeting between men who had built the lie.
Maya grabbed Luca’s sleeve.
“You’re not going.”
He looked at her.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You sound like Keene.”
Keene smiled despite herself.
Maya did not.
“He wants you.”
“Yes.”
“That’s bad.”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t.”
Luca looked at the dead screen.
Dominic had spent twelve years assuming Luca would choose power.
Then Matteo learned Luca could choose a person instead.
Dominic had not learned yet.
May you like
Luca intended to teach him.
---
