Chapter 10 - Below Black Harbor
The sedan stopped in a concrete chamber beneath an abandoned shipping terminal.
Luca removed Liana’s phone and checked her shoes.
He found the transmitter hidden in the heel.
His smile vanished.
“You disappoint me.”
He crushed it beneath his boot.
He did not find the tracker in her collar.
Two guards escorted Liana through a steel door.
Beyond it lay a hidden medical facility.
Rows of empty cribs lined one wall.
A dozen bassinets stood behind reinforced glass.
Most were empty, but several held sleeping infants attended by frightened nurses.
Liana’s stomach turned.
Every child wore a bracelet marked with the blue triangle.
Luca led her toward the final room.
Aldo Varric waited inside.
He was in his sixties, elegantly dressed, with silver hair and warm eyes that made him appear more like a retired professor than a criminal.
Dr. Simon Vale stood beside him.
And behind the glass, Elena sat handcuffed to a chair.
Liana stopped.
It was like seeing herself after years of war.
Elena was thinner.
A scar ran from her temple to her jaw.
But when their eyes met, neither woman needed proof.
Elena rose as far as the restraints allowed.
“Liana.”
Liana pressed a hand to the glass.
“Elena.”
Their first meeting lasted only seconds before Aldo stepped between them.
“Touching.”
“Where is my son?”
Aldo nodded toward Dr. Vale.
A monitor flickered on.
A baby slept in a small crib in another room.
Liana recognized the blue blanket she had wrapped around Samuel on the morning he supposedly died.
Her legs weakened.
“Sam.”
“He is alive,” Aldo said.
“You may hold him after you tell me where Elena hid the original ledger.”
“I don’t know.”
Aldo looked almost disappointed.
“Then you have come all this way for nothing.”
Elena struck the glass with both hands.
“She doesn’t know because I never involved her.”
“You involved her the moment you began investigating us,” Aldo replied.
Liana forced herself to look away from the monitor.
“You arranged my job at the estate.”
“We needed Elena to believe you were close to Nico.”
“We knew she would risk everything to reach both of you.”
“You used me as bait.”
“And beautifully.”
Liana touched the clasp of her locket.
The hidden signal activated.
May you like
Far above the harbor, Dante’s receiver flashed green.
They had found her.
