Chapter 3 - The Vault of Secrets
The subterranean bunker beneath my estate had been built during the Cold War and upgraded with six feet of lead-lined reinforced concrete. Once the blast doors sealed from the inside, not even a bunker-buster bomb could crack it.
I descended the spiral iron staircase, wiping the blood spray from my cheek with the back of my hand.
The fluorescent emergency lights flickered on with a dull hum.
In the center of the concrete room, Elena was kneeling on the floor, holding all four boys against her chest. A first-aid kit lay open beside them. Leo and Lucas were huddled together, clutching identical small stuffed wolves with worn-out ears. Nico was quietly lining up empty shell casings he must have found on the floor.
Mateo sat perfectly straight, watching the stairs. When he saw me emerge from the shadows, his shoulders dropped slightly.
"You're red," Mateo said, pointing to my sleeve.
"It isn't mine," I said cold-bloodedly, though something inside my chest ached in a way I hadn't felt in half a decade.
Elena stood up slowly, raising her trembling hands as if I were still holding a gun to her head. "Alejandro... let me explain. Please."
"Sit," I said, pointing to a steel folding chair.
She sat instantly. The boys remained on the cot behind her, four identical pairs of hazel eyes watching my every breath.
"You have five minutes to tell me why four miniature versions of me are eating in my dining room, why my dead wife wrote a note warning you to keep them safe from me, and why Carmine Valenti just sacrificed a twelve-man tactical team to abduct them."
Elena closed her eyes, tears leaking down her weathered cheeks.
"Sofia didn't die of lymphoma, Alejandro."
The air left my lungs. The entire room seemed to tilt on its axis.
"What did you say?"
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"She was poisoned," Elena whispered, her voice cracking. "Slowly. Methodically. By someone inside your inner circle. And she found out she was pregnant three weeks before the poison began shutting down her kidneys."
***