Chapter 15 - THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK
Valentina’s escape was not an accident.
A transport vehicle carrying her to federal detention was struck by another car.
Two armed men attacked the officers.
Valentina disappeared.
One officer was injured.
Within thirty minutes, every road surrounding Nashville had an alert.
Lorenzo doubled security at the estate.
Sophia kept Lily beside her.
Isabella refused to leave Lorenzo’s side.
At nine that evening, the power went out.
The estate fell into darkness.
Emergency generators should have activated automatically.
They did not.
Lorenzo reached for Isabella.
“Stay with me.”
Sophia grabbed Lily’s hand.
Security radios filled with static.
Then glass broke downstairs.
Daniel Cruz shouted from the hallway.
“Lock the door.”
Sophia pushed both girls into Lorenzo’s study.
Lorenzo locked it.
Someone moved through the corridor.
Slow footsteps.
Then Valentina’s voice came from the other side.
“Lorenzo.”
Isabella began trembling.
Valentina knocked once.
“Open the door.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
Valentina laughed.
“Do you really think I came alone?”
A gunshot exploded downstairs.
Lily covered her ears.
Sophia crouched beside both girls.
The study had another exit.
A concealed passage connected to the library.
Lorenzo opened it.
“Take the girls.”
Sophia shook her head.
“You’re coming.”
“I need to stop her.”
“She wants you to do that.”
Lorenzo looked at Sophia.
She was right.
Valentina wanted to separate them.
They entered the hidden corridor together.
The passage ended behind a bookshelf downstairs.
Sophia heard voices in the kitchen.
Victor had escaped police custody during the confusion surrounding Valentina’s transport.
He was inside the house.
So were three armed men.
Sophia and Lorenzo moved toward the service hall.
Then Lily whispered.
“Mommy.”
Sophia looked down.
Lily pointed toward the basement door.
“The bad man from the garden went there.”
Gabriel.
Sophia’s blood went cold.
The attack upstairs was a distraction.
Gabriel was going toward the chapel tunnel.
He wanted the vault.
Lorenzo contacted the security team through an emergency phone.
Then they moved toward the chapel.
The underground door was already open.
Gabriel stood inside the vault.
He held the old recorder in one hand.
And a gun in the other.
He looked at Lorenzo.
Then at Sophia.
Finally, he looked at Lily.
“So.”
May you like
He smiled.
“The truck driver’s little girl finally brought me the key.”
