Chapter 2 - ELEVEN SECONDS OF DARKNESS
The mansion disappeared into blackness.
Someone screamed.
Glass shattered.
Dante heard Sofia cry.
His hands immediately gripped the wheels of his chair.
“BRUNO!”
“I’m here.”
“Find the child.”
Emergency lights flickered red along the floor.
Bruno reached Isabela first.
“Sofia?”
“She was beside me.”
“She isn’t now.”
Dante’s blood turned cold.
“Sofia!”
No answer.
Then came footsteps from the staircase.
Fast.
Running downward.
Bruno drew his gun.
“Stop!”
A shadow crossed the lower hallway.
Bruno fired once into the ceiling.
The footsteps changed direction.
Dante pushed his wheelchair forward despite the pain exploding through his hip.
“Seal the west hall.”
“The electronic locks are down.”
“Then use people.”
Generators finally kicked on.
Warm light returned.
The hall came back into view.
Rafael was still pinned against the wall.
Camila was gone.
So was the suitcase.
And Sofia.
Isabela made a sound Dante would remember for years.
Not a scream.
Something lower.
Broken.
“My daughter.”
She ran toward the stairs.
Dante caught her wrist.
“Don’t.”
She spun around.
“Let go of me.”
“If someone took Sofia, they want you panicked.”
“She is four years old!”
“And I am going to bring her back.”
Dante looked at Bruno.
“Every exit.”
“Already covered.”
“Security cameras.”
“The blackout killed the network.”
Dante’s gaze sharpened.
“That was planned.”
Henrique held up Rafael’s burner phone.
A new message had arrived during the blackout.
THE CHILD KNOWS TOO MUCH.
Dante looked at Rafael.
The therapist began shaking his head.
“I didn’t do this.”
Dante believed him.
Not because Rafael was innocent.
Because he looked terrified.
Someone above him was cleaning the operation.
Bruno’s radio crackled.
A guard spoke.
“We found something near the service corridor.”
“What?”
“A shoe.”
Isabela was already running.
They followed.
At the entrance to the service hallway lay one tiny pink shoe.
Sofia’s.
Isabela picked it up with trembling hands.
Then Dante noticed something beside it.
A thin line scratched into the polished wood panel.
Three short marks.
One long.
Three short.
He stared.
“What is that?”
Isabela touched the marks.
“Sofia does that.”
“What does it mean?”
“She makes patterns when she’s scared.”
Dante looked down the corridor.
Three short.
One long.
Three short.
Not random.
A trail.
They found another mark fifteen feet farther.
Then another.
The child had been leaving a path.
“She’s showing us where she went,” Isabela whispered.
Bruno moved ahead.
The marks ended at an old dumbwaiter shaft used by kitchen staff.
The small door was open.
Inside, on the metal platform, sat Sofia’s second shoe.
Isabela almost collapsed.
Dante touched the wall.
“Where does this go?”
“Basement pantry,” Bruno said.
“No.”
Henrique pointed upward.
“The system connects to the old second-floor kitchen too.”
Dante looked at the shaft.
Someone wanted them to assume Sofia had been taken downward.
He remembered the marks.
Three short.
One long.
Three short.
A child’s pattern.
But Sofia was clever.
Dante looked closer.
The final set was different.
Three short.
Two long.
He turned toward Isabela.
“Would she change it intentionally?”
Isabela stared.
“Yes.”
“What does two long mean?”
Her face changed.
“Upstairs.”
Dante smiled coldly.
“She knew someone was trying to mislead us.”
They went up.
Bruno led.
Dante refused assistance and forced himself along using the chair.
Pain tore through his leg.
He ignored it.
At the second-floor service kitchen, the dumbwaiter door stood open.
Bruno found a small piece of white fabric caught on the edge.
Camila’s dress.
Dante looked down the corridor.
At the far end was the room Camila used while staying at the estate.
The door was locked.
Bruno kicked it in.
Empty.
The suitcase was gone.
The balcony doors were open.
Rain blew inside.
Isabela rushed toward them.
“No.”
Dante followed her gaze.
A rope ladder hung from the balcony.
But Bruno touched it.
“Dry.”
Rain had been falling for twenty minutes.
The rope should have been soaked.
Another deception.
Dante turned slowly.
“Search the room.”
They did.
Nothing.
Then Sofia’s voice came faintly through the wall.
“Mommy?”
Isabela froze.
“Sofia!”
She ran toward the sound.
Behind a built-in wardrobe, Bruno found a hidden servant passage.
Sofia was sitting inside.
Alone.
Unhurt.
Isabela grabbed her.
Sofia clung to her mother.
Dante closed his eyes for one second.
Then reopened them.
“Who put you here?”
Sofia pointed toward the wardrobe.
“The red-shoe lady.”
“Camila?”
Sofia nodded.
“She told me we were playing hide-and-seek.”
Dante’s jaw clenched.
“What did she do after that?”
“She talked to someone.”
“What did she say?”
Sofia squeezed Isabela tighter.
“She said, ‘He found Rafael.’”
Dante’s pulse slowed.
“What else?”
“She said…”
Sofia looked directly at him.
“Plan B starts tonight.”
At that moment, a powerful explosion shook the mansion.
Windows rattled.
Lights flickered.
Bruno rushed to the balcony.
Orange flames rose behind the east wing.
“The garage!”
Dante stared.
His armored vehicles were stored there.
So were the forensic remains of the SUV from his accident.
The only physical evidence he had kept.
Someone was destroying it.
Then Bruno’s radio came alive.
A guard shouted.
“Boss!”
“What?”
“We have a body.”
Dante’s expression darkened.
“Whose?”
The guard hesitated.
Then answered.
May you like
“Camila’s.”
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