CHAPTER 2 — THE GIRL WHO REMEMBERED THE SONG
CHAPTER 2 — THE GIRL WHO REMEMBERED THE SONG
The basement door creaked open just after midnight.
I had been sitting on the concrete floor with my back against the wall, listening to every distant sound the mansion made. Footsteps. Doors opening and closing. The faint rumble of thunder outside.
No one had returned.
Until now.
Marco stepped inside first, followed by Dante Moretti.
His expression was harder than ever, but the exhaustion beneath it was impossible to hide.
"Get up," he said.
I slowly stood.
"Am I free?"
"No."
"Then why am I leaving the basement?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he turned and walked toward the staircase.
"Follow us."
I glanced at the two armed guards behind me before climbing the stairs.
The mansion felt different from only a few hours earlier.
Every hallway was crowded with security personnel.
Men carrying rifles stood at every entrance.
The windows overlooking the gardens had been covered with steel shutters.
Someone wasn't taking any chances.
As we reached the second floor, I heard crying.
Not loud.
Not frantic.
Just the quiet, heartbreaking sobs of a child who had cried so long she barely had any tears left.
Dante stopped outside the nursery.
"She's asking for you."
I looked at him.
"So you do believe me."
"I believe my daughter won't let anyone near her."
He pushed open the door.
The room looked nothing like it had earlier that evening.
Broken toys had been cleaned away.
Fresh blankets covered the beds.
A doctor packed medical equipment into a black leather bag while two nurses whispered near the window.
One little girl slept peacefully.
The other sat curled against the headboard, hugging a stuffed rabbit with both arms.
The moment she saw me, her eyes widened.
"She's here."
Her tiny voice barely rose above a whisper.
She slipped off the bed before anyone could stop her.
Dante instinctively reached for her.
"No, Isabella."
But she ignored him.
She ran straight across the room.
Straight toward me.
Then she wrapped both arms tightly around my waist.
"You came back."
My heart nearly broke.
"I told you I'd stay if I could."
She looked up at me with red, swollen eyes.
"I thought the bad people took you."
I gently brushed a strand of dark hair from her face.
"No."
"They always take everyone."
The room fell silent.
Dante slowly lowered his hand.
"What do you mean by 'always'?" he asked softly.
Isabella froze.
Her smile disappeared.
She lowered her head and refused to answer.
The doctor cleared his throat.
"This has happened before."
Dante looked at him sharply.
"You never told me that."
"She only mentioned it during therapy once. We believed it was part of her trauma."
I knelt beside Isabella.
"Who are the bad people?"
She squeezed her rabbit tighter.
"The ones Mama hid us from."
Every adult in the room exchanged uneasy glances.
Dante's face lost what little color remained.
"My mother never hid you from anyone," he said.
Isabella slowly shook her head.
"Yes, she did."
"When?"
"The rainy night."
His breathing became noticeably heavier.
"You remember that night?"
She nodded.
"The men were yelling."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Mama told us not to sing."
The words hit Dante like a punch.
His late wife had died three years earlier in what everyone believed was a targeted attack.
The twins had survived.
But they had been too young to remember.
Or so everyone thought.
I gently lifted Isabella into my arms.
"It's okay."
She rested her head against my shoulder almost instantly.
Then, without thinking, I began humming the lullaby again.
The melody floated quietly through the nursery.
Within seconds, Isabella's breathing slowed.
Across the room, her twin stirred beneath the blankets.
Small eyes opened.
She looked toward me.
Toward the song.
Then she whispered something so quietly that only I heard it.
"They found Mama."
I stopped humming.
"What did you say?"
The little girl looked terrified.
She pointed toward the nursery window.
"She's outside."
Every guard in the room instantly reached for his weapon.
Marco rushed to the curtains and pulled them aside.
The gardens were empty.
Nothing moved except the wind through the trees.
One guard spoke into his radio.
"Perimeter check. Now."
Within seconds, alarms echoed across the estate.
Red security lights flashed through every hallway.
Outside, engines roared as armed vehicles sped across the grounds.
Dante never looked away from his daughters.
"They're remembering things," he whispered.
"No," I replied quietly.
"They're remembering someone."
At that exact moment, one of the guards shouted into his radio.
"We have movement at the north fence!"
A gunshot shattered the night.
Then another.
And another.
Someone had just tried to break into the Moretti estate.
May you like
And whoever it was...
Had come while every guard in the mansion was focused on me.
