Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE WITH TWO HISTORIES
By afternoon, Olivia and Lily were staying at a hotel arranged through an independent security firm.
Olivia insisted on choosing the location herself.
Gabriel agreed.
Her mother joined them.
Nero remained at the estate.
Lily was furious about that.
“Why can't Nero come?”
“Because he's working,” Olivia explained.
“Dogs shouldn't work all the time.”
Olivia smiled.
“I agree.”
Her mother watched her from across the room.
“What exactly happened in that house?”
Olivia hesitated.
Then told her enough to explain the precautions.
Her mother listened quietly.
When Olivia finished, she said, “You can quit.”
“I know.”
“I'm serious.”
“So am I.”
Olivia looked toward Lily, who was drawing at the desk.
“I've spent seven years making decisions based on keeping her safe.”
Her mother nodded.
“Then keep doing that.”
At the estate, Gabriel ordered an independent forensic team to examine the surveillance system.
The results were troubling.
The microphones had been installed in stages.
Some were nearly six months old.
Others had been added recently.
The hidden laptop had received audio from the rooms and transmitted selected recordings through an encrypted connection.
Someone had been collecting Gabriel's conversations.
But the equipment had another purpose.
It had also played sounds through the ductwork.
Low-frequency tones.
Short bursts of static.
Mechanical clicks.
Enough for Nero to hear.
Not enough for most humans to notice.
“Someone wanted the dog to keep returning to Guest Room 7,” Matteo said.
Gabriel stared.
“Why?”
The technician hesitated.
“Possibly to draw attention to the equipment.”
Gabriel looked toward the empty fireplace.
“Then the person who installed it may not be the person who wanted it discovered.”
That evening, Gabriel received a call from an unfamiliar number.
He answered.
A man's voice spoke.
“You found the room.”
Gabriel stood.
“Who is this?”
“You know.”
His breath stopped.
“Luca?”
A pause.
Then a quiet laugh.
“You still sound angry.”
Gabriel gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Not somewhere you can reach me.”
“Are you alive?”
The voice became serious.
“Gabriel, listen carefully. Matteo didn't kill me.”
Gabriel glanced toward the security chief.
“But someone close to you tried.”
“Who?”
The line crackled.
“Look at the original house plans. Not the ones your father gave you.”
Then the call ended.
Gabriel had inherited the estate from his father, Vittorio Duca.
Vittorio had been a ruthless businessman with connections to Chicago's criminal underworld.
Gabriel had spent years separating the family's legitimate holdings from its illegal operations.
Some people believed he had succeeded.
Others believed he had merely become more discreet.
The truth was complicated.
Gabriel owned shipping warehouses, commercial property, and a private investment firm.
He also carried a surname that opened doors and inspired fear.
He knew the family's history contained secrets.
But he had never imagined one might be built into the walls of his own home.
The original architectural plans were stored in a bank vault.
Gabriel retrieved them the next morning.
He spread them across the library table.
Matteo stood beside him.
The plans showed something missing from every modern renovation drawing.
A narrow passage beneath the east wing.
It connected Guest Room 7 to an old records room behind the wine cellar.
Gabriel stared.
“My father told me that section was sealed.”
Matteo studied the diagram.
“It wasn't.”
A handwritten note appeared near the passage entrance.
AUTHORIZED ACCESS: V. DUCA / L. DUCA.
Gabriel touched his brother's initials.
Luca had known.
May you like
For four years, Gabriel had believed his brother drowned in the lake.
Now he was beginning to suspect that Luca had disappeared into a secret the family had built long before either brother was born.
