# CHAPTER 10 — THE GIRL WHO SURVIVED
No one spoke.
The only sound came from the fireplace.
Alejandro walked toward Matteo slowly.
“You buried an empty coffin?”
Matteo’s eyes lowered.
“The coffin was not empty.”
Alejandro grabbed him by the collar.
“Whose child did I bury?”
“A girl from the same hospital. Similar age. No known family.”
Alejandro struck Matteo against the wall.
Lucia shouted his name, but he did not hear her.
For three years, Alejandro had visited a grave.
He had spoken to a stranger beneath the earth.
He had placed Kiara’s favorite flowers over the body of another child whose name he had never known.
“Where is my daughter?”
“I don’t know.”
Alejandro tightened his grip.
Matteo struggled for breath.
“Your father arranged the first transfer. Daniel Carter drove the secondary vehicle. Teresa prepared a room in the old servant wing. Bruno’s security codes opened the eastern gate.”
Bruno stepped forward.
“I never authorized that gate.”
“Your deputy did.”
“My deputy died in the crash.”
“He was supposed to.”
Alejandro released Matteo.
“Why?”
“Salvatore believed your enemies would use Kiara against you. He also believed you were becoming weak because of her.”
“So he stole her?”
“He called it protection.”
“From whom?”
“From you.”
Alejandro’s expression turned deadly.
Matteo continued before he could be attacked again.
“Daniel Carter discovered the plan. He followed the transfer vehicle and found Kiara alive. He wanted to bring her back.”
“What stopped him?”
“Someone reached him before I did.”
Emma held her stuffed rabbit against her chest.
“Daddy hid her?”
Matteo looked at her.
“He may have.”
Mara stepped forward.
“Daniel called me two nights before he disappeared. He said he had found a child who could not go home yet.”
Alejandro turned toward her.
“You never told me.”
“I didn’t know he meant Kiara Moretti.”
“What else did he say?”
“He said powerful people were watching us. He told me to keep Emma’s backpack close and never let anyone replace it.”
Emma looked down at the rabbit backpack.
The lining had already been cut open to remove the receiver.
Mara searched it again.
Inside the padding, her fingers found something hard.
She tore the seam wider.
A small brass key fell onto the floor.
A number was stamped into its side.
317.
Gabriel examined it.
“It looks like a transportation locker key.”
“Which station?” Bruno asked.
A thin paper strip remained attached to the key.
Most of the ink had faded, but one word was still visible.
GRAND CENTRAL.
Alejandro picked it up.
“Prepare the cars.”
Bruno shook his head.
“The caller demanded the memory card by midnight. They may be leading us there.”
“Then we follow the path they think they control.”
Matteo stepped away from the wall.
“You cannot take Emma.”
Mara glared at him.
“You don’t decide anything about my daughter.”
Matteo looked genuinely afraid.
“The locker is not for Alejandro.”
“How do you know?” Bruno asked.
“Because Salvatore used locker 317 for succession documents.”
Alejandro studied him.
“What documents?”
May you like
Matteo looked at Emma.
“Proof of which child is the rightful Moretti heir.”
