THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

The silence that followed Silas’s words was heavier than the steel door of the panic room.

David Vance. The frail, tragic victim who had supposedly been beaten into a coma by Vanessa and left to die in an alley. The grieving father whom Eleanor had spent six years searching for.

Answer one: David wasn't a victim of Vanessa’s greed. He was a Syndicate assassin who had manipulated the entire narrative to destroy her.

Open two: If David was a hitman, why did he pretend to be in a coma for six years? And why was he coming after us now?

"That's impossible," Luca’s voice echoed through the vents, thick with disbelief. "Eleanor said David woke up three days ago. The police took his statement."

"The police took a statement from a ghost," Silas growled. I heard the metal lockbox click open. "Look at the surveillance photos, Boss. David hasn't been in a coma for six years. He woke up five years ago. He bribed the doctors to keep his file classified while he worked directly for the Commission’s rival faction."

"Why?" Luca demanded.

"Because of Marco," Silas explained, the pain evident in his gruff voice. "Vanessa was David's wife. But she was sleeping with your brother on the side. When Vanessa got pregnant, David found out the child wasn't his. He found out it was Marco's."

I gasped, covering my mouth to muffle the sound.

"David didn't get hit over the head by Vanessa for her stolen cash," Silas revealed, the truth finally shattering the lies. "David was the one driving the car that killed Marco. He murdered your brother out of jealousy. Vanessa found out, panicked, and cracked David's skull in the alley to stop him from killing the baby, too. She gave the boy to you to hide him, and then she ran."

My mind spun helplessly.

Vanessa was a monster, yes. But in that one terrifying moment six years ago, she had actually tried to save her infant son from a jealous, murderous hitman. She had handed Leo to me, a random waitress in a diner, because she knew David would eventually find anyone connected to the Syndicate.

"Where is David now?" Luca asked, the terrifying calm returning to his voice.

Reversal: David hadn't waited in Chicago to collect the bounty.

"He's already here, Luca," Silas said urgently. "He took a private charter flight last night. He bypassed your perimeter guards. He’s somewhere on the grounds right now."

Suddenly, the lights in the panic room flickered.

Then, they went completely black.

The low hum of the estate’s air conditioning ground to a halt. The emergency backup generators didn't kick in. Someone had cut the primary power and disabled the failsafes.

"Natalie!" Luca roared from upstairs, his voice echoing through the silent, dark house. "Lock the secondary deadbolt!"

I scrambled off the cot, feeling blindly along the cold steel door. My hands found the heavy iron bar of the secondary lock and slammed it into place.

I crawled back to Leo, wrapping him in my arms in the pitch-black room. The boy was shaking, burying his face in my neck.

"It's okay, baby," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Auntie Nat is right here. Nobody is going to hurt you."

We sat in the terrifying silence for what felt like hours. I could hear distant shouts upstairs. The sound of shattered glass. A single, muffled gunshot that made my heart stop.

Then, total silence.

I held my breath. I prayed for Luca’s voice.

Instead, a sound came through the ventilation grate right above our heads.

It wasn't a shout. It wasn't a threat.

It was a soft, mocking whisper.

Cliffhanger: "Pancakes."

It was the secret word. The word only I, Luca, and Leo knew. The word we had used in the greenhouse.

But the voice whispering it wasn't Luca's.