CHAPTER 4 — THE MAN IN MY MOTHER'S VIDEO
CHAPTER 4 — THE MAN IN MY MOTHER'S VIDEO
The library beneath the Cavalari estate had no books.
Instead, hidden behind oak shelves sat a climate-controlled archive filled with encrypted hard drives, classified files, and decades of surveillance footage.
Victoria insisted we start there.
"If Elena left answers," she whispered, "she hid them where only we would think to look."
Sofia entered a twelve-digit code into an old security terminal.
Nothing.
She tried another.
Still nothing.
Then I noticed a tiny engraving beneath the keypad.
A crescent moon.
Exactly like my birthmark.
Without thinking, I pressed my thumb against it.
The scanner turned green.
Everyone stared at me.
The hidden vault unlocked with a heavy metallic click.
"No..." Sofia whispered.
"It only accepts Elena's bloodline."
Inside sat a single fireproof box.
No gold.
No cash.
Just one video cassette labeled in my mother's handwriting.
FOR MIA — ONLY IF THEY FIND ME TOO LATE.
My hands shook so badly the heir had to place the tape into the old player.
Static filled the screen.
Then...
My mother appeared.
She looked younger than I remembered.
Calmer.
Healthier.
But terrified.
"If you're watching this," she began, "then I failed."
My vision blurred.
"I never wanted you involved in this world."
"I wanted you to believe I was just your mother."
"I wanted you to have an ordinary life."
She smiled sadly.
"I'm sorry."
Behind me, Victoria quietly began crying.
My mother continued.
"The poison they're using isn't new."
"I created it."
The room exploded into stunned silence.
"I designed it as a medical compound."
"They turned it into a weapon."
"I spent the next twenty years trying to destroy every sample."
"I almost succeeded."
She looked directly into the camera.
"If they're poisoning people again..."
"...then someone I trusted betrayed me."
Suddenly she glanced off-camera.
Someone had entered the room.
Her expression changed instantly.
Fear.
Real fear.
She whispered only two words.
"You're early."
A man's voice answered from somewhere behind the camera.
"You should have run."
A gunshot echoed.
The screen jolted violently.
The recording didn't stop.
The camera rolled across the floor, still filming.
For one terrifying second...
The shooter's face appeared in the reflection of a glass cabinet.
The heir lunged toward the screen and froze it.
Victoria gasped.
Sofia covered her mouth.
I stared at the image.
The killer wasn't a stranger.
He was smiling.
The heir slowly whispered the name none of us wanted to say.
"My uncle..."
Before anyone could speak again, every light inside the mansion went dark.
Emergency alarms screamed through the estate.
A guard's desperate voice crackled over the security radio.
"Multiple hostiles inside the compound!"
"They're already through the east gate!"
Then came the final transmission.
May you like
"They have an insider..."
"...and they're heading for Miss Mia."
