Chapter 10 - The Closed Ward
Lakeview had been officially empty for fourteen months.
Its sign was gone.
The front lobby was dark.
But one wing had power.
Santiago saw it from the road.
Third floor.
Three lit windows.
Agent Keller caught his arm before he reached the fence.
“You go in with your people and this becomes a firefight.”
“My sister is inside.”
“And she stays safer if you don’t announce yourself.”
Ruby looked at the building.
“I know another entrance.”
Everyone turned.
“Laundry tunnel,” she said. “Old service corridor from the maintenance building.”
Keller frowned.
“How do you know it’s still open?”
“I used it every night for eight months.”
Santiago looked at her.
“You’re not going inside.”
Ruby gave him a flat stare.
“You fired me. Remember?”
“This isn’t funny.”
“No. It isn’t.”
She stepped closer.
“If Sophia sees twenty armed men storming the hall where she was drugged and trapped, what do you think that does to her?”
Santiago had no answer.
Ruby continued.
“She needs one familiar face before the chaos starts.”
Keller made the decision.
“Ruby goes with me.”
Santiago’s jaw hardened.
“And me.”
“You stay behind us.”
It was the kind of order nobody gave Santiago Moretti.
He accepted it anyway.
That was new.
The laundry tunnel smelled like rust and wet concrete.
They emerged behind the old east wing.
Ruby led them through a utility stairwell.
On the second floor they heard voices.
Carlo.
And Matteo.
Santiago stopped.
Matteo was there.
Ruby touched one finger to her lips.
They moved closer.
A door stood partly open.
Inside, Sophia sat in a chair.
No restraints.
That made it worse somehow.
Matteo stood across from her.
Carlo beside the window.
Dr. Voss paced near a metal cabinet.
“You made this difficult,” Matteo said.
Sophia stared at him.
“You were always the easy one.”
Ruby’s hands curled.
Matteo continued.
“Santiago asks questions.”
“He breaks things.”
“You?”
“You understood survival.”
Sophia’s hands moved.
Matteo laughed.
“I still don’t understand that nonsense.”
Ruby whispered the translation.
“She said you mistake fear for obedience.”
Santiago’s expression changed.
Inside, Voss opened a case.
Santiago started forward.
Keller stopped him.
“Wait.”
Voss said, “If she’s agitated, I can stabilize her.”
Sophia stood.
“No.”
The word carried into the hallway.
Everyone froze.
Santiago felt the world stop.
Sophia had spoken.
Not loudly.
Not smoothly.
But clearly.
Voss went pale.
Matteo stared.
Sophia spoke again.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“I do not consent.”
Ruby’s eyes filled.
Keller moved.
Federal agents entered from both ends of the corridor.
“Hands where we can see them.”
Carlo reached toward his jacket.
Santiago stepped into view.
“Don’t.”
Carlo looked at him.
For a second, seventeen years of loyalty stood between them.
Then Carlo slowly raised his hands.
Matteo did not.
He smiled at Santiago.
“You brought federal agents into family business.”
Santiago looked at Sophia.
“No.”
He looked back at his uncle.
“You brought family business into my sister’s body.”
Matteo’s smile vanished.
Voss began talking immediately.
Lawyers.
Medical discretion.
Misunderstandings.
Keller handcuffed him anyway.
Sophia walked toward Ruby.
Then stopped halfway.
She looked at Santiago.
He did not move toward her.
He waited.
Sophia crossed the distance herself.
She pressed her forehead against his chest.
Santiago closed his eyes.
His arms hovered.
Then Sophia grabbed his jacket and pulled him closer.
He held her.
Carefully.
Behind them, Matteo laughed once.
“You think this ends with me?”
Santiago looked over Sophia’s head.
Matteo’s face was calm again.
“You have no idea what your father did before he died.”
Santiago’s grip tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Matteo smiled.
“Ask Sophia why she really stopped speaking.”
Sophia went rigid in Santiago’s arms.
May you like
And for the first time since they found her, she pulled away from him.
