Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Operating RoomI spent the next three days living in a wing of the Caruso mansion, forbidden from leaving but treated like a queen. Leah followed me everywhere, her silence broken only when she was near me. When I wasn't there, she reverted to her shell, the 'mute' child Damian had known for two years.
I began to realize the truth: Leah wasn't brain-injured. She was traumatized. She had been a captive observer, a child who had seen things no one should see.
"She doesn't talk because she’s afraid of being heard," I told Damian on the fourth night. We were standing in the atrium, watching the moonlight hit the infinity pool. "She’s been trained to be quiet, Damian. Vane didn't just hurt her; he broke her spirit so she wouldn't talk about what happened in that facility."
Damian looked at me, his usual icy composure melting. "I have killed men for less than what they did to her. But this... this is a different kind of war. If Vane is behind this, he’s protected by people who make me look like a saint."
"Why did they take her?" I asked.
"Because she’s the heir to the Caruso legacy, yes," he said. "But more than that—she’s a witness. There’s a secret in the Caruso ledger. A list of accounts. My father hid it, and Vane wants it."
Just then, the security alarm blared. A high-pitched, piercing whine that cut through the silence of the night.
"They’re here," Damian said, reaching for a holster hidden beneath his jacket. "Stay with Leah. Do not move."
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I didn't listen. I grabbed Leah and ran toward the service elevator. I knew the layout of the house now, and I knew where the safe room was. But as I sprinted down the hallway, a man emerged from the shadows—Dr. Vane himself, holding a silenced pistol, his eyes cold and clinical.
"Hello, mother," he said, his voice a smooth, terrifying hum. "It’s time to finish the autopsy."
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