PART 2.
The tiny red light between the books kept blinking.
The guard beside the doorway stared at it as though it had become a loaded gun.
Alejandro Moretti was still on the floor.
His fingers were wrapped around my wrist.
His breathing sounded terrible, but it was breathing.
That was enough.
For me.
For everyone else, the nightmare had only begun.
The guard who had tried to stop me touched the radio clipped to his shoulder.
“Medical team.
Study.
Now.”
Alejandro’s hand tightened.
“No.”
The word came out broken.
Barely louder than the fire.
But every man in the room froze.
Alejandro dragged in another painful breath and looked toward the blinking camera.
“Lock… the house.”
The guard swallowed.
“Sir, you need—”
“Lock it.”
This time, even with his damaged throat, there was something in his voice that made the air change.
The man on the floor disappeared.
The helpless man disappeared.
Alejandro Moretti was back.
Every door in the mansion slammed shut within seconds.
Metal locks clicked.
Security shutters dropped across the lower windows.
Guards appeared in hallways, at staircases, beside entrances.
No one left.
No one entered.
And I was still kneeling beside Alejandro with my empty injector in my hand.
Then I heard running footsteps.
“Emma!”
Mama.
She came flying into the study wearing her black maid uniform, her hair half undone.
Her face changed when she saw me beside Alejandro.
Then she noticed the EpiPen in my hand.
She stopped breathing.
“Emma.”
I looked down.
“I used it.”
Mama stared at me.
My last one.
The one we could not afford to replace yet.
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Then her eyes moved to Alejandro.
He was breathing easier now.
Not well.
But enough.
Mama understood.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“What have you done?”
I could not tell whether she was asking me or God.
Alejandro released my wrist.
“She saved my life.”
Nobody spoke.
Mama looked at him.
Alejandro Moretti looked back.
For a moment, something passed between them.
Something I did not understand.
Fear.
Recognition.
Maybe both.
Then the medical team arrived.
They moved quickly.
Oxygen mask.
Blood pressure.
Medication.
Questions.
Alejandro answered none of them.
His attention remained on the bookshelf.
“Bring me the footage.”
One of the security men hesitated.
“Sir, we should move you to the infirmary.”
Alejandro turned his head.
That was all it took.
The man immediately nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
I clung to Mama’s skirt while the doctors lifted Alejandro onto a stretcher.
As they carried him toward the door, he raised one hand.
Everyone stopped again.
He pointed at me.
“The girl stays where I can see her.”
Mama went rigid.
“Mr.
Moretti, she’s only four.”
“I know.”
“She should not be involved in this.”
“She already is.”
His eyes moved to the broken wineglass.
Then to the hidden camera.
“Someone poisoned me in my own house.”
His voice was still weak.
“But whoever did it saw her save me.”
A cold feeling crawled up my back.
Alejandro finished quietly.
“That makes her involved.”
Mama pulled me closer.
“No.”
It was the first time I had ever heard her say that word to him.
Several guards looked at her as though she had stepped toward the edge of a roof.
Alejandro studied her.
“What did you say?”
Mama’s hand pressed over the back of my head.
“I said no.”
My cheek was against her hip.
I could feel her trembling.
“She is a child.
You can fire me.
Throw us out.
Do whatever you want to me.
But Emma goes nowhere near whatever this is.”
Alejandro stared at her for a long time.
Then something unexpected happened.
He nodded.
“Fine.”
Everyone looked surprised.
Even Mama.
“Take her downstairs.”
Mama exhaled.
Then Alejandro added:
“And put two guards outside their room.”
Mama’s relief vanished.
“For protection?”
Alejandro’s eyes hardened.
“For everyone’s protection.”
The basement had never felt so small.
Mama locked the staff-room door behind us and knelt in front of me.
“You disobeyed me.”
I lowered my eyes.
“Yes.”
“I told you never to leave when Mr.
Moretti was home.”
“Yes.”
“And you did.”
“Yes.”
Mama grabbed my shoulders.
I waited for her to yell.
Instead, she pulled me against her chest.
Her whole body began shaking.
“You could have died.”
Her voice broke.
“You could have died, Emma.”
I wrapped my arms around her neck.
“He couldn’t breathe.”
“I know.”
“He looked like me.”
Mama went still.
“When I had the allergy.”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“I know.”
“I had medicine.”
For a few seconds, Mama said nothing.
Then she kissed my hair.
“You did something brave.”
I smiled.
“But never do it again.”
My smile disappeared.
Mama laughed once through her tears.
Then someone knocked.
Three hard knocks.
Mama stood immediately.
“Who is it?”
“Matteo.”
I knew that name.
Matteo Rinaldi.
Alejandro’s chief of security.
The man who checked every door himself before important meetings.
Mama opened the door only halfway.
Matteo stood outside.
He was tall and broad, with gray at his temples and a scar through one eyebrow.
Two guards waited behind him.
He looked at me.
Then at Mama.
“The boss wants you upstairs.”
Mama’s face tightened.
“He said Emma could stay.”
“He wants both of you.”
“No.”
Matteo’s expression softened slightly.
“Elena.”
I looked up.
Very few people called Mama by her first name.
Matteo continued.
“You need to see what was on that recording.”
The security room was hidden behind the library.
I had passed that wall many times without knowing there was a door.
Inside, there were screens everywhere.
Hallways.
Gardens.
Garages.
Kitchens.
Staircases.
The mansion had eyes.
Alejandro sat in a leather chair with a blanket over his legs.
An oxygen tube ran beneath his nose.
A doctor stood nearby looking unhappy.
Alejandro looked pale.
But his eyes were sharp.
Too sharp.
He glanced at me.
“Come here.”
Mama kept hold of my hand.
“We stay together.”
Alejandro did not argue.
The security technician pressed a button.
The main screen changed.
The study appeared.
Earlier that night.
Alejandro was standing beside his desk.
Alive.
Healthy.
Angry about something.
A man stood across from him.
I recognized him.
Victor Salazar.
Alejandro’s business adviser.
He visited almost every week.
Victor wore perfect suits and always gave me chocolate when Mama was not looking.
On the recording, he was arguing with Alejandro.
There was no sound.
Alejandro pointed at the door.
Victor left.
Two minutes passed.
Then someone else entered.
A woman.
Her face was hidden because she was turned away from the camera.
Black dress.
Dark hair.
She carried a silver tray.
Mama’s fingers suddenly crushed mine.
I looked up at her.
She had gone white.
The woman placed a wine bottle and glass on the desk.
Alejandro was in the adjoining room.
The woman glanced toward the doorway.
Then reached inside her sleeve.
A tiny bottle appeared.
She poured something into the wine.
The room went silent.
On the screen, the woman quickly returned the bottle to her sleeve.
Then she turned.
Her face appeared clearly.
I heard Mama gasp.
The woman on the screen was wearing a maid’s uniform.
And she looked exactly like Mama.
Everyone turned toward us.
Guns came out.
I screamed.
Mama stepped in front of me.
“No!”
Matteo raised his weapon.
“Elena, don’t move.”
“That isn’t me!”
The technician froze the image.
Mama’s face filled the giant screen.
Her eyes.
Her hair.
Her mouth.
Everything.
Alejandro stared at her.
No emotion.
Mama shook her head.
“I did not go into your study.”
Matteo spoke quietly.
“The footage says you did.”
“I was downstairs.”
“With witnesses?”
Mama looked around.
“No.”
“Then where were you?”
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Alejandro leaned back.
“Elena.”
Mama looked at him.
“Where were you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
The guards shifted.
Alejandro’s gaze became colder.
“That is the wrong answer.”
Mama stood straighter.
“It is the only answer I have.”
Matteo moved closer.
“Search her.”
I started crying.
“No!”
Mama turned.
“Emma, it’s all right.”
It was not all right.
Two female security officers entered.
They searched Mama.
Pockets.
Shoes.
Apron.
Nothing.
Then one officer reached into the inside pocket of Mama’s uniform.
Her hand stopped.
She pulled out a tiny glass bottle.
Empty.
Exactly like the one from the recording.
Mama stared at it.
“That isn’t mine.”
Matteo took it.
His face fell.
Alejandro said nothing.
I ran to Mama.
“She didn’t do it!”
Matteo glanced at me.
“Emma.”
“She was with me!”
Mama’s head snapped toward me.
“Emma, no.”
But I kept talking.
“She came to the basement.”
The room became quiet.
“When?”
Alejandro asked.
I sniffled.
“Before the glass broke.”
Mama squeezed my shoulder.
“Stop.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
Her eyes were full of fear.
Not fear of Alejandro.
Something else.
Alejandro noticed too.
“What did she do in the basement?”
I tried to remember.
Mama had rushed into the staff room.
Her hands were shaking.
There had been something dark on one sleeve.
At the time, I thought it was dirt.
She had changed her apron.
She had put the old one inside a laundry bag.
Then she told me not to leave.
I whispered:
“She changed clothes.”
Every face turned toward Mama.
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
Alejandro’s voice went very quiet.
“Bring me the laundry bag.”
Mama closed her eyes.
The apron was still there.
So was the blood.
A dark brown stain covered one sleeve.
The doctor tested it.
Not Alejandro’s.
Human.
Mama sat in a chair.
I sat on her lap.
Nobody had handcuffed her.
Yet.
Alejandro watched from across the room.
“Whose blood?”
Mama said nothing.
“Elena.”
Nothing.
“Who were you protecting?”
Mama’s arms tightened around me.
Alejandro leaned forward.
“Because if you poisoned me, you chose a remarkably complicated way to do it.
You entered my study on camera, left the bottle in your own pocket, then stayed inside the house.”
Mama looked at him.
“So you believe me?”
“I believe someone wants me to believe you did it.”
Matteo frowned.
“Boss.”
Alejandro lifted one hand.
“I also believe Elena is lying about something.”
Mama looked away.
The security technician suddenly spoke.
“Sir.”
Everyone turned.
He had been studying the footage.
“There’s a problem.”
“What problem?”
“The timestamp.”
Alejandro narrowed his eyes.
The technician enlarged a corner of the image.
“The study recording says 10:14 p.m.”
“So?”
“At 10:14, camera fourteen recorded Elena in the east hallway.”
Another screen appeared.
Mama was pushing a cleaning cart.
Same time.
Different location.
Matteo stared.
“Impossible.”
The technician switched between the feeds.
Study.
Hallway.
Study.
Hallway.
Two Elenas.
My skin prickled.
Alejandro’s eyes sharpened.
“Someone altered the footage.”
“No, sir.”
The technician shook his head.
“That’s the problem.”
“The footage wasn’t altered.”
Alejandro stared at him.
“Then explain it.”
The man swallowed.
“There were two women who looked like Elena.”
Silence.
A tiny sound came from Mama.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Alejandro turned to her.
“You know who she is.”
Mama’s face crumpled.
I twisted in her lap.
“Mama?”
She closed her eyes.
“I prayed she was dead.”
Nobody moved.
Alejandro stood despite the doctor’s protest.
“Who?”
Mama looked at him.
“My sister.”
Her name was Sofia.
I had never heard it before.
Mama told us the story slowly.
She and Sofia were twins.
Identical.
They had grown up poor, moving between relatives after their parents died.
Mama cleaned houses.
Sofia found other ways to survive.
She became involved with dangerous men.
Smugglers.
Collectors.
People who traded secrets.
Eight years earlier, Sofia disappeared after stealing something from a criminal organization.
Mama was told she had been killed.
“What did she steal?”
Alejandro asked.
Mama hesitated.
“A ledger.”
Matteo frowned.
“What ledger?”
Mama looked directly at Alejandro.
“One that belonged to your father.”
The room changed.
Even I felt it.
Alejandro went still.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
“I know.”
“You worked for him?”
“No.”
“Sofia did.”
Alejandro stepped closer.
“Doing what?”
Mama swallowed.
“Things nobody admitted existed.”
No one spoke.
Then Alejandro laughed softly.
There was no humor in it.
“My father’s assassin?”
Mama stared at the floor.
“Sometimes.”
Matteo muttered a curse.
Alejandro’s face became unreadable.
“And now she walks into my house wearing your face and poisons my wine.”
“I don’t understand why.”
“Perhaps she dislikes me.”
“She could have killed you a hundred easier ways.”
Alejandro’s eyes moved toward me.
“Yes.”
That answer frightened me.
Because he was right.
If Sofia knew enough to enter the mansion disguised as Mama, she knew where the cameras were.
She knew the guards.
She knew the study.
Maybe she knew what Alejandro drank.
So why get caught on camera?
Unless…
Alejandro turned toward the security technician.
“Run facial comparison.”
“They’re identical twins.”
“Not completely.”
He looked at Mama.
“Scars.
Posture.
Bone injuries.
Anything.”
The technician zoomed in.
Seconds passed.
Then he found it.
The woman in the study had a thin scar behind her left ear.
Mama did not.
Alejandro smiled faintly.
“Good.”
Matteo looked confused.
“Good?”
“Now we know Elena was framed.”
Mama exhaled.
Alejandro continued.
“And we know Sofia wanted us to discover the difference.”
The relief disappeared.
“Why?”
Alejandro looked at the camera image.
“Because this was never about convincing me Elena poisoned me.”
He tapped the screen.
“It was about making me look at Elena.”
Then the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
I screamed.
Gunshots exploded somewhere outside.
Not one.
Many.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Sirens began screaming through the mansion.
Matteo grabbed Alejandro.
“Down!”
Mama pulled me under the security console.
Men shouted.
Radios crackled.
“West entrance breached!”
“Three men down!”
“Movement in the courtyard!”
“Someone opened the internal gate!”
Alejandro’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Who has access?”
“Security command only.”
Matteo looked toward the technician.
The technician stared back.
Then the security screens flickered.
One by one, they returned.
Every screen showed the same thing.
A woman.
Mama’s face.
Sofia.
She stood somewhere inside the mansion.
Black clothes.
Hair pulled back.
Blood on one cheek.
She smiled directly into the camera.
Then sound came through the speakers.
“Hello, Alejandro.”
He rose slowly.
Matteo grabbed his arm.
“Boss, stay down.”
Alejandro ignored him.
Sofia smiled wider.
“You look terrible.”
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
“What do you want?”
Her smile disappeared.
“The truth.”
Alejandro’s expression did not change.
“About?”
“Your father.”
Mama whispered:
“No.”
Sofia looked straight into the camera as though she could hear her.
“Elena.”
Mama stood.
“Sofia.”
For the first time, the woman on the screen looked shaken.
Only for a second.
Then she recovered.
“You always were terrible at following instructions.”
Mama stared at her.
“You poisoned him.”
“I gave him enough to frighten him.”
“He almost died.”
“No.”
Sofia’s eyes moved.
“To the little girl hiding under the desk, he almost died.”
Everyone looked at me.
I froze.
Sofia could see me.
Mama pulled me behind her.
“How?”
Matteo whispered.
The technician checked the console.
“No camera in this room should be feeding outward.”
Sofia laughed through the speakers.
“You still think this is your security system?”
Alejandro’s face hardened.
“You planned for the girl to save me?”
Sofia tilted her head.
“No.”
For the first time, real curiosity appeared on her face.
“Emma was unexpected.”
She smiled.
“A very interesting complication.”
Mama stepped closer to the screen.
“Stay away from her.”
Sofia’s smile vanished.
“Then tell her.”
Mama stopped.
My heart began beating harder.
“Tell me what?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at Mama.
“Mama?”
Her face looked broken.
Sofia spoke gently.
“She still hasn’t told you?”
Alejandro turned toward Mama.
“Told her what?”
Sofia leaned closer to the camera.
“Ask Elena why a maid with no family and no money ended up working inside the most secure mansion in the city.”
Mama whispered:
“Stop.”
“Ask her why she accepted a basement room instead of working somewhere safer.”
“Stop.”
“Ask her why she has spent four years hiding that child whenever Alejandro comes home.”
Alejandro slowly looked at me.
The room became impossibly quiet.
Sofia smiled.
And said:
“Because Elena was never hiding Emma from Alejandro.”
Mama began to cry.
“She was hiding Emma from the people watching Alejandro.”
My fingers tightened around my stuffed rabbit.
Alejandro’s face changed.
“What are you talking about?”
Sofia’s eyes locked onto his.
“You really don’t know?”
Then somewhere above us, a huge explosion shook the mansion.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The screens flickered.
Sofia’s image distorted.
Before it vanished, she said one final thing.
“Look at the child’s eyes, Alejandro.”
The screen went black.
I looked at him.
Alejandro Moretti stared back at me.
He looked frightened.
Not by the attack.
Not by Sofia.
By me.
Mama grabbed my hand.
“We have to go.”
Alejandro caught her arm.
“No.”
She spun around.
“Let go.”
“Why did she say that?”
“Not now.”
“Why did she tell me to look at Emma’s eyes?”
Another explosion shook the building.
Matteo shouted.
“We need to move!”
But Alejandro refused to release Mama.
“Answer me.”
Mama looked at him.
Then at me.
Tears ran down her face.
“I was going to tell you one day.”
The words seemed to stop time.
Alejandro loosened his grip.
“Tell me what?”
Mama opened her mouth.
A gunshot cracked.
She jerked.
For one terrible second, nobody understood what had happened.
Then blood spread across her shoulder.
“Mama!”
She fell.
I screamed.
Matteo fired toward the doorway.
A masked man dropped behind us.
Another guard dragged Mama behind cover.
Alejandro grabbed me and pulled me against his chest as bullets shattered the security room windows.
He carried me through a hidden door.
Matteo followed.
We ran down a narrow concrete passage beneath the mansion.
I kicked and cried.
“Mama!
Mama!”
“She’s alive!”
Alejandro shouted.
“She’s alive.”
I hit his chest with both fists.
“Go back!”
“We can’t.”
“Mama!”
Behind us, gunfire echoed through the tunnel.
Alejandro carried me faster.
At the end was a steel door.
Matteo entered a code.
Nothing happened.
“Again.”
He tried.
Red light.
Locked.
“System’s compromised.”
Alejandro put me down.
I ran toward the tunnel.
He caught me.
“No.”
“I want Mama!”
“I know.”
“You’re bad!”
His expression tightened.
“Probably.”
“I hate you!”
“I know.”
Then he saw my backpack.
The pink rabbit backpack.
His eyes narrowed.
“What is that?”
“My bag!”
“No.”
He pointed toward the side pocket.
A tiny green light was blinking.
Matteo saw it too.
He grabbed the backpack and tore it from my shoulders.
Hidden beneath the fabric was a device no bigger than a coin.
A transmitter.
Someone had been tracking me.
Alejandro stared at it.
Then understanding hit him.
“Sofia knew exactly where Emma was.”
Matteo crushed the device under his boot.
A sound came from the darkness behind us.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Someone was coming down the tunnel.
Alejandro moved me behind him.
He had no gun.
Matteo raised his weapon.
The footsteps stopped.
A woman’s voice echoed through the passage.
“Elena should have told you the truth years ago.”
Sofia stepped into the emergency light.
She looked exactly like Mama.
Almost.
The scar behind her ear caught the red glow.
Matteo aimed at her chest.
“Don’t move.”
Sofia ignored him.
Her eyes were on me.
“Hello, Emma.”
I hid behind Alejandro.
Sofia looked amused.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
Alejandro asked.
“She trusts you already.”
“I saved him,” I whispered.
Sofia smiled.
“No, sweetheart.”
She looked at Alejandro.
“You saved him twice.”
Alejandro frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Sofia reached slowly into her coat.
Matteo cocked the gun.
“Hands!”
She pulled out a photograph.
Old.
Creased.
She slid it across the floor.
It stopped at Alejandro’s shoes.
He looked down.
Then picked it up.
I could not see the picture.
But his face changed completely.
All the power vanished from it.
“What is this?”
Sofia answered:
“The reason your father died.”
Alejandro looked again.
Then slowly turned the photograph toward me.
A younger Mama was standing beside a man.
The man had Alejandro’s dark hair.
His eyes.
His face.
For a moment, I thought it was Alejandro.
But he looked younger.
Softer.
Behind them was a hospital.
Mama was pregnant.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written a date.
Five years earlier.
Alejandro stared at Sofia.
“That isn’t me.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Sofia’s smile was sad now.
“Your brother.”
Matteo lowered his weapon slightly.
Alejandro went white.
“My brother died seven years ago.”
“No.”
Sofia shook her head.
“Your father told you he died.”
I looked between them.
I did not understand.
Alejandro did.
Slowly.
Terribly.
His eyes moved toward me.
Same dark eyes.
Same strange gold ring around the pupils.
Sofia whispered:
“Emma is Luca Moretti’s daughter.”
Alejandro stopped breathing.
“And your niece.”
The tunnel seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
Alejandro looked at me as though seeing me for the first time.
Then Sofia spoke again.
“But that isn’t the secret your father killed to protect.”
A distant alarm began screaming.
Sofia stepped backward into the darkness.
Alejandro lifted his head.
“What secret?”
She smiled.
“The one hidden inside Emma’s stuffed rabbit.”
I looked down.
My rabbit was still clutched in my arms.
The toy Mama never allowed anyone to wash.
The rabbit I had owned for as long as I could remember.
Alejandro stared at it.
So did Matteo.
Then, from somewhere inside the stuffed animal, came a tiny mechanical click.
A sound I had never heard before.
Everyone froze.
Sofia disappeared into the darkness.
And my rabbit began to speak in the voice of a dead man.
“If you are hearing this, Alejandro, then your father failed.”
Alejandro’s face turned bloodless.
The voice continued.
“And the child is in danger.”
I held the rabbit tighter.
It spoke again.
“Do not trust Matteo.”
Alejandro slowly lifted his eyes.
Matteo was already pointing his gun at him.
…If you want to know what happened next, please type “YES” and like for more.
READ FULL PART 2:
FULL STORY: The Basement Girl’s Secret – PT04
Source: Stories of Destiny · Thao Thao
