Chapter 2 - The Man Waiting in Room 808
Damian reached Room 808 first.
Claire was beside him.
Dr. Lang followed.
Bianca came last.
Nobody had invited Mr. Morel.
He followed anyway.
Damian put the key into the lock.
His hand stopped.
Claire noticed.
“You’re afraid.”
Damian looked at her.
“So are you.”
“Yes.”
He opened the door.
A man stood near the window.
Sixty-two.
Tall.
Gray at the temples.
Dark coat.
A scar crossed his left hand.
Damian knew the face.
Not from memory.
From photographs.
His father.
Marco Romano.
For thirty-four years, Damian had been told Marco disappeared before he was born.
Marco looked at him.
Then Claire.
His eyes filled immediately.
“My children.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Damian did not move.
Marco took one step forward.
Damian raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
Marco stopped.
“Fair.”
Damian looked at him.
“You were alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew where I was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew where she was.”
Marco looked at Claire.
“Yes.”
Damian laughed once.
Cold.
“And you waited thirty-four years?”
“No.”
Mr. Morel entered behind us.
Marco’s face changed.
“You.”
Charles Morel shut the door.
“You should have stayed in Europe.”
Claire turned toward the man who had raised her.
“Dad.”
Charles looked at her.
“I am your father.”
Marco shook his head.
“You are the man who bought silence.”
Bianca whispered:
“Dad, what does that mean?”
Charles ignored her.
Damian stepped between them.
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
He pointed at Marco.
“You speak first.”
Marco nodded.
He opened a leather case.
Inside were copies of bank transfers.
Hospital forms.
A photograph of Damian’s mother.
Elena Romano.
Young.
Holding two knitted hats.
One blue.
One white.
Damian stared.
“She knew there were two?”
Marco’s face broke.
“For twelve minutes.”
Claire whispered:
“What?”
Marco looked at her.
“You were born first.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“Your mother held you.”
Dr. Lang closed his eyes.
Marco continued.
“Then Elena hemorrhaged.”
Damian looked at Dr. Lang.
“What happened?”
The old doctor answered.
“She lost consciousness.”
Marco said:
“When she woke, she was told the girl had died.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“Who told her?”
Nobody answered.
Then Marco looked at Charles Morel.
Claire turned slowly.
“No.”
Charles spoke calmly.
“My wife had suffered three miscarriages.”
“That is not an answer,” Claire said.
Charles looked at her.
“She was collapsing.”
“So you took me?”
“I gave you a home.”
Marco stepped forward.
“You paid a hospital administrator to create a death certificate.”
Charles looked at him.
“And you were involved with men who settled arguments with guns.”
Damian’s expression hardened.
“You stole a baby because you disapproved of my family?”
Charles shook his head.
“I removed a child from danger.”
Dr. Lang finally spoke.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
The old doctor’s hands trembled.
“You asked me to sign the transfer.”
Claire stared.
“You signed it?”
Dr. Lang nodded.
Tears filled his eyes.
“I signed a false death record.”
Silence.
Claire stepped backward.
Damian looked at the doctor.
“You came to expose him.”
“Yes.”
“You helped him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dr. Lang looked at the floor.
“Because Charles had photographs of my son buying drugs.”
Nobody spoke.
“He threatened to send them to the medical board.”
Claire whispered:
“So everyone chose something over me.”
Dr. Lang flinched.
“Yes.”
Marco pulled one more document from the case.
“This is why I disappeared.”
Damian took it.
A police report.
Dated six months after the twins were born.
Marco Romano.
Suspected in the murder of Vincent Morel.
Bianca frowned.
“Vincent?”
Charles went still.
Marco looked at her.
“Your father’s brother.”
Damian read the page.
“His body was never found.”
Marco nodded.
“And your father told the police I killed him.”
Charles finally looked nervous.
Damian stared at him.
“Did he?”
Charles answered:
“Marco came to my house threatening my family.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“I came for my daughter.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Marco continued.
“Charles told me that if I tried to take Claire, I would be arrested for Vincent’s murder.”
Damian looked at Charles.
“Was my father guilty?”
Charles said nothing.
Marco answered.
“No.”
Then he placed a second photograph on the table.
Vincent Morel.
Alive.
Standing outside a café in Prague.
Date stamped three months ago.
Bianca whispered:
“Uncle Vincent is alive?”
Charles’s face lost its color.
Marco looked at Damian.
“That is why I came back.”
Damian stared at the photograph.
Then at Charles.
“You framed my father with a murder that never happened.”
Charles’s voice dropped.
“You don’t understand what Vincent did.”
Claire wiped her eyes.
“Then explain.”
Charles looked at her.
“No.”
Damian picked up the photograph.
“Wrong answer.”
Marco opened the hotel safe.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
On the front were three words.
FOR BOTH TWINS.
Damian stared.
“From who?”
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Marco answered:
“Your mother.”
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