Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Vanished in Red

The emergency lights came back in three seconds.

Belini was gone.

Luca did not shout.

That was worse.

“Seal the stairwells,” he said.

Marco was already moving.

“Done.”

“Garage?”

“Locked.”

“Roof?”

“Two men.”

Emma stood beside Luca’s wheelchair with the heated towel still in her hands.

The television remained black.

On the last frozen image, Belini had handed Dr. Mercer a syringe.

Then the floor had gone dark.

Emma looked toward the suite door.

“She couldn’t have gone far.”

Luca’s expression stayed still.

“She knew the floor.”

“You think she planned this?”

“I think planning is more useful than panic.”

His voice was controlled.

His right hand was not.

Two fingers pressed against his left thigh.

Again.

Again.

Testing.

Emma noticed.

“You still feel it.”

“Heat.”

“Pain?”

“A little.”

Marco returned.

“Belini never reached the elevator.”

Luca looked at him.

“Camera?”

“Dead from the suite to the west stairs.”

“That requires access.”

“Yes.”

Emma’s eyes moved toward the medical cart.

The strange black device still sat open behind it.

“Maybe that controlled the cameras.”

Marco shook his head.

“Different system.”

Luca’s gaze sharpened.

“So we have two intrusions.”

“Looks that way.”

A guard entered carrying something.

A red diamond earring.

Found near the service passage.

Emma recognized it.

Belini had been wearing the pair.

Luca did too.

“Blood?” he asked.

“No.”

Good.

For reasons Emma did not understand, Luca seemed relieved.

Then his phone rang.

Unknown number.

Marco looked at him.

Luca answered.

No one spoke for several seconds.

Then a woman whispered, “Don’t let Mercer inject you again.”

Emma’s skin went cold.

Luca’s face did not change.

“Belini.”

Silence.

“Where are you?”

The voice returned.

“They know you felt the towel.”

“Who?”

A door slammed somewhere on the line.

Belini breathed quickly.

“Luca, listen to me.”

“I am.”

“The injections were never treating pain.”

He looked at the syringes on the table.

Emma stopped breathing.

“What were they doing?”

Belini whispered one sentence.

“Keeping the nerves quiet.”

The line cracked.

Luca’s eyes hardened.

“Who ordered it?”

No answer.

“Belini.”

Then another voice spoke.

Male.

Close to the phone.

“You were warned not to interfere.”

The call ended.

Marco was already tracing it.

“Thirty seconds.”

Luca looked toward Emma.

“Did you recognize the voice?”

“No.”

He did.

She saw that.

“Who?”

Luca said nothing.

Marco’s phone buzzed.

“Signal came from inside the hotel.”

Emma stared.

“Inside?”

“Twenty-sixth floor.”

Luca’s private medical wing.

The floor Dr. Mercer used.

Marco moved toward the door.

Luca stopped him.

“Wait.”

Marco frowned.

Luca looked down at his left foot.

“Emma.”

“Yes?”

“Touch my ankle again.”

She hesitated.

Then knelt.

One fingertip.

His foot twitched.

This time harder.

Marco saw it.

Luca stared.

“Again.”

Emma touched the same place.

The movement repeated.

Luca’s face became unreadable.

Seven years.

Seven years of nothing.

And now twice.

Marco spoke quietly.

“Boss.”

Luca lifted his eyes.

“Find Mercer.”

“We will.”

“No.”

His voice dropped.

“Find out who signed every medical order after the yacht explosion.”

Marco paused.

“That’s seven years.”

“Yes.”

“And Belini?”

Luca looked at the red earring.

“If she was helping Mercer, I want to know why she warned me.”

Emma stood.

“And if she wasn’t?”

Luca looked at her.

“Then someone wants me to believe she was.”

His phone buzzed again.

A text.

No readable words on the screen.

Only an attached photograph.

Marco opened it.

Dr. Mercer.

Alive.

Sitting in a private room.

Beside him stood a silver-haired man in a black suit.

Luca went completely still.

Emma looked from the photograph to him.

“You know him.”

“Yes.”

“Who is he?”

Luca’s voice barely changed.

“My uncle.”

Marco swore softly.

Emma frowned.

“Is that bad?”

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Luca looked at the image.

“My uncle has been dead for six years.”