Chapter Twenty-Six – Fractured Hearts
783 Words
The safe house overlooking the Hudson River was almost invisible from the street.
It had once belonged to a retired judge who secretly worked against organized crime. After his death, the building had been abandoned, forgotten by almost everyone.
Almost.
Walker locked the front door behind them.
"We'll stay here tonight."
"No one outside this room knows this place exists."
Luca checked every window before finally lowering his weapon.
"For the first time in days..."
"...I almost believe you."
Walker smirked.
"Don't get used to it."
Despite everything that had happened, a few quiet laughs escaped the room.
It was the first time anyone had laughed without forcing it.
Later that evening, rain drummed softly against the roof.
Emily stood alone on the balcony wrapped in a dark jacket, looking across the lights of Manhattan.
She heard the door slide open behind her.
"You couldn't sleep either?"
Victoria stepped outside, carrying two mugs of tea.
Emily accepted one.
"I keep replaying everything."
"The church."
"Father Michael."
"Gabriel."
Victoria leaned against the railing.
"I keep replaying twenty years."
For a while, they stood in silence.
The city shimmered below them, alive and indifferent to the war unfolding in its shadows.
"My father used to bring me here," Victoria said quietly.
"To this neighborhood?"
Emily asked.
Victoria nodded.
"He said if I ever forgot what normal people fought for..."
"...I shouldn't be leading anyone."
Emily looked at her.
"Do you think you've forgotten?"
Victoria didn't answer immediately.
"I think I buried that part of myself."
Emily smiled gently.
"I don't think it's gone."
Victoria looked into her eyes.
"You seem very certain."
"I've seen you risk your life for strangers."
Emily shrugged.
"Cold people don't do that."
Victoria looked away before Emily could notice the faint blush warming her cheeks.
Inside the house, Luca quietly watched them through the kitchen window.
Walker joined him.
"They're getting close."
Luca didn't deny it.
"I've never seen her trust anyone like this."
Walker sighed.
"That's exactly what worries me."
The following morning, Walker gathered everyone around a map.
"The abandoned psychiatric hospital is thirty miles north of the city."
Victoria recognized the location immediately.
"My father bought it fifteen years ago."
Emily looked at her.
"Did you ever ask why?"
"He told me some places should stay forgotten."
Walker folded the map.
"That's where we're going."
At the same time...
Inside an abandoned military bunker, Gabriel stood before a large wall covered in photographs.
Every picture showed Victoria.
As a child.
As a teenager.
As the head of the Moretti family.
Volkov entered quietly.
"You've been looking at them every day."
Gabriel didn't turn around.
"She looks..."
"...nothing like the monster you described."
Volkov's smile disappeared.
"Pictures don't tell the whole story."
Gabriel picked up one photograph.
It showed Victoria carrying groceries for an elderly woman years earlier.
"Neither do lies."
For the first time, Volkov's patience cracked.
He stepped closer.
"Don't confuse kindness with innocence."
Gabriel met his gaze.
"I'm starting to wonder if I've confused you with the truth."
The room fell silent.
Volkov realized something had changed.
He was losing his influence over Gabriel.
That afternoon, the group left for the hospital.
The drive was long.
Walker drove.
Luca sat beside him.
Emily and Victoria shared the back seat.
Neither had spoken for almost an hour.
Finally, Emily broke the silence.
"When this is over..."
Victoria looked at her.
"...what do you want?"
Victoria smiled sadly.
"No one's asked me that since I was a child."
Emily waited.
Victoria stared out the window.
"A small house."
"A garden."
"A dog."
Emily laughed softly.
"A dog?"
Victoria smiled for real.
"My mother loved golden retrievers."
"I always imagined having one someday."
Emily's eyes softened.
"I can actually picture that."
Victoria looked back at her.
"And you?"
Emily answered without hesitation.
"A quiet life."
"No more funerals."
"No more violence."
She paused.
"And someone to come home to."
Their eyes met.
Neither of them looked away.
For one suspended moment, it felt as if the rest of the world had disappeared.
Then Walker's voice interrupted from the front seat.
"We're here."
The abandoned hospital rose from the mist ahead of them.
Its broken windows resembled empty eyes staring back through the fog.
Victoria took a slow breath.
"My father hid the final truth here."
Emily reached for the door handle.
"Then let's finish what he started."
Neither of them noticed the small smile that had appeared on Luca's face.
For the first time in years...
Victoria sounded hopeful.
And somewhere in the shadows of the hospital, Adrian Volkov watched their car arrive through a cracked window.
He whispered to himself,
"Come inside."
"I've been waiting for you."
- Writer
