Chapter 7: The Secret Hidden Inside the Music Box
I couldn't stop staring at the photograph.
My childhood bedroom.
My pink curtains. The wooden desk my father had built for me. The little music box that used to sit beside my bed.
Someone had been inside my apartment.
Someone had opened the one thing I had kept from my childhood.
And someone knew what I had forgotten.
“Lena, give me the phone,” Victor said.
I handed it to him.
He examined the photograph, then called a number.
“Get a team to her apartment. Nobody enters without my authorization.””
My mother shook her head.
“It's too late. They've already been there.””
Victor looked at her.
“Then we'll get there before they leave.””
“No!”” I shouted.
Both of them turned toward me.
I held up the phone.
“They specifically told me to come alone. If I don't, they might hurt my father.””
My mother grabbed my hands.
“Sweetheart, you cannot trust that message.””
“What if it's really him?””
She looked away.
That was answer enough.
“Mom, is Dad alive?””
“Yes.””
“Then I need to see him.””
My mother began crying.
“Lena, the last time I saw your father, he was barely conscious. Leon had been interrogating him for days. I don't know what condition he's in now.””
I swallowed.
“Then we don't have time to waste.””
Victor started the engine.
“First, we're getting that music box.””
My apartment building was a narrow brick structure in Queens.
The hallway smelled of old carpet and cigarette smoke.
Two of Victor's men were already waiting downstairs.
One was a tall man named Ethan Cole. The other was a woman with short black hair named Nina.
“Mr. Romano,” Ethan greeted him.
“The apartment has been searched.””
“By whom?””
“We don't know. The building cameras went offline at 11:06 p.m.””
Victor glanced at me.
“Anything missing?””
I ran upstairs.
My front door was open.
The living room looked untouched, but my bedroom was different.
Drawers had been pulled out. Clothes covered the floor. My mattress had been lifted.
Someone had searched every inch of the room.
I rushed to the bed.
The music box was still there.
It was a small wooden ballerina box with faded pink paint. My father had given it to me for my sixteenth birthday.
I lifted the lid.
The familiar melody began playing.
For a moment, I was sixteen again.
My father was standing beside me, laughing because I'd complained that the ballerina kept getting stuck.
“Daddy, it's broken!””
“Nothing is broken, princess. Sometimes you just have to turn the key the right way.””
I remembered those words.
I turned the little brass key beneath the box three times.
A tiny click sounded.
The wooden base shifted.
Inside was a narrow compartment containing a folded photograph and a small memory card.
My hands began shaking.
The photograph showed me as a child, sitting on my father's shoulders.
On the back were six words.
The truth is safer with you.
Victor took the memory card.
“Do we have a laptop?””
Nina handed him a small tablet.
He inserted the card.
A video appeared.
The recording showed my father sitting in a dimly lit room.
His face was bruised. His shirt was torn.
But he was alive.
“Lena,” he began, looking directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, it means I've failed to protect you from the people who want the ledger.””
He paused.
“I know you won't remember what happened that night. You were young, and I made sure you wouldn't have to carry the memory.””
My throat tightened.
“What night?”” I whispered.
My father continued.
“Five years ago, I brought the ledger to our house. Leon followed me. He wanted the names of everyone involved in the operation.””
He leaned closer.
“I hid the ledger in a place nobody would think to search. But I didn't trust anyone to keep it safe. Not Victor.
Not Margaret. Not even myself.””
He looked down.
“So I gave you the key.””
The video flickered.
Then he said something that made my stomach turn.
“Lena, you were the last person to see the original ledger before I disappeared.””
My mother covered her mouth.
Victor stared at the screen.
My father continued.
“There's something else. If Leon finds the ledger, he won't just destroy the evidence. He'll use it to blackmail everyone whose name appears inside.””
He took a shaky breath.
“Especially the man who ordered your mother's death.””
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then I looked at my mother.
“You told me you were alive.””
“I am.””
“But Dad said someone ordered your death.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Lena, I survived the first attempt. I had to disappear because they believed I was dead.””
Victor closed the tablet.
“We need to move.””
Suddenly, Nina's radio crackled.
“Ethan, we've got a problem.””
He touched his earpiece.
“What?””
“Someone is coming up the stairs.””
Victor reached for his weapon.
“How many?””
“Three.””
Then the apartment lights went out.
A voice came from the hallway.
“Lena Hart?””
I froze.
It was a man's voice.
Familiar.
Terrifying.
“It's time to come home, sweetheart.””
My mother grabbed my arm.
I recognized the voice immediately.
It belonged to the man in the video.
My father.
But when the bedroom door slowly opened, the man standing there wasn't wearing a hospital bracelet.
May you like
He was holding a gun.
And he pointed it directly at Victor.
