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“It’s empty, but Sabina was using this for something.”
“Like items you would need if you were planning an escape?”
“Exactly along those lines. Fuck! I thought we would find something.”
“What about the library?”
“Didn’t your father freak out when he found her in there?”
“Yes, he did. She was visibly shaken but covered by not showing how his outburst affected her. I reassured her everything would be fine and would take care of our father. I sent her to her room, but did she make it there?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if she stayed to listen to our conversation? I put him in his place and told him to stay away from Sabina, but something seemed off in his tone. Although it didn’t sit well with me, I didn’t pursue it. My anger blinded me, that I couldn’t see the liar standing before me with all his betrayals and manipulations. This is my fault. I left her that night and exposed her to my father. He fucking planned all of this, Gio. She would have never run if I had stayed, and he knew I wouldn’t cancel my travel plans, so he pretended to be the doting father in my absence. However, if wolves stormed the compound looking for prey, he would have had no problem serving her on a silver platter. What is it about Sabina that makes him despise his daughter?”
“Should we go ask him?” he cracked his knuckles, wanting another pound of flesh, and we both knew my father had it coming in spades.
“Was I wrong back then?”
“About what?”
“Putting all my blind faith in my father? We weren’t here when my mother was murdered, but Sabina was. Do you think she could have witnessed the murder, and what? Block it out? What do they call it?” I paced the bathroom and practically shouted, “Repression,” I folded my hands over the back of my neck and shouted as loud as possible. “Motherfucker! Why didn’t I put it together until now? She ran for only two reasons. First, she has something on him that he doesn’t want me to discover. Or, Sabina is so traumatized and lost in her subconscious to fucking remember what that bastard did. We have to go,” I charged out of the bathroom and Sabina’s room. Gio was behind me until I stopped in the circular hallway surrounding the library.
“It’s here; I know it. I think I may be suffering from repressed memories as well. We used to play here as children, but the library wasn’t always the library until much later. It was just another room in the house until my father gifted my mother thepiano. It was one of the few times she smiled without faking it. She loved the written word, and my father filled the shelves with her favorite books. On the rare occasions when my father allowed it, we listened to our mother play.”
“As time went on, I pulled away from the simpler things, but Sabina fought to stay and hold onto every happy memory she could have with her. It all seemed so long ago, and neither could continue to hide the cracks in their marriage. I tried to spend time with Sabina, but I was older, and my father was grooming me to join him in the organization, my future.
My father was always running a game, and I think that’s partly because he regretted making me boss. He knew I would never step aside once I was in the role, and after I sealed our alliances, there would be no way to reverse it.”
“Was he plotting behind my back?” I addressed Gio, who looked just as perplexed as I did.
“I don’t know, but we must find out before you talk to Atwater.”
“Don’t I fucking know it? It’s like this is one big maze, and I’m trapped in it, struggling to find my way out.” I was so angry that I kicked the wall and my foot went through it. “What the fuck!?” Then I remembered the hidden corridor. “The library is on the other side of this wall, but I always believed it was sealed after my mother died, but it’s not.”
“Where does this lead?” asked Gio.
“It goes completely around, and if we feel around the walls and the frame, we should find,” and just as I was about to finish my sentence, the door opened with a click. I turned on the flashlight on my phone and then directed it down the long hallway. I kept tapping on the walls until I found the small metal opening. It swiveled back and forth, and once I opened it, I could see perfectly into the library.This was it. If Sabina had witnessedanything that happened on the day of my mother’s murder, she would have witnessed it from here.
We kept walking down the hall, and when the other door opened, we were both standing in the library. “Gio, get your men down here to sweep this room completely. The technology may have evolved since then, but a camera and a listening device are still the same. They have the same ability to capture secrets and ones that my father never intended for anyone ever knowing or seeing. Tear this room down, and don’t stop until you find it,” I ordered.
I couldn’t be in the same room my mother was murdered in. I left Gio to do his work, went upstairs to my room, and just waited. I sat behind my desk and picked up a photo of Sabina hugging me on her graduation day. She was sad behind her smile and put up a good front for my benefit. It wasn’t as if I had given her a choice. I demanded, and she accepted. Fuck! I’m a bastard and no better than our father. It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, and I ruined it and made it sad for her. I should have never forced her to come home, but Bourne Atwater was right. I was in the dark and didn’t know as much as I believed I did. I traced her beautiful features despite the sadness I saw in her eyes.
“I swear on the memory of our mother that I will make this right. I’m so sorry I failed you, Sabina,” I whispered, still holding the picture when Gio stepped in and walked across the room to my desk. His expression was grim.
“You found something?” I questioned. He said nothing and handed me a bundle of cables and a small camera. “Get Lorenzo here so I can view what's on it,” I seethed with anger, and then Gio looked as if he was about to be sick, raising even more alarms with me.
“What? Speak!” I shouted as I stood up and slammed my fist on my desk.
“He’s here and transferred it all to this drive.” He handed me the small object, and I inserted it into my laptop, with Gio giving me a glass and the scotch decanter.
“You’ve seen what’s on here?” I questioned him.
“Yes, and it’s brutal. Do you want to be alone?”
“No, take a seat,” I ordered.
I knew our home was under surveillance; we had no choice but to protect it at any cost. I didn’t know back then that I had to protect it against my father. I hit play and saw my sister in the library. She looked happy scanning the books, then went over to our mother’s piano, probably remembering the good times listening to her play. Her face fell in a matter of minutes, and she looked deep in thought, but what was she remembering? A few minutes later, she was in front of the shelf where my mother’s music box sat. I zoomed in and confirmed our mother’s music box was present while Sabina was in the library. The next frame showed my father yelling at her, and then a few minutes later, I appeared, and our fight began.
