Chapter 14 - THE ROOM BENEATH SAINT ARMAND
14
Twenty-three children.
Matteo had spent his entire adult life surrounded by criminals.
Men who extorted businesses.
Men who bribed officials.
Men who ordered violence from behind mahogany desks and slept peacefully afterward.
Yet nothing he had ever encountered prepared him for the files hidden beneath Saint Armand Institute.
Sofia led them through a service corridor behind the old nursery.
At the end was an elevator requiring a keycard.
She still had one.
When the doors opened beneath the building, Liana immediately smelled antiseptic.
The underground floor had no windows.
Only white lights.
White walls.
White doors.
Every surface looked clean enough to erase history.
Sofia stopped outside a records room.
“He keeps backups here.”
Matteo glanced at Dominic.
“Take everything.”
His men began photographing and copying files.
Liana walked between shelves.
Each box had a number.
A birth date.
A subject designation.
Some ended with one word.
TRANSFERRED.
Others said FAILED.
Liana refused to ask what failed meant.
Then she found Eva.
SUBJECT B-23.
She opened the file.
Photographs.
Medical charts.
Feeding schedules.
Notes about emotional responses.
One line made her hands stop.
Maternal scent exposure produces immediate reduction in cortisol markers.
Liana stared.
They had used her clothing.
Her blankets.
Her scent.
To calm Eva.
And later Nico.
Kane had studied a mother’s bond with her child like laboratory equipment.
Liana sank into a chair.
Matteo saw her.
“What is it?”
She handed him the page.
He read.
His expression darkened.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Liana looked up.
“No.”
Matteo’s eyes shifted toward her.
“He dies too quickly, we lose answers.”
“You think I care about answers?”
“Yes.”
She stood.
“Because Eva needs them.”
That stopped him.
Liana wiped her eyes.
“I want him alive long enough to tell us where every child went.”
Matteo stared at her for several seconds.
Then nodded.
Dominic approached carrying a laptop.
“We found something.”
On the screen was a transfer schedule.
Several children had been moved from Saint Armand over the previous year.
Private clinics.
Unregistered foster homes.
Foreign foundations.
Then one recent entry.
Subject B-23.
Eva.
Transfer authorized two days earlier.
Destination:
VARRIC ESTATE.
Everyone froze.
Matteo stared.
“My house?”
Sofia looked confused.
“That’s impossible.”
Dominic scrolled.
The authorization code belonged to someone inside Matteo’s security network.
Matteo immediately called the estate.
No answer from Elena.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then one of his guards.
Nothing.
Matteo’s blood went cold.
“Nico.”
They ran.
The drive back felt endless.
Matteo called every number connected to the estate.
Finally, someone answered.
A guard.
Breathing hard.
“Boss.”
“What happened?”
“We were hit.”
Matteo gripped the phone.
“Nico?”
Pause.
“Missing.”
Liana shut her eyes.
Matteo nearly crushed the device.
“Elena?”
“Alive. Sedated.”
“Cameras?”
“Cut.”
“Who took him?”
“We don’t know.”
Then Liana remembered the transfer record.
“They brought Eva there first.”
Matteo turned.
“What?”
“Kane wasn’t separating them anymore.”
She leaned toward Dominic’s laptop.
“He was reuniting them.”
Sofia suddenly understood.
“No.”
Matteo looked at her.
“What?”
Sofia whispered, “Final response test.”
Liana stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Kane always said the experiment was incomplete.”
“What experiment?”
Sofia looked sick.
“He wanted to prove infants could develop permanent paired attachment through repeated trauma.”
Matteo said nothing.
Sofia continued.
“Separate them. Cause distress. Reunite them. Measure the response.”
Liana’s voice cracked.
“They’re babies.”
“I know.”
“Where would he take them?”
Sofia shook her head.
Then Matteo remembered something.
A property his father had owned outside the city.
An old private rehabilitation center.
Closed fifteen years ago.
Dr. Kane had once worked there.
Matteo gave the driver the address.
They arrived after dark.
The property sat beyond a tree line.
No lights were visible from the road.
Matteo’s men surrounded the building.
He entered through the front.
Liana stayed directly behind him despite every instruction to remain outside.
They found Elena first.
Conscious.
Weak.
Locked in a side room.
“Kane,” she whispered.
“He came dressed like a doctor.”
“Where are the babies?”
“Downstairs.”
Matteo ran.
The lower floor contained one illuminated room.
Behind a glass partition were two cribs.
Nico in one.
Eva in the other.
Liana stopped.
Her entire world stopped.
Eva.
Older than the last time Liana had seen her.
More hair.
Longer legs.
Alive.
Very alive.
She was crying.
Liana rushed toward the door.
Locked.
Nico was screaming too.
Dr. Elias Kane stood between the cribs.
His gray hair perfectly combed.
His white coat spotless.
He looked through the glass at Matteo.
Almost amused.
Matteo hit the door.
“Open it.”
Kane pressed a button on the wall.
His voice came through a speaker.
“You were never supposed to understand any of this.”
Liana slammed both hands against the glass.
“Give me my daughter!”
Eva heard her.
The baby stopped crying for one second.
Her head turned.
Liana pressed closer.
“Eva.”
The baby stared.
Then reached toward the glass.
Liana broke.
“That’s my baby.”
Kane watched the reaction.
Fascinated.
He picked up a tablet.
“Remarkable.”
Matteo’s face transformed.
“You’re recording this?”
“Of course.”
Matteo struck the glass.
“OPEN THE DOOR.”
Kane ignored him.
Nico cried harder.
Eva began crying again.
Kane looked at the monitor.
“Heart-rate synchronization.”
Liana stared at him.
“You monster.”
Kane smiled faintly.
“You call it monstrous because you don’t understand its significance.”
Matteo spoke very quietly.
“You have ten seconds.”
Kane laughed.
“Or what?”
Matteo’s men were already moving around the building, searching for another entrance.
Kane stepped closer to the glass.
“You built your reputation convincing people you could control anything.”
His eyes hardened.
“But your wife lied to you. Your son wasn’t yours. Your home protected my work. Your money funded companies that supplied my clinics.”
Matteo went still.
That last sentence landed hard.
“What?”
Kane smiled.
“You financed me without knowing it.”
Through shell companies.
Medical charities.
Research grants hidden inside Varric investments.
Matteo had unknowingly helped pay for the nightmare.
Kane enjoyed watching him understand.
“You’re part of this, Matteo.”
“No.”
Sofia stepped beside him.
“You used his companies.”
“I used his arrogance.”
Kane’s expression shifted.
“You were useful too, Sofia.”
She looked sick.
Kane pressed another button.
A hiss sounded inside the nursery.
Liana looked upward.
“What is that?”
Sofia’s face changed.
“Sedative.”
Liana began screaming.
“NO!”
Eva’s eyes started becoming heavy.
Nico’s cries weakened.
Matteo turned toward his men.
“Break it.”
They struck the glass.
Once.
Twice.
Cracks appeared.
Kane backed away.
“You’ll destroy the data!”
Matteo hit the glass with a metal chair.
“I don’t care about your data!”
Another blow.
Glass shattered inward.
Liana climbed through before anyone could stop her.
She reached Eva.
The moment Liana lifted her daughter, Eva released one tiny sound.
Not a cry.
A sigh.
The same sound Nico had made in Liana’s arms weeks earlier.
Liana collapsed to her knees holding her child.
“My baby.”
Eva buried her face against Liana’s neck.
Across the room, Matteo lifted Nico.
His son clutched his shirt.
Kane moved toward the back door.
Sofia saw him.
“He’s leaving!”
Matteo’s men blocked the exit.
For the first time, Kane looked afraid.
Matteo approached while holding Nico.
Kane raised his hands.
“You need me.”
Matteo stopped.
“To find the others.”
Kane nodded quickly.
“Yes.”
Matteo looked toward Liana.
Then back at Kane.
“You’re right.”
Kane exhaled.
Relief.
Then Matteo added:
“That’s why you’re going to live long enough to tell us everything.”
Police sirens began approaching in the distance.
Not Matteo’s doing.
Dominic had called federal authorities once the files were discovered.
Kane’s face fell.
The doors burst open minutes later.
Agents entered.
Boxes were seized.
Computers secured.
Kane handcuffed.
As they dragged him away, he looked toward Matteo.
“This isn’t over.”
Matteo said nothing.
But Kane smiled.
“There was someone above me.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Kane was pulled toward the door.
He turned back once.
May you like
And said:
“Ask your father.”
