Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Was Buried Alive
"Claire, your mother is still alive."
The whisper came from somewhere inside the dark medical room.
Gabriel grabbed my arm.
Marco raised his gun.
A red emergency light flickered above the steel door.
Then a woman's voice said, "Don't shoot."
My heart stopped.
I knew that voice.
Not because I remembered it perfectly.
Because I had spent nineteen years trying not to forget it.
"Mom?"
Nobody moved.
A panel beside the medication cabinet slid open.
A woman stepped through.
She was older now.
Her brown hair was streaked with gray. A scar crossed the left side of her forehead. Her face was thinner than the woman in my childhood photographs.
But her eyes were the same.
My eyes.
"Eleanor," Daniel whispered.
My knees nearly gave out.
The woman looked at me.
"Claire."
I couldn't breathe.
"No."
She took one step forward.
I backed away.
"Claire, please."
"My mother is dead."
Her face crumpled.
"I know what they told you."
"I buried you."
"No."
"We had a funeral."
"I know."
"I saw your coffin."
"It was closed."
That stopped me.
I remembered.
Closed casket.
My father had told us the accident had been too severe.
Emily had been five.
I'd been nine.
I'd stood beside that coffin holding a stuffed ladybug and wondering why nobody would let me say goodbye.
"You let us believe you were dead."
Eleanor's eyes filled.
"I didn't have a choice."
"Everybody has a choice."
"Not when someone has your children."
The room went silent.
Gabriel's grip loosened around my arm.
I looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
Eleanor glanced at Marco and Luca.
"Can I come closer?"
"No."
The word came out before I thought.
She stopped immediately.
That somehow hurt worse.
"Explain."
She nodded.
"After I discovered account 417, Dominic knew I had copied the records. He came to Hawthorne Street looking for them."
"The basement."
"You remember?"
"Pieces."
Her eyes closed briefly.
"I hoped you never would."
"You hid me."
"Yes."
"And Vittorio was there."
"Yes."
"Gabriel too?"
Eleanor looked toward him.
Gabriel stiffened.
"Answer her," he said.
"You were sixteen."
"I don't remember Claire."
"You weren't supposed to."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Apparently that's a popular phrase."
Eleanor looked at the DNA report lying across his lap.
Her face changed.
"You found out."
Gabriel held it up.
"Dominic Moretti is my biological father."
"Yes."
The word struck him harder than I expected.
He looked away.
"And Vittorio?"
"The man who raised you."
"That's not what I asked."
Eleanor swallowed.
"Vittorio knew."
Gabriel's eyes returned to her.
"Since when?"
"Since you were three."
"And he raised me anyway."
"He loved you."
Gabriel gave a bitter laugh.
"You knew my father better than I did."
"Vittorio made mistakes."
"That's generous."
"He also spent twenty years trying to protect you from Dominic."
"By lying to me?"
"By keeping Dominic from claiming you."
I frowned.
"Claiming him?"
Eleanor looked at Gabriel.
"Dominic didn't want a son. He wanted an heir."
Gabriel's face became unreadable.
"To what?"
"The Moretti empire."
Marco shifted.
"Vittorio was the older brother."
"Exactly. Vittorio controlled the legitimate companies, the family trusts, the properties. Dominic controlled pieces of the underground network. He believed Gabriel could unite both."
Gabriel stared at her.
"So why try to kill me?"
"Because you refused to become him."
"I didn't know he was my father."
"He knew."
Eleanor pointed toward the DNA report.
"Dominic watched you for years. When Vittorio began preparing to transfer control directly to you, Dominic demanded recognition. Vittorio refused."
"And account 417?"
"Dominic's private network."
"Then why does the trust name Claire?"
Eleanor looked at me.
My stomach tightened.
"Mom."
"The money wasn't originally yours."
"Then why is my name there?"
"Because I changed the beneficiary."
Gabriel stared at her.
"You stole my inheritance?"
"No."
Her voice sharpened.
"I protected it."
"By putting it under your daughter's name?"
"By putting it somewhere Dominic couldn't legally touch."
Marco frowned.
"That makes no sense. Dominic signed the transfer."
"He signed what he believed was a temporary holding structure."
Eleanor looked at me.
"Vittorio and I changed the final beneficiary after his signature was authenticated."
I stared at her.
"You put sixty million dollars in my name without telling me?"
"It was never meant to become yours."
"That's comforting."
"It was meant to return to Gabriel once Dominic was exposed."
Gabriel leaned back.
"So Claire was a shield."
Eleanor flinched.
"I hated it."
"But you did it."
"Yes."
I felt sick.
My entire life suddenly seemed connected to decisions made in rooms I'd never known existed.
Scholarships.
Protection money.
Photographs.
Anonymous funds.
None of it had been accidental.
"Why fake your death?"
Eleanor looked at me.
"Because Dominic took Emily."
My chest stopped moving.
"What?"
"You were nine. Emily was five."
I looked at my sister's face in my mind.
Little Emily.
Missing front tooth.
Pink backpack.
"She never disappeared."
"For eleven hours."
I shook my head.
"I would've remembered."
"You were at school."
Eleanor's voice broke.
"Dominic sent me a photograph of Emily asleep in the back seat of a car. He told me that if I didn't disappear, he would kill both of you."
My anger faltered.
"I went to Vittorio. We staged the accident. He moved me into protection."
"For nineteen years?"
"I tried to come back."
"When?"
"Three times."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because Dominic always found out."
I stared at her.
"How?"
"I didn't know."
Gabriel spoke.
"Someone inside Vittorio's organization."
"Yes."
Marco looked uncomfortable.
Eleanor noticed.
"Not you."
Marco blinked.
"You know?"
"I knew your father."
"Matteo."
"He died helping me."
Marco went completely still.
"What?"
Eleanor approached him.
"Your father discovered Dominic was using his identity to move money through account 417. Matteo gave me the first transaction ledger."
Marco's face hardened.
"I was told he stole from Vittorio."
"Dominic created that story."
"My father died in a car accident."
Eleanor's eyes filled.
"No."
Marco stared.
"Say it."
"Dominic killed him."
Marco turned away.
His fist struck the concrete wall.
Once.
Gabriel said nothing.
There were some griefs even he didn't interrupt.
Then I remembered something.
"Dr. Mercer."
Eleanor looked toward the monitors.
"She's alive."
"Where?"
"Dominic moved her twenty minutes ago."
"You know where?"
"No."
Gabriel rolled toward her.
"You've been hiding in these tunnels. You have access to his network."
"Some of it."
"Then find him."
"I've been trying."
"For eighteen months?"
"For nineteen years."
That silenced him.
Eleanor opened a cabinet and removed a laptop.
She entered a password.
A map appeared.
Dozens of dots.
Properties.
Bank accounts.
Safe houses.
One blinking signal moved along the highway.
"What's that?"
"Dr. Mercer's medical bracelet."
I remembered the bracelet from the security footage.
"You tracked her?"
"I built the bracelet."
Gabriel looked impressed despite himself.
"Where is she going?"
Eleanor enlarged the map.
An industrial district near the river.
"Old Moretti shipping warehouse."
Marco checked his weapon.
"We move now."
"No."
Eleanor's voice was immediate.
Marco stared at her.
"Dominic expects you."
"He has Evelyn."
"He wants Gabriel."
Gabriel shrugged.
"He's had several opportunities."
Eleanor looked at him.
"No, Gabriel. He doesn't want you dead."
Gabriel glanced at the poisoned capsules.
"His communication skills need work."
"The medication wasn't poison."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"The capsules."
Eleanor picked one up.
"These aren't designed to kill him."
"I'm a nurse. Tampered medication can absolutely—"
"I know."
She opened a drawer and removed a laboratory report.
"The substance causes progressive neuromuscular weakness."
Gabriel went still.
"What?"
Eleanor looked at him.
"Your spinal injury was severe. But not as severe as you've been told."
Dr. Mercer's earlier urgency suddenly made sense.
Gabriel's voice dropped.
"Explain."
"Dominic has been keeping you in that wheelchair."
Nobody moved.
Gabriel stared at his legs.
I felt cold all over.
"That's impossible."
"No," I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I thought through his chart.
The inconsistent reflex responses.
The periods of unexplained weakness.
The medication changes.
His records had bothered me when I'd first reviewed them, but I'd assumed specialists knew more than I did.
"What medication did you take before the accident?" I asked.
"None."
"After?"
"Dozens."
"Who designed the regimen?"
"Mercer initially."
Eleanor shook her head.
"Dominic altered it through another physician."
Gabriel's hands tightened.
"Are you telling me I could walk?"
"I don't know."
"Could I?"
"Potentially."
The word devastated him more than certainty might have.
For eighteen months he'd lived inside a future someone else had chosen for him.
Gabriel looked at me.
"Did you know?"
"No."
He searched my face.
I let him.
Finally he looked away.
"What happens if I stop taking it?"
"Not suddenly," I said. "If the regimen contains what she says, we need to identify every compound first."
His jaw tightened.
"More waiting."
"Yes."
"I hate waiting."
"I noticed."
For once, he didn't argue.
Eleanor moved toward me.
"Claire."
I looked at her.
"There's something you need to understand before we go after Dominic."
"Apparently my capacity for terrible information is unlimited today."
Her expression broke my heart.
"You weren't supposed to be involved."
"You tracked me for years."
"Vittorio did."
"You let him."
"Because I needed to know you were alive."
I swallowed.
"Emily too?"
"Every day."
"You watched us grow up."
"From photographs."
"And never called."
"If Dominic had discovered contact—"
"I understand the reason."
She looked surprised.
"That doesn't mean I forgive it."
She nodded slowly.
"I know."
For the first time, I stepped closer.
Not enough to hug her.
Not yet.
But enough that she could see I hadn't closed the door completely.
Gabriel watched us.
Then a monitor beeped.
The signal from Dr. Mercer's bracelet had stopped.
Marco looked at the map.
"Warehouse."
Gabriel turned his wheelchair.
"We go."
Eleanor blocked him.
"No."
He looked up at her.
"You've apparently known me since I was sixteen. You should know that word doesn't work."
"Dominic wants you angry."
"He succeeded."
"He wants you reckless."
"Still doing well."
"Gabriel."
Something in her tone stopped him.
"Vittorio didn't die because Dominic wanted him dead."
Gabriel stared at her.
"What?"
"The bomb wasn't intended for Vittorio."
"We know. It was intended for me."
"No."
Eleanor's face went pale.
"It was intended for someone else."
"Who?"
She looked at me.
My stomach dropped.
"Me?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Eleanor hesitated.
"Your mother."
Gabriel stared.
"My mother died when I was six."
Eleanor shook her head.
"No, Gabriel."
He stopped breathing.
"Your biological mother survived."
Another dead person suddenly alive.
I almost laughed from disbelief.
Gabriel didn't.
"Name."
Eleanor looked toward the floor.
"Isabella DeLuca."
Marco swore quietly.
Even Luca reacted.
I looked between them.
"Who is that?"
Gabriel answered.
"The DeLuca family controlled the eastern docks before my father took them."
Eleanor nodded.
"Isabella was their only daughter."
Gabriel's expression darkened.
"Dominic had an affair with the daughter of his family's biggest rival."
"More than an affair."
"What happened to her?"
"Vittorio hid her."
"Why?"
"Because Dominic tried to kill her after Gabriel was born."
The room became painfully quiet.
Gabriel looked toward the monitors.
"Is she alive?"
Eleanor didn't answer.
"Eleanor."
"I don't know."
"Where did Vittorio hide her?"
"He never told me."
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
A notification appeared on the laptop.
INCOMING FILE.
Eleanor froze.
"Don't open it."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because this system isn't connected to the outside."
Marco raised his gun.
"Then how did it arrive?"
Eleanor whispered, "Someone is inside the tunnel network."
The file opened automatically.
Video.
Dr. Mercer appeared.
Still tied up.
Dominic stood behind her now.
For the first time, I saw his face clearly.
The man from my childhood memory.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Snake-and-crown ring.
Cold eyes.
Dominic smiled into the camera.
"Hello, son."
Gabriel's face became stone.
Dominic continued.
"I imagine Eleanor has filled your head with stories."
Eleanor whispered, "Don't listen."
"She'll tell you I stole your money. She'll tell you I poisoned you. She'll tell you Vittorio protected you."
Gabriel leaned closer.
Dominic smiled.
"Ask her who was driving the car the night your father died."
Eleanor went pale.
Gabriel looked at her.
"Who?"
She said nothing.
"Eleanor."
"I was."
The room froze.
Gabriel stared.
"You were driving?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Vittorio was getting me out."
"And the bomb?"
"I didn't know."
Gabriel's voice became dangerous.
"My father died because you were in that car."
Tears filled her eyes.
"Yes."
I stepped between them.
"Gabriel."
"Move."
"No."
His eyes snapped toward me.
"She didn't plant the bomb."
"You don't know that."
"Neither do you."
Dominic's voice continued from the monitor.
"Good, Claire."
I turned.
He was watching us live.
My blood ran cold.
"Keep defending your mother."
His smile widened.
"Because she still hasn't told you the best part."
Eleanor lunged toward the computer.
The screen changed.
A document appeared.
A death certificate.
ELEANOR BENNETT.
Then another.
ISABELLA DELUCA.
Then a third.
VITTORIO MORETTI.
All three certificates had been signed by the same physician.
DR. EVELYN MERCER.
I stared.
Dr. Mercer appeared again on video.
Dominic placed a gun against her head.
"Tell them."
She was crying.
"Tell them what you did."
"I saved them."
Dominic laughed.
"Wrong answer."
Gabriel shouted at the screen.
"Dominic!"
His biological father smiled.
"There he is."
A timer appeared.
00:10:00.
Ten minutes.
"Come to the warehouse alone, Gabriel, and Evelyn lives."
Marco shook his head.
"No."
Dominic continued.
"Bring anyone else and she dies."
The video ended.
Gabriel immediately turned toward the tunnel.
I grabbed his wheelchair.
"No."
He looked back.
"Let go."
"You're not going alone."
"He'll kill her."
"He may kill her anyway."
"Claire."
"Gabriel."
His eyes burned with anger.
Mine probably did too.
Then Eleanor spoke.
"There's another way into the warehouse."
Everyone looked at her.
"Vittorio built an emergency passage beneath the river loading platform."
Marco checked the map.
"I don't see it."
"You wouldn't."
"Where does it exit?"
"Under Dominic's office."
Gabriel nodded.
"We split."
He pointed.
"Marco and Luca use the passage. I enter through the front."
"And me?" I asked.
"You stay here."
I laughed.
"No."
"Claire."
"My mother is here. My sister is upstairs. Someone threatened both of them. Dominic has spent nineteen years turning my family into pieces on his board."
I leaned toward him.
"I'm going."
He stared at me.
Then said quietly, "Beside me."
"Beside you."
Eleanor handed me a small flash drive.
"Take this."
"What is it?"
"Everything your mother should have given you nineteen years ago."
I closed my fingers around it.
"Come with us."
She hesitated.
"Mom."
It was the first time I'd called her that without anger.
Her eyes filled.
Then she nodded.
"Okay."
A metallic sound came from behind us.
The sealed steel door unlocked.
Nobody had touched it.
Marco raised his pistol.
The handle moved.
Once.
Slowly.
Gabriel positioned himself in front of me.
The door opened.
A woman stood on the other side.
She was perhaps sixty.
Elegant.
Dark hair streaked silver.
A faded scar crossed her cheek.
Around her neck hung a silver cross identical to Gabriel's.
Gabriel stared at her.
She stared at him.
Then she whispered, "My son."
Gabriel couldn't speak.
Eleanor stepped backward.
"Isabella."
The woman smiled through tears.
But before Gabriel could move, Isabella raised one trembling hand and pointed directly at Eleanor.
"Don't trust her."
Eleanor went white.
Isabella looked at Gabriel.
"She knows who really put the bomb in your car."
Then footsteps stopped behind Isabella.
A man stepped into the doorway.
May you like
Gabriel whispered, "That's impossible."
And Vittorio Moretti walked into the light.
