Chapter 5 - The Woman Tommy Couldn’t Find
Adrian read the message three times.
“My sister is alive.”
Chloe didn't answer.
She wanted it to be true.
But after everything they had discovered, wanting something was dangerous.
“It could be old,” she said.
“The timestamp—”
“Can be changed.”
Adrian nodded.
He knew.
Still, hope had already entered his eyes.
They gave the photograph to investigators.
The address belonged to an abandoned community center scheduled for renovation.
The instruction was obvious.
Come alone.
Adrian had no intention of obeying literally.
Neither did Chloe.
“You're not coming,” he said.
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“Then you're becoming Tommy.”
Adrian stopped.
Chloe held his gaze.
“Don't decide for me.”
He exhaled.
“You're right.”
At 10:50 that night, they approached the building with investigators positioned nearby.
Chloe wore borrowed clothes and comfortable shoes.
It felt strange to have shoes again.
At exactly eleven, a light appeared inside.
Adrian opened the door.
“Elena?”
No answer.
They entered.
A woman stood near the far wall.
Older than Chloe remembered.
Thinner.
Hair shorter.
But unmistakable.
Elena Rossi.
Adrian stopped breathing.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“I'm sorry.”
He crossed the room.
For a second Chloe expected anger.
Instead, brother and sister embraced.
Elena began crying.
“I couldn't come home.”
“Three years.”
“I know.”
“Three years.”
“I know.”
Adrian pulled back.
“Why?”
Elena looked at Chloe.
“Because Tommy wasn't the person I was hiding from.”
Chloe felt the answer before Elena said it.
“Victor?”
Elena nodded.
Adrian stepped back.
“No.”
“Victor was running the financial network before Tommy joined it.”
“But Victor helped me search for you.”
“I know.”
“He paid investigators.”
“I know.”
“He—”
“Needed to know what you discovered.”
Adrian sat heavily in a chair.
Elena continued.
“Tommy was useful to Victor. Charming. Connected. Ambitious.”
Chloe asked, “Why did Tommy target me?”
“Your mother found the original ledger.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
“Tommy thought I did.”
“Yes.”
Elena looked ashamed.
“I tried to protect you without telling you.”
“By disappearing?”
“Victor found me first.”
“What happened?”
“I escaped. Barely. After that, I knew if I contacted Adrian, Victor would follow.”
“So you watched us?”
“From a distance.”
Chloe thought about the messages.
“The photograph of Adrian's house?”
“Mine.”
“The recording?”
“Mine.”
“Why all the games?”
“I needed to know whether Victor was still monitoring Adrian.”
Adrian looked hurt.
“You could have trusted me.”
“I trusted you.”
“No, you tested me.”
Elena had no answer.
Chloe understood both of them.
Fear distorted good intentions.
She had lived that truth for years.
“Where's Daniel?” Adrian asked.
Elena's expression changed.
“I don't know.”
Adrian stood.
“You said Victor was monitoring me.”
“He is.”
“Daniel disappeared.”
“That wasn't me.”
A phone rang.
Elena's.
She looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Victor's voice.
“Family reunion?”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Where's Daniel?”
“Safe.”
“For now?”
Victor sighed.
“Don't make this theatrical.”
Chloe almost laughed at the hypocrisy.
Victor continued.
“I want the flash drive.”
“The authorities have copies,” Adrian said.
“I know.”
“Then it's useless to you.”
“Not entirely.”
“Why?”
“Because there's another file.”
Elena went pale.
“What file?” Chloe asked.
Victor heard her.
“Hello, Chloe.”
Her skin crawled.
“What do you want?”
“The thing your mother left you.”
“I don't have anything.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“Think.”
Chloe's mind raced.
Her mother's belongings.
Photographs.
Jewelry.
A recipe box.
An old coat.
Nothing.
Then she remembered.
Bruno.
Elena's cat.
After Elena vanished, Chloe had kept him until he died two years later.
Elena had left his carrier.
Inside the carrier had been a brass nameplate.
Chloe had kept it.
Not because it mattered.
Because Bruno had mattered.
The plate was in one of her mother's storage boxes.
At Tommy's house.
Victor said, “Now you remember.”
Chloe's face gave her away.
Elena whispered, “What?”
Chloe ignored her.
“Why would my mother put anything there?”
Victor laughed softly.
“She didn't.”
“Elena did.”
Everyone looked at Elena.
Her face changed.
“You found Bruno's plate?” she whispered.
Chloe stared.
“What did you hide inside it?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“The account key.”
Adrian asked, “To what?”
“The original ledger.”
Victor's voice came through the phone.
“Now we're making progress.”
Chloe felt sick.
All this time.
A little brass plate.
Sitting in Tommy's basement.
Victor gave them an ultimatum.
Bring the account key by midnight tomorrow.
Daniel would be released.
Adrian refused immediately.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“He'll hurt Daniel.”
“We involve police.”
Victor laughed.
“You already did.”
The call ended.
The three of them stood in silence.
Then Chloe said, “We don't need to give him the key.”
Adrian looked at her.
“We need to get it first.”
“From Tommy's house?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Chloe turned to Elena.
“Tommy still thinks I'm afraid of him.”
“You are.”
“Yes.”
She didn't deny it.
“But fear doesn't mean I'm helpless.”
The next afternoon, through attorneys and investigators, Chloe arranged to collect personal property from Tommy's home under supervision.
Tommy wasn't supposed to be present.
He was.
Standing across the street.
Watching.
Chloe entered the basement with an officer.
Her mother's boxes remained stacked against the wall.
She found Bruno's carrier.
The brass plate was attached.
BRUNO.
Chloe unscrewed it.
Nothing.
Her stomach dropped.
She turned it over.
A tiny memory strip had been glued inside.
There.
She carefully handed it to the officer.
Evidence.
Protected.
Documented.
Tommy could no longer bury it.
As Chloe carried the box upstairs, she looked through the front window.
Tommy was gone.
Her phone buzzed.
A message.
Not from Tommy.
From Daniel.
One sentence.
I GOT OUT.
Then a second message appeared.
DON'T TRUST ELENA.
Chloe slowly turned toward Adrian's sister.
May you like
Elena was standing directly behind her.
And she was holding Chloe's mother's photograph.
