Chapter 2 - The Woman Marco DeLuca Claimed
"Elena."
The voice came again.
Not from the phone.
From behind them.
Elena spun.
A narrow storage door beside the bookcase moved inward.
Nico drew his weapon.
Marco stepped in front of Elena.
"Come out."
A teenager stumbled from the darkness.
He wore a Belladonna dishwasher's apron and looked close to fainting.
Elena recognized him.
"Sam?"
Samuel Ortiz was nineteen, quiet, and constantly apologizing for breaking glasses.
His face had lost all color.
"I didn't know where else to hide."
Marco lowered his hand, signaling Nico.
"What happened?"
Sam stared at Elena.
"Mr. Rusk told me to take a package out the back."
"What package?" Elena asked.
"A black book."
Marco and Nico exchanged a look.
"The ledger?" Elena whispered.
Sam nodded.
"He said if anybody asked, I never saw it."
"Where is it?"
"I didn't take it."
"What?"
"I opened the delivery bag. There was a note."
Marco stepped closer.
"What note?"
Sam swallowed.
"It said they had my little sister."
Elena felt sick.
"What did you do?"
"I put the bag down. Mr. Rusk came back. He was yelling into his phone. Then somebody hit him."
"Who?"
"I couldn't see. I hid."
Marco's gaze sharpened.
"You saw enough."
Sam shook his head rapidly.
"Please, I don't know anything."
"You know Vincent didn't leave willingly."
Sam froze.
Elena noticed it.
"So someone took him?"
Sam's mouth opened.
Then Marco's phone buzzed.
Nico checked his own at the same time.
"Boss."
Marco looked.
Nico's face hardened.
"We found Mateo's car."
Elena gripped the edge of the desk.
"Where?"
"South freight district."
"Was he—"
"Car was empty."
She closed her eyes.
Marco's hand settled briefly against her shoulder.
It was not possessive.
Not yet.
It was steadying.
"We move."
Elena opened her eyes.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"My brother is missing."
"Which is why you're not walking into a trap."
"You can't tell me to stay."
Marco looked at her.
"I just told a room full of people you're my fiancée."
"That doesn't make it true."
"Tonight it does."
Her anger came fast because anger felt safer than terror.
"You don't get to decide that."
"No. But Rafael thinks I do. That's useful."
She stared at him.
He continued.
"They threatened your brother because you wrote to me. If they believe you're under my protection, they have to reconsider how far they're willing to go."
"Or they kill Mateo to prove they aren't afraid."
Marco's jaw tightened.
"That's why we're moving now."
"We?"
"You stay with me."
She folded her arms.
"That sounds a lot like coming."
For the first time, something nearly like approval touched his expression.
"Fine."
Nico muttered, "This is going to go well."
Marco glanced at him.
Nico became very interested in the wall.
They left Belladonna through the service exit.
Rain hammered the alley.
A black SUV waited.
Marco opened the rear door for Elena.
She stopped.
"Where are we going?"
"First to your apartment."
"My apartment?"
"If your brother called, he may have left something."
"And then?"
"Then somewhere safe."
"I have a home."
"Your home is compromised."
"You don't know that."
Marco looked at her bruised wrist.
"I know enough."
She hated that he was right.
Inside the SUV, Sam sat in front with Nico.
Two other men followed in another vehicle.
Elena kept staring at the photograph from Vincent's office.
Her mother.
Sofia Reyes.
Marco's father, Antonio DeLuca.
They stood outside a building Elena vaguely recognized.
A younger Sofia wore jeans and a leather jacket.
Antonio had one hand on her shoulder.
They were smiling.
Not romantically, Elena thought.
But familiarly.
Comfortably.
"Tell me."
Marco looked out the rain-streaked window.
"My father knew your mother."
"Clearly."
"He knew thousands of people."
"Then why did you recognize the handwriting?"
He remained silent.
"Marco."
"My father wrote capital A's exactly like that."
"The note said to ask you what he did to her."
"I saw it."
"Did he hurt her?"
Marco turned.
"If I knew that, I would tell you."
"Would you?"
"Yes."
"Why should I believe you?"
"You shouldn't."
The answer surprised her.
He continued.
"Not yet."
The SUV stopped outside Elena's apartment building.
One of Marco's men entered first.
Two minutes later he returned.
"Door's open."
Elena's stomach dropped.
She tried to get out.
Marco caught her forearm—not the bruised one.
"Wait."
"It's my home."
"It's potentially a crime scene."
"My brother could be inside."
Marco released her.
"Behind me."
They climbed three flights.
Her door had been kicked in.
Elena stepped into destruction.
Couch cushions slashed.
Kitchen cabinets emptied.
Family photographs shattered.
Her bedroom drawers dumped across the floor.
"Mateo!" she called.
No answer.
She ran to his room.
Empty.
His school backpack lay open.
Laptop gone.
Closet disturbed.
"Mateo!"
Marco entered more slowly.
His gaze moved over everything.
"Elena."
She turned.
He pointed at the wall beside Mateo's bed.
A photograph had been removed.
The nail remained.
"What was there?"
"My mother and us."
"Recent?"
"Last Christmas."
"Why take it?"
"I don't know."
Nico called from the living room.
"Found something."
They joined him.
On the dining table was a small white box.
Elena knew it immediately.
Her breath stopped.
"What?"
Marco looked at her.
"That box."
"You recognize it?"
"Rafael gave me one like it last week."
"What was inside?"
"A key."
Marco's attention sharpened.
"To what?"
"I don't know. I threw it away."
"Where?"
"Trash chute."
Nico opened the box.
Inside lay no key.
Only a folded slip of paper.
Marco read it.
MIDNIGHT.
COME AS FAMILY.
BRING WHAT ANTONIO STOLE.
Elena looked at the clock.
10:21.
"Midnight where?"
Nico turned the note.
An address was written on the back.
Marco read it.
His face changed.
Elena saw it immediately.
"You know the place."
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
"My family's old estate."
"Old estate?"
"It burned twenty-two years ago."
Elena stared.
"You expect me to believe someone kidnapped my brother and wants to meet at a burned mansion?"
"The mansion was rebuilt."
"By whom?"
"My mother."
The name seemed to darken the SUV when they returned to it.
Elena had heard of Isabella DeLuca.
Everyone in Greybridge had.
Widowed matriarch.
Philanthropist.
Patron of hospitals, churches, and museums.
A woman who appeared in photographs wearing pearls and never seemed to age.
"Your mother lives there?"
"No."
"Then who does?"
"No one."
They drove north.
Marco's current home sat behind iron gates above the river.
Elena expected something gaudy.
Instead the house was severe.
Stone.
Glass.
Dark wood.
Nothing excessive except the security.
Men were already stationed at the entrance.
Marco brought Elena inside.
A housekeeper named Rosa immediately approached.
Her eyes widened at the sight of Elena.
Then at Marco.
Then at their joined hands.
Elena realized he was still holding hers.
She pulled free.
Marco noticed but said nothing.
"Rosa, guest room."
"Of course."
"And find something for her wrist."
"I'm fine," Elena said.
Rosa looked at the bruise and ignored her.
Within fifteen minutes Elena sat at a kitchen island with ice wrapped in a towel.
Marco stood across from her making calls.
Every sentence was short.
Every answer seemed to produce movement somewhere else in the city.
"Check traffic cameras."
"Pull Rafael's properties."
"Find Vincent."
"Nobody touches Velez until Mateo is located."
That last one surprised her.
Marco ended the call.
"You could hurt him."
"I could."
"But you won't."
"Not while he has leverage."
Elena looked down.
"You really are what they say."
"Depends what they say."
"That people disappear when you decide they're a problem."
Marco poured coffee.
"People say many things when facts are inconvenient."
"Is that a denial?"
"No."
She looked up sharply.
He held her gaze.
"I don't want you pretending I'm something harmless."
"Why?"
"Because harmless men don't survive where I live."
"And dangerous men do?"
"Sometimes."
She thought about Rafael.
"You called me your fiancée."
"Yes."
"You did it without asking."
"Yes."
"Don't do that again."
Marco nodded.
"Fair."
She had expected resistance.
"That's it?"
"What would you prefer?"
"I don't know. Arguing."
"I don't argue when I'm wrong."
That unsettled her more than arrogance would have.
Rosa returned.
She carried a small jewelry box.
Marco frowned.
"What's that?"
"Your mother sent it."
"When?"
"Ten minutes ago."
Marco stopped moving.
"She knows Elena is here?"
Rosa looked uneasy.
"The courier asked for Miss Reyes by name."
Elena stood.
"How?"
Marco approached the box.
"Don't touch it."
Rosa had already placed it down.
Marco opened it carefully.
Inside lay an antique engagement ring.
A large diamond surrounded by smaller dark stones.
Elena stared.
Rosa crossed herself.
"What?"
Elena looked at her.
"You recognize it?"
Rosa said nothing.
Marco did.
"My grandmother's."
"Why did your mother send me your grandmother's engagement ring?"
Marco lifted a card from beneath it.
He read.
His face hardened.
Elena took the card.
MARCO,
IF YOU HAVE CLAIMED SOFIA'S DAUGHTER, THEN FINISH WHAT YOUR FATHER STARTED.
BRING HER TO ME BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
—MOTHER
Elena looked up.
"Your mother knew my mother."
"Apparently."
"More than apparently."
Marco reached for his phone.
Elena stopped him.
"No."
His eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"I want answers."
"So do I."
"Then take me to her."
"Absolutely not."
"You said I stay with you."
"That wasn't an invitation to walk into whatever this is."
"My brother is missing. Your dead father's name is on the threat. Your mother just sent me an engagement ring. I'm done being kept outside the room while other people decide what I should know."
Marco stared at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded once.
"Get your coat."
They left ten minutes later.
Isabella DeLuca lived in a penthouse above the old Saint Adrian Hotel.
The elevator required three codes and a fingerprint.
When the doors opened, she was waiting.
Elena had expected elegance.
She had not expected sorrow.
Isabella looked at Elena and went white.
"Sofia."
Elena stopped.
"I'm Elena."
Isabella pressed one hand to her mouth.
Marco stepped forward.
"Mother."
Isabella's eyes filled.
"She has her mother's eyes."
Elena held out the photograph.
"Tell me what Antonio DeLuca did to my mother."
Isabella looked at Marco.
Then at Elena.
"He saved her."
Elena froze.
"From whom?"
Isabella walked to the windows.
"From Rafael Velez's father."
Marco stiffened.
"What?"
"Gabriel Velez."
Elena had never heard the name.
Isabella continued.
"Twenty-seven years ago, Gabriel ran money through Belladonna before Vincent Rusk ever owned it. Sofia discovered the records."
"The ledger," Marco said.
Isabella nodded.
"Antonio stole it before Gabriel could kill her."
Elena's heart raced.
"Where is it?"
"No one knows."
"Then why do they think I have it?"
"Because your mother was the last person Antonio trusted."
Elena shook her head.
"My mother never told me any of this."
"She was trying to keep you alive."
"My mother is in a care facility. She barely recognizes me."
Isabella looked shattered by that.
"Does she still have the necklace?"
Elena stared.
"What necklace?"
"A silver Saint Christopher medal."
Elena's pulse jumped.
Her mother had worn one every day for as long as she could remember.
"Yes."
Isabella turned to Marco.
"Antonio hid keys in plain sight."
Marco swore under his breath.
Elena was already reaching for her phone.
She called the nursing home.
No answer from the direct line.
She called again.
A receptionist picked up.
"Saint Agnes Residence."
"This is Elena Reyes. I need you to check on my mother, Sofia Reyes."
A pause.
"Ms. Reyes..."
Elena gripped the phone.
"What?"
"Your mother had a visitor."
"When?"
"About twenty minutes ago."
"Who?"
"He said he was family."
Elena's blood went cold.
"What was his name?"
The receptionist hesitated.
"Rafael Velez."
Elena was moving before the call ended.
Marco caught up.
"Where are you going?"
"To my mother."
"Elena—"
"Move."
They reached the elevator.
It opened.
Nico stood inside, breathing hard.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We found Mateo."
Elena grabbed his sleeve.
"Where?"
Nico's face was grim.
"At the old DeLuca estate."
"Alive?"
"He appeared on a security camera three minutes ago."
Elena sagged with relief.
Then Nico continued.
"He wasn't alone."
Marco's eyes narrowed.
"Who was with him?"
Nico turned his phone around.
The grainy image showed Mateo walking through the front doors.
Beside him was Vincent Rusk.
And in Mateo's hand was a black leather ledger.
Elena stared at the screen.
"Why would my brother have that?"
No one answered.
Then her phone rang.
MATEO.
She picked up immediately.
"Mateo?"
His voice came low and urgent.
"Elena, don't trust Marco."
She looked at the man beside her.
"What are you talking about?"
Mateo breathed into the phone.
Then he said six words.
"His father didn't save Mom."
The line went dead.
Elena slowly lowered the phone.
Across from her, Marco had heard every word.
May you like
Before either could speak, the elevator doors opened.
A man stood on the other side holding a gun.
