Chapter 6 - The Mother in the Photograph
My mother had been dead for twelve years.
I had carried her coffin.
I had watched soil fall over the lid.
Apparently my family had developed a disturbing habit of surviving funerals.
Sofia took my phone.
"That's her."
"I know."
"No, Adrian. Look at her necklace."
A small silver cross hung against the woman's blouse.
Our mother had worn it every day since I was a child.
Matteo stared at the photograph.
His face had become unreadable.
"You knew."
I turned on him.
He didn't answer fast enough.
"You knew she was alive."
"No."
"Don't lie to me again."
"I didn't know."
"But?"
He swallowed.
"I suspected."
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I walked away before I did.
Elena sat on the couch with Lucy asleep against her chest.
Federal agents filled the house.
Gabriel had been taken to the hospital.
Price was in custody.
Robert Hale was being questioned.
And yet the real architect of everything was still ahead of us.
Victor.
"Why would Mom fake her death?" Sofia asked.
Matteo sat heavily.
"Maybe she didn't."
We looked at him.
"The crash happened," he said. "She was badly injured. Dad told me she died."
"You were in contact with Dad then?"
"Occasionally."
"Did you see a body?"
"No."
Neither had I.
The coffin had been closed.
Again.
I suddenly hated closed coffins.
Elena spoke softly.
"Victor used disappearances as control."
I looked at her.
"He kept people alive?"
"When they were more valuable that way."
My mother had known about the network.
She had also known Matteo survived.
Victor may have taken her after the crash and used her to keep Matteo compliant.
"Why reveal her now?" Sofia asked.
"Because he needs us to follow," I said.
Matteo nodded.
"To the hangar."
We did.
Not recklessly.
Federal agents surrounded the private airfield.
Victor had chosen my hangar because he knew I'd come.
The plane sat inside.
Engines off.
Lights on.
A single chair had been placed beneath the wing.
My mother sat in it.
Alone.
No Victor.
I entered with Matteo and Sofia while agents covered every angle.
Her eyes lifted.
For a second, no one moved.
Then Sofia ran.
"Mom."
Our mother stood.
She looked older.
Thinner.
But alive.
She held Sofia as both of them sobbed.
I stopped several feet away.
I didn't know what to feel.
Love.
Anger.
Relief.
Betrayal.
Twelve years of grief does not disappear simply because the dead person returns.
Her eyes found me.
"Adrian."
I hated how much I had needed to hear her say my name.
"You have some explaining to do."
She smiled through tears.
"You sound like your father."
"That's not a compliment."
"No."
She looked at Matteo.
"My boys."
Matteo broke first.
He crossed the distance and embraced her.
I stayed where I was.
Mom saw.
She understood.
"Victor took me after the crash."
"Why didn't you escape?"
"I tried."
"For twelve years?"
Her eyes hardened.
"He told me if I escaped, he would kill Sofia."
Sofia pulled back.
"Me?"
"He had people watching you."
I knew the feeling.
"Why release you tonight?"
"He didn't."
That changed everything.
"What?"
"I escaped."
"How?"
"With help."
"Whose?"
She looked toward the plane.
A man stepped down from the open cabin.
Daniel immediately raised his weapon.
I stared.
Dr. Harris.
The doctor who had been caring for Sofia.
He lifted his hands.
"Please don't shoot."
I nearly laughed.
At this point, anyone could apparently be part of the conspiracy.
"You helped her?"
He nodded.
"My real name is Samuel Hart."
Elena stood behind us holding Lucy.
Her face went white.
"Dad?"
Dr. Harris turned.
Elena stopped breathing.
Lucy woke.
The older man stared at his daughter.
Then granddaughter.
Elena whispered:
"My father died sixteen years ago."
Samuel smiled sadly.
"So did half the people in this hangar."
Nobody laughed.
He had worked for my father.
He had been hiding under another identity.
And for years, he had remained close enough to Victor's network to watch.
"Why pose as a doctor?"
"Because doctors are invited into rooms armed men aren't."
Fair point.
"Where's Victor?"
Samuel's expression darkened.
"Gone."
"Again?"
"He anticipated the raid."
"Where would he go?"
My mother answered.
"Back to where it started."
The Chicago waterfront.
Warehouse 9.
One of my father's original properties.
The building had been abandoned for years.
Or so I thought.
Victor had one final archive there.
Original ledgers.
Blackmail files.
Names of every politician, officer, judge, and businessman who had protected the network.
If destroyed, hundreds could walk free.
If recovered, the organization collapsed permanently.
We moved immediately.
This time, Lucy and Elena stayed under federal protection.
Sofia refused to stay behind.
I refused her refusal.
For once, I won.
Matteo came with me.
So did Samuel.
Warehouse 9 stood beside the dark river.
Federal teams surrounded it.
No movement.
No guards.
Too easy.
Inside, old shipping containers formed rows.
A single light burned at the center.
Victor Hale sat beside a metal barrel.
Fire already flickered inside it.
Documents lay stacked around him.
He smiled when he saw us.
"Morettis."
I raised my weapon.
"Step away from the fire."
"You always were dramatic, Adrian."
"And you always talked too much."
Victor looked at Matteo.
"Did your brother tell you how many people he delivered for me?"
Matteo flinched.
I didn't.
"He's going to tell me everything."
Victor seemed disappointed.
"You forgive easily."
"No."
I glanced at Matteo.
"But I decide who gets the chance to earn it."
For the first time, my brother looked at me with something like relief.
Victor kicked one stack toward the barrel.
Samuel fired.
The bullet struck the floor near his foot.
"Next one doesn't miss."
Victor laughed.
"You think paper matters?"
"No."
I held up my phone.
"That's why Elena already copied everything."
His face finally changed.
Fear.
Small.
But visible.
"It was never about saving these records," I said.
"You came here to make sure the originals survived."
"No."
I stepped closer.
"I came because I knew you'd be here."
Federal agents emerged from both sides.
Victor looked around.
His empire had finally become a room with no exits.
He reached inside his coat.
Twenty weapons aimed at him.
"Don't."
He smiled.
Then slowly removed a small remote.
His thumb rested on the button.
Samuel's face drained.
"Adrian."
"What?"
"The building."
Victor smiled.
"Your father always did love explosives."
My stomach dropped.
Victor raised the remote.
Matteo lunged.
Victor pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
His expression cracked.
A woman's voice came through the warehouse speakers.
My mother.
"Looking for this, Victor?"
He stared upward.
She continued:
"You kept me prisoner for twelve years. You should have remembered who taught Lorenzo how to disable a detonator."
For the first time, Victor Hale looked defeated.
Agents took him down.
It should have ended there.
But as they pulled him away, he turned toward me.
"Ask your mother about the baby."
I froze.
"What baby?"
Mom went silent over the speaker.
Victor smiled.
"The one she left behind the night she disappeared."
He was dragged outside.
I called my mother.
She didn't answer.
May you like
Then Matteo whispered:
"Adrian... I think I know what he meant."
