Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Vincent drove back to the penthouse faster than Luca had ever seen him drive.
Nobody spoke.
Not Nico.
Not Daniel.
Not Luca.
There were moments when words became useless, and watching a man drive toward the mother whose funeral he remembered from childhood was one of them.
Vincent's mind kept returning to the coffin.
Closed.
Always closed.
His father had said the accident had made viewing impossible.
Vincent remembered screaming at him.
He remembered punching Salvatore's chest with nine-year-old fists.
I want Mommy.
His father had held him while Vincent cried.
Now Vincent wondered whether Salvatore had been crying because his wife was gone or because he knew she wasn't.
The private elevator opened.
Marco waited.
"Where?"
"Living room."
"Lucy?"
"With her."
Vincent walked through the hall.
Then stopped.
A woman sat beside Lucy on the emerald sofa.
Her hair was silver now.
Lines marked her face.
Her shoulders were smaller.
But Vincent knew her.
Recognition did not come from photographs.
It came from somewhere deeper.
The shape of her eyes.
The slight tilt of her head.
The way her left hand rested on Lucy's hair.
Elena Moretti stood slowly.
"Vinnie."
Vincent couldn't move.
Lucy ran toward him.
"She really is your mommy!"
He barely heard her.
Elena took one step.
Vincent stepped backward.
Pain crossed her face.
"Don't."
She stopped.
Twenty-nine years disappeared and returned at once.
Vincent was nine.
Then forty.
Then nine again.
"You were alive."
Elena nodded.
"You knew where I was."
"Sometimes."
"And you stayed away."
Her eyes filled.
"Yes."
Vincent laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"You let me bury you."
"I know."
"You let me believe you were dead for twenty-nine years."
"If I'd come back—"
"Don't."
Elena fell silent.
"I've heard the explanation. Everyone did it to protect me."
"It was true."
"You don't get twenty-nine years back because you had a reason."
"No."
The answer surprised him.
Elena didn't defend herself.
She simply stood there.
"No, I don't."
Vincent looked toward the two federal agents.
"Who are they?"
One woman raised credentials.
"Special Agent Rebecca Kane. Organized Crime Task Force."
"That's comforting."
"We're not here for you."
"That's new."
Kane ignored the remark.
"Anna Hart has been working with us for eleven months."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Where is she?"
"We lost contact at 12:46."
"She's been abducted."
"We know."
Vincent looked at Elena.
"Why are you here?"
"Because Anna told me Lucy would come to you."
"Why?"
Elena looked at the child.
"Because despite everything people say about Vincent Moretti, Anna knew there was one thing he'd never do."
Vincent waited.
"Hurt a child."
Lucy leaned against his leg.
That simple movement affected him more than Elena's defense.
Kane opened a folder.
"We believe Anna is being held at a Meridian-controlled property outside the city."
"Address?"
"We don't have it."
"Then you have a folder, not information."
Kane's eyes narrowed.
"We have seventeen years of investigations into Meridian."
"And they still exist."
"Because people like your family helped create them."
Vincent moved closer.
"And people like your agency protected the officials they bought."
Neither blinked.
Elena intervened.
"Enough."
Everyone looked at her.
She sat slowly.
"Lucy's rabbit."
Vincent handed it over.
Elena turned it upside down.
She examined one paw.
Then smiled faintly.
"Evelyn always hid things twice."
She pressed beneath the stitching.
A tiny plastic insert slipped free.
Inside was a microSD card.
Luca muttered, "You've got to be kidding."
Vincent took it.
"What's on this?"
Elena shook her head.
"Anna's insurance."
They inserted it into an isolated laptop.
One encrypted folder appeared.
213_FINAL.
Password requested.
Lucy pointed at the screen.
"Mommy taught me a number."
Everyone turned.
"What number?" Vincent asked.
The child thought.
"She said it was Grandma Ellie's birthday, but backwards."
Vincent looked at Elena.
Elena gave him the date.
He reversed it.
The folder opened.
Inside were thousands of documents.
Payment records.
Photographs.
Audio files.
Video.
Names of judges, officers, executives, politicians, and criminals.
Enough to destroy Meridian.
But one file was different.
LIVE_TRACKER.
Vincent clicked.
A map appeared.
One blinking dot sat forty-two miles northwest of Chicago.
Daniel leaned forward.
"Anna."
Kane nodded.
"The card must be linked to a device she carries."
Vincent stood.
"Then we're leaving."
"No," Kane said.
He looked at her.
"We need tactical support."
"If you call half your agency, Meridian knows before your first vehicle starts."
"We can't send civilians."
Vincent smiled without warmth.
"You think that's what I am?"
Elena stood.
"Vincent."
"No."
She touched his arm.
He froze.
First contact in twenty-nine years.
Her fingers trembled.
"Don't become your father tonight."
Vincent looked down at her hand.
"You don't know what I became."
"I've watched from farther away than you deserved."
"That doesn't mean you know me."
"No."
Her eyes moved toward Lucy.
"But she does."
Vincent followed her gaze.
Lucy stood hugging the rabbit.
Watching him.
Trusting him.
Vincent exhaled.
"No killing unless necessary."
Luca almost looked surprised.
Kane said, "You don't give my agents orders."
"Then don't come."
Twenty minutes later, they left with a small combined team.
The tracker led them to an abandoned private medical facility surrounded by woods.
No exterior lights.
No vehicles.
Too quiet.
Nico studied the building.
"Meridian extraction site."
Kane turned.
"You've been here?"
"A different one."
Vincent looked at him.
"What happens inside?"
Nico didn't answer immediately.
"They make people disappear."
Vincent checked his weapon.
"Not tonight."
They entered through a maintenance tunnel Nico identified from old Meridian construction patterns.
Two guards were restrained without gunfire.
A third surrendered.
The tracker moved.
Anna was alive.
And moving.
"North hallway," Kane whispered.
They advanced.
A scream echoed somewhere ahead.
Daniel almost ran.
Vincent caught his arm.
"That's what they want."
"That's Anna."
"Maybe."
Another scream.
Daniel's face broke.
Vincent knew the sound of someone desperate to ignore caution.
"Stay behind me."
They reached a steel door.
Locked.
Luca placed a breaching device.
Vincent nodded.
The lock shattered.
They entered.
Empty room.
A speaker sat in the center.
Recorded screams played from it.
Daniel cursed.
Then Vincent heard something quieter.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
Pause.
One.
From behind the wall.
Vincent found a concealed door.
They opened it.
Anna Hart sat tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Bleeding from the lip.
Alive.
Daniel rushed forward.
"Anna."
Her eyes opened.
"Uncle Daniel?"
"We've got you."
Vincent cut the restraints.
Anna looked at him.
"Lucy?"
"Safe."
Anna began crying.
Not dramatically.
Just relief.
"Thank you."
"We're getting you out."
"No."
Vincent frowned.
"Your mother."
Elena had remained with Lucy at the penthouse.
"What about her?"
Anna shook her head.
"The woman in your penthouse isn't Elena Moretti."
Vincent stared at her.
"What?"
Anna grabbed his wrist.
"Vincent, listen to me. Elena never made it to your building."
His phone vibrated.
A notification from penthouse security.
CAMERA FAILURE.
Then another.
SAFE ROOM ACCESS.
Vincent called Marco.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Anna whispered, "They wanted you away from Lucy."
Vincent's face emptied of emotion.
That frightened Luca more than rage would have.
Vincent called the penthouse landline.
Someone answered.
No words.
Only breathing.
Then Lucy's voice came faintly through the background.
"Vincent?"
A man whispered beside the phone.
"You should have listened to your mother."
May you like
The call ended.
And Vincent realized the little girl was alone with the enemy.
