Chapter 3 - The Father Who Sold Her
Elena’s father looked older than she remembered.
That was the first thought that entered her mind.
Not betrayal.
Not fear.
Age.
Seven months had put gray into Anthony DeLuca’s hair.
He had once seemed enormous to her.
When Elena was little, he had carried her through airports on his shoulders. When she was nine, he sat beside her hospital bed for two nights after her appendix surgery. When she graduated from college, he cried harder than her mother.
Now he stood beside Gabriel Serrano while armed men surrounded Cassian’s garage.
“Elena,” Anthony called.
Cassian’s hand moved toward the pistol beneath his jacket.
Elena touched his wrist.
“No.”
Cassian looked down at her hand.
Then at her.
“He’s my father.”
“He brought twelve armed men.”
“I know.”
“That changes the definition of family.”
Elena swallowed.
“Let me talk to him.”
Cassian shook his head.
“Absolutely not.”
“He won’t hurt me.”
Cassian’s expression was almost pitying.
“You still believe that?”
The front garage doors remained locked.
Gabriel stood outside with Anthony.
Through the thick glass, Anthony raised both hands.
“I just want my daughter.”
Elena stepped closer.
Cassian moved with her.
Anthony’s eyes found her.
His face changed.
Relief.
Pain.
Then anger.
He pointed toward her.
“Come outside.”
Elena did not move.
Gabriel spoke.
“You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Cassian activated the exterior speaker.
“You’re trespassing.”
Gabriel smiled.
“You can open the door, or we can damage some very expensive cars.”
Cassian’s men took positions inside.
Luca whispered, “Police?”
Cassian gave him a look.
Luca nodded.
“Right.”
Elena turned toward Cassian.
“If shooting starts because of me—”
“It won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Gabriel doesn’t want you dead.”
“He wants the recording.”
“Exactly.”
Elena looked outside.
Her father stood beside the man she had nearly married.
Something broke quietly inside her.
Cassian opened the speaker again.
“Anthony.”
Her father looked toward him.
“Your daughter doesn’t want to leave.”
Anthony’s face hardened.
“She doesn’t know what she wants.”
Elena flinched.
Cassian noticed.
Anthony continued.
“She humiliated our family. She vanished before the wedding. She left Gabriel to answer questions from everyone we know.”
Elena stepped toward the microphone.
“I saw what he was doing.”
Her father froze.
“You misunderstood.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“He was trafficking women through our company.”
Anthony looked toward Gabriel.
That tiny movement told Elena everything.
He knew.
Her stomach turned.
“You knew.”
“Elena, listen to me.”
“You knew.”
“It was complicated.”
She laughed once.
The sound came out broken.
“Complicated?”
“Business has consequences.”
“People aren’t business.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“This conversation is finished.”
Cassian said, “I disagree.”
Gabriel stared through the glass.
“You’re involving yourself in something you don’t understand.”
Cassian’s voice became quiet.
“That usually ends badly for the person saying it.”
Anthony shouted, “Elena, come home.”
She looked at her father.
“I don’t have one.”
Cassian glanced at her.
Anthony’s face collapsed.
“Elena.”
She stepped away from the glass.
Cassian pressed a button.
Steel security shutters lowered behind the front windows.
Gabriel disappeared from view.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Then Cassian’s men moved.
“Lock the side entrance.”
“Check the roof.”
“Kill exterior lights.”
Elena stood still.
Sophia appeared from the back office.
“What happened?”
Cassian looked at her.
“You’re still here?”
“You told me not to leave through the front.”
“This is not the moment to become obedient.”
Sophia noticed Elena’s face.
“What did he say?”
Elena shook her head.
Sophia approached slowly.
“Do you want me to stay?”
Elena looked at her.
“Yes.”
Cassian almost smiled.
Sophia removed her heels.
“If people start shooting, I refuse to die in stilettos.”
Even Elena laughed.
For three seconds.
Then the electricity went out.
Darkness swallowed the garage.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Cassian pulled Elena behind a concrete column.
“Stay down.”
A loud impact struck the rear door.
Luca cursed.
“They’re coming through service access.”
Cassian drew his weapon.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
“Cassian, please.”
“You want me to ask them politely?”
“I have another way.”
“What?”
“The recording.”
He stared at her.
“I can give them something.”
“No.”
“A copy.”
“You have it here?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
Elena reached beneath her coveralls.
She pulled out a small silver key.
“I’ve carried this every day for seven months.”
Cassian stared.
“What does it open?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Providence.”
Another crash sounded.
Metal twisted.
Cassian looked toward the door.
“If they capture you, the key won’t save you.”
“No. But Gabriel doesn’t know the recording isn’t the only thing in the box.”
Cassian’s attention snapped back.
“What else?”
Elena hesitated.
“Financial records.”
“Whose?”
“Gabriel’s.”
Cassian’s expression sharpened.
“And?”
“My father’s.”
Before Cassian could answer, the service door exploded inward.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Men shouted.
Cassian pushed Elena toward Sophia.
“Office. Now.”
Elena resisted.
“Cassian—”
“Go.”
Luca and two others advanced.
The next thirty seconds were noise.
Commands.
Boots.
Breaking glass.
No wild gunfire.
Gabriel wanted Elena alive, and Cassian knew it.
Cassian moved through the garage with controlled precision.
One intruder came around the lift.
Cassian slammed him against the side of a car and took his weapon.
Another tried to reach the office stairs.
Luca intercepted him.
Elena and Sophia reached Cassian’s private office.
Sophia locked the door.
Elena rushed toward the desk.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding something.”
“What?”
“Cassian’s car keys.”
Sophia stared.
“You’re planning to leave?”
“If I stay, people die.”
“If you leave, Gabriel takes you.”
“Not if I reach Providence first.”
Sophia grabbed her arm.
“Elena.”
“I have evidence.”
“You think Cassian doesn’t know how to handle evidence?”
“That’s exactly what scares me.”
Sophia stared.
Elena lowered her voice.
“I ran from one powerful man. I can’t survive by handing my life to another.”
Sophia slowly released her.
“You really don’t trust him.”
“I want to.”
That answer surprised both of them.
Elena found a spare key fob.
Sophia sighed.
“That’s his Aston Martin.”
“Fast?”
Sophia stared.
“Please never say that where he can hear you.”
A crash sounded below.
Elena opened the office’s rear emergency door.
A private stairwell led to the parking area.
Sophia followed.
“You’re coming?”
“I am not letting you drive Cassian’s car alone while being chased by organized criminals.”
“That’s very specific friendship.”
“I adapt quickly.”
They reached the lower parking bay.
The Aston Martin waited.
Elena got behind the wheel.
Sophia climbed in.
The engine started.
Before they could move, someone stepped into the headlights.
Elena slammed the brake.
Anthony DeLuca stood directly in front of the car.
Sophia whispered, “Oh no.”
Anthony raised his hands.
“Elena.”
She rolled down the window two inches.
“How did you get in?”
“I know buildings better than Gabriel’s men do.”
“Get away from the car.”
“I came alone.”
“You brought him here.”
“I had no choice.”
Elena laughed.
“You always had a choice.”
Anthony moved closer.
“Gabriel owns half our debt.”
“You helped him traffic women.”
“I never knew how far it went.”
“But once you knew?”
Anthony looked down.
That silence answered her.
“Elena, if you give him the evidence, he’ll leave you alone.”
“No, he won’t.”
“He promised.”
“He promised you.”
Her father looked desperate.
“Our company employs eight hundred people.”
“And how many women did you trade to protect eight hundred jobs?”
Anthony recoiled.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It was exactly like that.”
He stepped closer.
“Elena, please.”
She looked at the man who had once carried her on his shoulders.
“I loved you.”
His eyes filled.
“I love you.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“You love the version of me that obeyed.”
Anthony’s face crumpled.
Then a voice came from behind him.
“She finally understands.”
Gabriel emerged from the shadows.
Anthony spun.
“You said you’d wait outside.”
Gabriel ignored him.
His eyes fixed on Elena.
“Get out of the car.”
Sophia reached for her phone.
Gabriel raised a gun.
“Don’t.”
Elena froze.
Anthony stepped between them.
“Gabriel.”
“Move.”
“You said no one would be hurt.”
“Move.”
Anthony remained.
Gabriel’s patience disappeared.
He shoved him aside.
Elena opened the car door.
Sophia grabbed her.
“No.”
Elena whispered, “He’ll shoot you.”
Gabriel smiled.
“That’s the Elena I remember. Always sacrificing herself.”
Elena stepped out.
“Let Sophia go.”
“Of course.”
Gabriel approached.
“Where’s the key?”
Elena said nothing.
He reached for her.
Then Cassian’s voice came from the darkness.
“Touch her and you lose the hand.”
Gabriel stopped.
Cassian stood at the entrance.
Blood had reopened beneath his shirt.
His pistol was aimed directly at Gabriel.
Luca appeared beside him.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then Anthony suddenly lunged toward Gabriel’s gun.
The weapon fired.
Elena screamed.
Anthony fell.
Gabriel grabbed Elena and pulled her against him.
Cassian froze.
Gabriel pressed the barrel beneath her jaw.
“Drop it.”
Cassian’s face went still.
“Elena,” he said quietly.
She looked at him.
“Don’t.”
Gabriel tightened his grip.
“Gun. Floor.”
Cassian lowered his weapon.
Then the garage door behind Gabriel began opening.
Everyone turned.
A black vehicle rolled slowly inside.
The passenger window lowered.
Elena’s face lost all color.
Cassian saw her reaction.
“Who is that?”
Elena whispered one word.
May you like
“Mother.”
And the woman Elena had believed dead for twelve years stepped out of the car.
