Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Disappeared
Elaine Brooks stepped through the door.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
Penny couldn't move.
Her mother had gray in her dark hair and a scar along her jaw, but the eyes were the same.
"Penny."
Penny slapped her.
The sound echoed through the warehouse.
Elaine accepted it.
Then Penny collapsed against her.
Thirteen years of grief broke open.
"You were alive."
"I'm sorry."
"You let me bury you."
"I know."
"You let me think I was alone."
Elaine cried silently.
"I thought being dead was the only way to keep you alive."
Penny pulled away.
"That wasn't your choice to make."
"No."
The answer surprised her.
Elaine didn't defend herself.
Penny thought about Derek.
About how every controlling decision arrived disguised as protection.
Lorenzo stayed back.
Elaine finally looked at him.
"You got old."
"So did you."
"Not gracefully."
"Speak for yourself."
For one brief second, the past softened.
Then Marco reminded them why they were there.
"Gabriel."
Elaine nodded.
"He's alive."
She explained everything.
Gabriel had orchestrated his own death after stealing from his father.
Elaine discovered it.
Lorenzo's father blamed her.
Lorenzo helped her escape.
Years later, Gabriel found her again.
She disappeared to protect Penny.
But Gabriel eventually found Penny too.
He planted Derek in her life.
"Did Derek know everything?" Penny asked.
"Not initially."
"Did he know who I was?"
"Yes."
Penny closed her eyes.
That hurt more than she expected.
Not because she loved Derek anymore.
Because she had loved him once.
Even that memory had been stolen.
Elaine reached for her.
Penny stepped back.
"Not yet."
Elaine lowered her hand.
"Okay."
Penny looked at Lorenzo.
"Where's the ledger?"
Elaine answered.
"There is no ledger anymore."
She tapped her temple.
"I memorized it."
Marco stared.
"All of it?"
"Every account. Every payment. Every name."
Lorenzo understood.
"That's why Gabriel needs you alive."
"For now."
Penny suddenly understood something else.
"And me?"
Elaine looked devastated.
"Insurance."
Gabriel had kept Penny alive because she was leverage against Elaine.
Derek's assignment had been to control her.
Not kill her.
Until the restaurant.
"What changed?" Penny asked.
"Derek lost control," Elaine said. "He wasn't supposed to threaten you publicly."
Penny almost laughed.
"So the worst thing he ever did to me is the thing that saved me."
Lorenzo's gaze settled on her.
"Maybe."
Elaine gave them a plan.
She had enough evidence to bring down Gabriel's network, but they needed proof connecting him personally.
Gabriel trusted Derek.
Derek could lead them to him.
Penny shook her head.
"No."
Nobody argued.
Then she corrected herself.
"No, I'm not hiding while everyone else decides."
Elaine stared at her daughter.
Penny continued.
"Derek thinks I'm terrified of him."
"You are," Lorenzo said.
Penny looked at him.
"Yes."
There was power in admitting it.
"But fear doesn't get to make every decision anymore."
They arranged a meeting.
Penny would contact Derek.
She would tell him she wanted out.
She would claim Lorenzo frightened her more than he did.
Derek believed immediately.
That hurt too.
They met the next evening in an empty café.
Derek walked in smiling.
"Baby."
Penny almost flinched.
Almost.
"I knew you'd come back."
He reached toward her.
She stepped away.
His smile tightened.
"Where's your mother?"
"I don't know."
"Liar."
There he was.
The real Derek.
Penny remained calm.
"I want this over."
"It can be."
"How?"
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"To meet the man who can make all of this disappear."
Penny's hidden microphone transmitted every word.
Derek held out his hand.
She didn't take it.
His eyes hardened.
Then he smiled again.
"Fine."
They left separately.
Penny followed his car.
Lorenzo's team followed at a distance.
Derek drove for forty minutes.
Then stopped outside a private estate.
The gates opened.
Penny's phone vibrated.
A message from Derek.
COME IN ALONE.
She looked at the dark house.
Then the front door opened.
A man stepped into the light.
Lorenzo saw him through binoculars.
His face drained.
May you like
Because the man waiting for Penny wasn't Gabriel.
It was Marco.
