Chapter 3 - The Voice I Buried
Nora forgot how to breathe.
Every memory she had forced herself to survive rushed back at once.
Eli singing badly while cooking breakfast.
Eli kneeling on their kitchen floor after she told him she was pregnant.
Eli touching her stomach the night before his supposed death.
Eli promising, "I'll be home before dinner."
Then the hospital.
The police officer.
The closed casket.
The funeral.
Seven months of waking up reaching for a man who was gone.
"Nora?"
The voice came again.
She gripped the phone with both hands.
"Eli?"
Adrian closed his eyes.
He knew the voice too.
"Nora, listen to me."
She began shaking.
"You're alive."
"Yes."
Her grief turned to fury so quickly it frightened her.
"You let me bury you."
"I know."
"You let me think you were dead."
"I know."
"I'm pregnant with your child!"
"I know."
Nora looked at the DNA report.
"You knew she was a girl."
A pause.
"Yes."
She covered her mouth.
"You knew."
"Nora—"
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Tell him I'm here."
Nora's laugh was almost hysterical.
"He knows you're here."
Eli heard him.
"Adrian."
His brother moved toward the phone.
"Elias."
Silence.
Seven months of grief existed between those two names.
Then Adrian said, "Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I can give."
"Who did this?"
"Adrian—"
"Who?"
Eli exhaled.
"You're being watched."
Adrian looked around the station.
"So are you."
"No. Listen. Celeste isn't the biggest problem."
"We know."
"If she knows Nora has the watch, they'll move sooner than I expected."
Nora wiped tears from her cheek.
"Who are they?"
Eli went silent.
"Tell me."
"I need you to leave the station."
"I'm not doing anything until you explain why you abandoned me."
"I didn't abandon you."
"You disappeared."
"Because staying would have gotten you killed."
"You don't get to decide whether grief is safer than truth!"
Adrian said nothing.
Neither did his men.
Nora no longer cared who heard.
"I stood beside a coffin, Eli. I talked to you every night because I thought you were under the ground."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
His voice broke.
"Nora, I watched your funeral livestream."
She froze.
"My funeral?"
"The service. Mine."
"You watched me?"
"From a motel room in Vermont."
Nora began crying again.
Eli continued.
"I almost came back."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because a man was sitting two rows behind you with orders to kill you if I appeared."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Name."
"I never got one."
"Description?"
"Later."
Nora pressed her hand over her belly.
"Why the watch?"
"I needed something you would never throw away."
"You could have left me a note."
"They searched everything."
"Who?"
Eli hesitated.
"The person who arranged my death."
Adrian leaned toward the phone.
"Stop protecting them."
"I'm protecting Nora."
"You're doing a terrible job."
"Adrian."
"Tell me the name."
"I need proof first."
Adrian's voice became colder.
"You've had seven months."
"And they've had twenty years."
That silenced him.
Nora looked between the phone and Adrian.
"What does that mean?"
Eli spoke carefully.
"Our father built enemies. But he also built alliances. Some people stayed close to Adrian because they benefited from him believing the family was united."
Adrian's expression changed.
Nora saw it.
He was thinking of somebody.
"Who?" she asked.
Adrian didn't answer.
The station lights flickered.
One of his men touched his earpiece.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We lost the east entrance camera."
Adrian's head snapped up.
Another guard spoke.
"North corridor too."
Eli's voice became urgent.
"Get Nora out now."
Adrian grabbed the backpack.
"Move."
Nora clutched the phone.
"Where do we go?"
"Parking garage. Level three. Black SUV."
Adrian frowned.
"That's not ours."
"I know."
"Whose is it?"
"Mine."
Nora's heart nearly stopped again.
"You're here?"
"No."
"Then how—"
"Go."
A metallic clang echoed somewhere nearby.
Adrian's men moved instantly.
Nora was guided through a service hallway.
The station suddenly felt enormous.
Every stranger looked dangerous.
Every reflection seemed to move.
They reached a stairwell.
A man appeared below them.
Adrian's guard stepped forward.
"Stop."
The man raised both hands.
Then reached inside his coat.
Adrian shoved Nora backward.
"Down!"
A gunshot cracked through the stairwell.
Nora screamed.
The guard fired back.
Adrian covered her with his body.
"Are you hit?"
"No."
"Baby?"
"I'm okay."
Another gunshot.
They ran upward.
Nora hated every step.
Her belly felt impossibly heavy.
Her lungs burned.
Adrian kept one hand behind her back.
"Almost there."
They reached level three.
A black SUV waited with the engine running.
The driver's seat was empty.
A key sat inside.
Adrian stared.
"Elias."
The phone crackled.
"Get in."
They did.
Adrian drove.
His men followed in another vehicle.
Nora held the phone on speaker.
"Where are we going?"
"Cambridge."
"Where in Cambridge?"
"You'll know."
Adrian looked irritated.
"You always loved riddles."
Eli almost laughed.
"You always hated them."
For one second, they sounded like brothers again.
Then Nora remembered seven months.
"Why didn't you call me sooner?"
Eli went quiet.
"Because I didn't know which phones were safe."
"This one is?"
"For six minutes."
"That's specific."
"I've learned things."
"So have I."
Her hand covered the bruise forming on her cheek.
"Your friend Celeste slapped me tonight."
"She's not my friend."
"She knew you."
"Yes."
"How?"
Eli hesitated.
"She was supposed to marry Adrian."
Nora looked at him.
Adrian's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
"That ended years ago."
Nora stared.
"She was your fiancée?"
"Briefly."
"That woman?"
Adrian glanced at her.
"People make mistakes."
"Apparently your family specializes in them."
Eli laughed softly.
Nora almost broke again at the sound.
"Don't laugh," she whispered.
"I'm sorry."
"You're not allowed to sound happy."
"I haven't heard you insult Adrian in seven months."
Adrian muttered, "Some things survive death."
Nora closed her eyes.
She had missed this man.
That was the worst part.
She wanted to hate him.
But hearing him breathe felt like being handed back a piece of herself.
"Eli."
"Yes?"
"When this is over, I'm still furious."
"I know."
"I may never forgive you."
"I know."
"But don't die again."
A long silence.
"I'll try."
"No. Promise."
"Nora—"
"Promise me."
"I promise."
The call dropped.
Nora stared at the phone.
Adrian drove faster.
"What does he mean by Cambridge?"
Nora looked out the window.
Then she remembered.
"Our first apartment."
They reached a narrow brick building near Inman Square.
Nora had lived there with Eli for eight months before they moved to Dorchester.
The landlord had renovated since then.
But the basement entrance remained.
Adrian checked it first.
Unlocked.
Inside was a storage room.
One bulb.
One folding table.
A sealed plastic case sat in the center.
Adrian opened it.
Inside were financial records.
Photos.
Shipping manifests.
Names.
Hundreds of pages.
Nora understood almost none of them.
Adrian understood immediately.
His face darkened with each document.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
"Adrian."
"These are Moretti shipping routes."
"So?"
"Containers were added after inspection."
"What was inside?"
He flipped pages.
"Firearms. Cash. People."
Nora's stomach turned.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
"Who could authorize it?"
Adrian stared at one signature.
His face became unreadable.
Nora leaned closer.
The signature belonged to someone named Victor Moretti.
"Who's Victor?"
"My uncle."
"Your father's brother?"
"Yes."
"Is he alive?"
Adrian gave a humorless laugh.
"Very."
Nora remembered Eli's words.
They've had twenty years.
"Does Victor work for you?"
"He advises me."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I trusted him."
A new sound came from behind them.
Applause.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Nora turned.
Celeste stood in the doorway.
Adrian's eyes widened.
"You were being held."
"I left."
"How?"
Celeste smiled.
"Your security isn't as loyal as you think."
Adrian reached toward his jacket.
Celeste lifted both hands.
"I'm unarmed."
"Then you're stupid."
"No. I'm tired."
She looked at Nora.
"And I'm sorry."
Nora stared at her bruised cheek.
"That seems convenient."
"I panicked when I saw the watch."
"So you assaulted me?"
"I needed Adrian to think I hated you."
"That makes no sense."
"It will."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Why are you here?"
Celeste looked toward the documents.
"Because Victor knows you found this place."
Adrian's expression changed.
"How?"
"Because I told him."
Nora's anger flared.
"You what?"
Celeste's eyes filled with tears.
"Because if I hadn't, my daughter would be dead by morning."
Nora stopped.
"Daughter?"
Adrian stared at Celeste.
"You don't have a daughter."
Celeste gave him a broken smile.
"That's what Victor wanted everyone to believe."
Footsteps sounded above them.
Many footsteps.
Celeste looked toward the ceiling.
"We have maybe thirty seconds."
Adrian drew his gun.
Nora's pulse pounded.
"Who is coming?"
Celeste looked at Adrian.
May you like
"Your uncle."
The basement door handle began to turn.
