Chapter 10 - The Sister Nobody Mentioned
Elena stared at her mother.
“Say that again.”
Lucia’s lips trembled.
“You have a sister.”
Every person in the surveillance van seemed to disappear from Elena’s awareness.
“How old?”
“Thirty-five.”
“Older than me.”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
Lucia closed her eyes.
“Sofia.”
Elena laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“My mother came back from the dead, my father was murdered by a criminal board, and now I have a sister.”
Adrian reached toward her.
Elena stepped away.
“No.”
He stopped.
“Where is she?”
Lucia whispered, “I don’t know.”
“You just heard someone mention her.”
“I lost contact years ago.”
“Why was I never told?”
“Because Sofia belonged to the Founders before you were born.”
Elena felt sick.
“What does that mean?”
Lucia explained in fragments.
She had become pregnant at nineteen.
The father was not Salvatore.
It was a young lawyer working for the network.
Lucia gave birth secretly.
Her parents forced her to place the baby with relatives connected to the organization.
Years later she married Salvatore.
He learned about Sofia and tried to recover her.
By then, the girl was being raised by people inside the Founders.
“Who was her father?” Elena asked.
Lucia looked toward the audio feed.
Elena understood before she answered.
“Alessio.”
The van went silent.
Adrian’s head turned slowly toward the transmitter.
Alessio Grant.
Elena’s half-sister was his daughter.
Lucia covered her face.
“He didn’t know at first.”
“When did he learn?”
“When Sofia was twelve.”
“And then?”
“He used her.”
“How?”
“Training. Education. Loyalty. He made her believe Salvatore stole me from him.”
Elena shook her head.
“And now she works for the board.”
“I don’t know.”
The audio feed continued.
Inside Isabella’s estate, the board debated.
Then the unknown woman spoke again.
“She has the archive.”
Nina whispered, “That’s Sofia.”
Elena stared at the speaker.
Her sister’s voice.
Sofia continued.
“Elena will not surrender it voluntarily.”
Commissioner Hale said, “Then we take her.”
Alessio’s voice interrupted.
“No.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
Alessio sounded genuinely angry.
“She is not part of this.”
Sofia laughed.
“Suddenly paternal?”
Lucia covered her mouth.
The board went quiet.
Alessio had exposed himself.
Sofia continued.
“You protected Lucia. Then you protected me. Now you want to protect Salvatore Russo’s daughter too.”
Alessio replied, “I’m trying to stop stupidity.”
“No. You’re trying to survive your guilt.”
Isabella spoke.
“Enough.”
The word carried authority.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
His mother continued.
“Elena stays alive until the archive is recovered.”
Hale objected.
“She knows too much.”
“So do we all.”
Then Matteo’s voice.
“And perhaps that’s the real problem.”
Silence.
Adrian leaned closer to the speaker.
Matteo had deviated from the plan.
Inside, Hale said, “What does that mean?”
Matteo answered.
“It means none of you trust one another.”
A chair scraped.
Alessio muttered, “Matteo…”
Too late.
Matteo continued.
“You built a system where betrayal is rewarded. Now you’re surprised everyone is betraying you.”
Adrian whispered, “Idiot.”
Elena understood.
Matteo was provoking them intentionally.
Why?
Then Nina saw movement on a security feed.
“Police vehicles.”
“Whose?” Marco asked.
“Hale’s.”
Dozens.
Heading toward the estate.
Adrian understood.
“Hale plans to kill the board and call it a raid.”
Marco started the engine.
Adrian stopped him.
“No.”
“Boss?”
“That’s what he wants.”
Elena looked at him.
“Who?”
“Hale.”
“He gets law enforcement to eliminate his partners, destroys evidence, emerges as hero.”
Nina nodded.
“And we have audio proving conspiracy.”
“Not enough if everyone else dies.”
Adrian made a decision.
“Send the recording now.”
“To journalists?”
“Everywhere.”
Nina began transmitting.
Across the estate feed, someone shouted.
Then gunfire.
Hale had moved early.
Adrian’s team drove.
The estate became chaos.
Police tactical units surrounded the property.
But several were Hale loyalists rather than official teams.
Marco recognized insignia inconsistencies.
“They’re private contractors wearing police gear.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
They approached through the woods.
Inside, Alessio and Matteo were trapped.
Isabella disappeared from the feed.
Sofia’s voice vanished too.
Elena remained in the vehicle with Nina.
She hated it.
But this time she understood why.
Adrian and Marco entered through a service tunnel known from old Bellandi property plans.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
Nina received confirmation.
The evidence package had reached six journalists and two federal oversight offices.
“Once they authenticate, Hale can’t contain it.”
Elena looked toward the estate.
Gunfire stopped.
Then Adrian called.
“We have Matteo.”
“What about Alessio?”
“Alive.”
“Isabella?”
“Gone.”
“Sofia?”
A pause.
“Gone.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Her sister remained somewhere inside the war.
When Adrian returned, blood marked his sleeve.
Elena panicked.
“Are you hit?”
“Not mine.”
She exhaled.
Matteo emerged behind him supporting Alessio.
The older attorney looked terrible.
Lucia approached.
Alessio saw her.
For several seconds they simply stared.
Decades of history passed silently between them.
Then Lucia slapped him.
Hard.
Nobody stopped her.
“You took my daughter.”
Alessio whispered, “I know.”
“You poisoned her against us.”
“I know.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Lucia slapped him again.
Elena stepped forward.
“Stop.”
Lucia looked at her.
Elena faced Alessio.
“Does Sofia know I exist?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since Salvatore died.”
“Did she have anything to do with it?”
Alessio looked away.
Elena’s stomach dropped.
“What did she do?”
“She delivered the order.”
Lucia gasped.
Elena went cold.
“My sister ordered my father killed?”
“No.”
Alessio shook his head quickly.
“She delivered a sealed message. She was fourteen. She didn’t know what it contained.”
Elena closed her eyes.
A child used as a courier.
Another life shaped by secrets.
Adrian’s phone rang.
He answered.
Marco watched his expression change.
“What?”
Adrian put it on speaker.
A federal contact confirmed Nathan Hale had vanished before authorities secured the estate.
His last known vehicle headed toward Manhattan.
Then Nina received an alert.
One of the evidence mirrors had been breached.
Someone was trying to delete the files.
“Can they?” Elena asked.
“No. But whoever it is has administrator credentials from my system.”
Only three people had ever possessed those credentials.
Nina.
Adrian.
And Marco.
Everyone slowly turned toward Marco.
He stared back.
“What?”
Nina checked the access signature.
Her face drained.
“It came from your device.”
Marco reached for his phone.
It was gone.
He looked toward the woods.
Then remembered.
During the raid, one person had collided with him in the tunnel.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Same eyes as Lucia.
Marco whispered:
“Sofia.”
At that moment Elena’s phone lit up with a message.
May you like
HELLO, LITTLE SISTER.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT HALE BEFORE HE KILLS ADRIAN.
