Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Photograph
Luca did not speak during the drive back to the mansion.
Nora had never seen a man look both furious and afraid at the same time.
Julian survived the gunshot.
Marco moved him to a private medical facility under heavy security.
But before doctors sedated him, Julian repeated the same claim.
Elena Vale was alive.
Luca’s mother had supposedly died eight years earlier after a long illness.
Nora remembered the society articles.
Private funeral.
Closed casket.
No photographs.
Luca had been abroad when she died.
Now every detail sounded different.
Back in the study, Luca opened a safe.
Inside were family documents, passports, letters, and photographs.
He searched until he found his mother’s death certificate.
Nora examined it.
Signed by a private physician.
Dr. Samuel Harker.
Marco searched the name.
Harker had disappeared six months after Elena Vale’s alleged death.
Nora looked at Luca.
“This isn’t coincidence.”
“No.”
“Did your father arrange the funeral?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see her body?”
Luca’s silence answered.
Nora felt something shift between them.
For the first time, they were standing inside the same kind of loss.
Different families.
Same machinery.
Secrets.
Money.
Powerful men deciding what their children were allowed to know.
Marco returned with information about Pier Nine.
The warehouse still existed.
It had been transferred through four shell companies and was currently owned by a holding firm connected to Celeste.
Luca looked at Nora.
“We go tonight.”
She nodded.
He frowned.
“That wasn’t permission.”
“I know.”
“You’re not coming.”
“My father disappeared there.”
“And someone shot at Julian less than two hours ago.”
“Exactly.”
Luca stared at her.
Nora folded her arms.
“You can either waste ten minutes arguing or bring me.”
Marco looked away, hiding a smile.
Luca noticed.
“Something amusing?”
“No, boss.”
“Good.”
An hour later they entered Pier Nine.
The warehouse appeared abandoned.
Inside were old crates, rusted machinery, and rotting office furniture.
Nora carried her father’s coded score in a waterproof case.
They found a small office overlooking the main floor.
On the wall was a photograph.
Daniel Bennett.
Victor Vale.
Julian Cross.
Elena Vale.
And another man whose face had been cut from the picture.
Nora touched her father’s image.
“He was here.”
Luca stared at his mother.
A handwritten date on the back matched the night Daniel disappeared.
Elena had been present.
They searched the room.
Inside a locked cabinet they found dozens of cassette tapes.
Each labeled with dates.
Nora found one bearing her father’s initials.
DB-10/17.
The night he vanished.
Luca found an old player.
The tape began with shouting.
Victor Vale:
“You should have taken the money.”
Daniel:
“And let you keep stealing from children?”
Julian:
“Daniel, calm down.”
Then Elena:
“Victor, stop.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Her father’s voice came again.
“If anything happens to me, the evidence goes public.”
Victor laughed.
“You think anyone will believe a pianist over me?”
Daniel answered:
“They’ll believe the books.”
A door opened on the recording.
Everyone became quiet.
A new man spoke.
“You should have let me handle Bennett from the beginning.”
Nora looked at Luca.
The voice was familiar.
She could not place it.
The tape continued.
Elena said:
“You were told not to come.”
The man laughed.
“You don’t give me orders.”
Then there was a struggle.
Furniture crashed.
Daniel shouted.
A gunshot.
Nora flinched.
Someone screamed.
Then running footsteps.
The tape ended.
Nora’s knees weakened.
Luca caught her elbow.
“My father—”
“We don’t know who was shot.”
“But Julian said he escaped.”
“Yes.”
Nora forced herself to breathe.
They searched the remaining tapes.
One contained Elena speaking alone.
“If Daniel survives, Victor will blame him for everything. I’m getting him out tonight. Julian knows the route.”
Luca sat down.
His mother had helped Nora’s father.
Why?
Another tape explained.
“Daniel found records that could destroy the Vale organization. But he also found proof that Luca was never involved. I will not let Victor’s crimes become my son’s inheritance.”
Luca looked away.
Nora understood then.
Elena had tried to protect both of them.
A sound echoed through the warehouse.
Metal scraping.
Marco signaled everyone to stop.
A light appeared beneath the office door.
Someone was outside.
Luca switched off the tape player.
Footsteps approached.
Then a woman’s voice came through the door.
“Luca?”
He went pale.
Nora looked at him.
The voice sounded older.
But gentle.
Luca whispered one word.
May you like
“Mother?”
The door handle began to turn.
