Chapter 7 - Tomas's Father
Tomas did not deny the photograph.
He couldn’t.
The man beside Luca was Henry Bell.
Former Moretti security director.
Tomas’s father.
The same man whose death had pushed nineteen-year-old Tomas into Alejandro’s service.
“He died in a warehouse fire,” Tomas said.
Gabriel’s face had gone hard.
“That’s what we were told.”
Alejandro looked at him.
“You signed the death report.”
Gabriel’s eyes flashed.
“Your father told me to.”
“Convenient.”
“Enough.”
Elena stepped between them before old family instincts turned into something worse.
“There’s a letter.”
Alejandro handed it to her.
Her name was written in Luca’s handwriting.
She opened it with shaking fingers.
Elena,
If you found this, then I failed to come back.
Do not assume the person who finds you is the person hunting you.
Someone has been building false trails for years.
Henry Bell is alive.
He says he disappeared because my father ordered him to investigate a leak inside the family.
He never finished.
I think the leak is the same person who wants Alejandro and me suspicious of Gabriel.
Do not tell Alejandro about the baby until you know who controls his security.
I love you.
Tell our child I wanted to meet them more than anything in this world.
Elena stopped reading.
Emma looked up from her mother’s arms.
“Is that Daddy?”
Elena nodded, crying.
Alejandro looked away.
Even Gabriel lowered his head.
Tomas took the letter next.
“My father was alive four years ago.”
“Yes,” Alejandro said.
“He never contacted me.”
“Maybe he couldn’t.”
“Or maybe he didn’t want to.”
The bitterness in Tomas’s voice sounded familiar.
Alejandro understood it too well.
Inside the metal box was one more object.
A motel keycard from Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Room number 214.
Date encoded four years earlier.
They sent a team.
The motel had changed owners twice.
Room records were gone.
But an old storage unit registered to the motel remained.
Inside were abandoned items from long-term guests.
One suitcase had no name.
Inside it was a coat belonging to Henry Bell.
Tomas recognized the repair on the sleeve.
There was also a disposable phone with no battery.
Technicians recovered one message.
Sent three years ago.
TO: UNKNOWN
THE GIRL LIVED. LUCA’S DAUGHTER IS REAL. DO NOT LET GABRIEL FIND HER BEFORE I DO.
Tomas sat down.
“So my father knew about Emma.”
Elena stared at the screen.
“Three years ago.”
“Where were you then?” Alejandro asked.
“St. Louis.”
“Did anything happen?”
Elena thought.
“Our apartment was broken into.”
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“Somebody was looking, not stealing.”
Tomas stared at his father’s old phone.
Then another recovered item appeared.
A voicemail draft Henry never sent.
His voice was older than Tomas remembered.
Tired.
“Tommy, if you ever hear this, I’m sorry.”
Tomas shut his eyes.
Henry continued.
“The man I’m hunting isn’t Moretti by blood.”
“He became family by service.”
“He knows every house, every route, every code.”
“He taught both boys how to trust him.”
The recording cut.
Everyone in the chapel looked at the same person.
Not Gabriel.
Not Tomas.
There was only one man who matched all four descriptions.
Vincenzo Hale.
Alejandro’s late father’s chief accountant.
Current manager of the family holding companies.
The quiet man who had balanced Moretti books for twenty-seven years.
The man scheduled to arrive at the mansion that morning.
May you like
And when Tomas checked the front gate feed, Vincenzo’s car was already inside.
