Chapter 12 - THE MOTHER WHO CAME BACK
Nico did not speak during the drive back to the hospital.
Neither did Vivia.
Rafe sat in front.
Samuel was taken into protective custody.
Carlo was arrested.
The two gunmen were detained.
The surviving portion of Vincent’s confession went into police evidence.
It should have felt like progress.
Instead, Nico felt as though his father had died for a second time.
When they entered Elena’s hospital room, she saw their faces.
“You know.”
Nico stopped.
“You knew what Dad wrote?”
“Yes.”
“You knew he wanted you dead?”
Elena looked away.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
Vivia sat beside her.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because wanting me dead and causing the crash are not the same thing.”
Nico stared.
“He knew Michael damaged your brakes.”
“Yes.”
“And he let you drive.”
“Yes.”
“That makes him responsible.”
“I know.”
“Then why defend him?”
“I am not.”
Elena’s voice remained calm.
“I am trying to tell you the truth without turning it into something simpler than it was.”
Nico almost laughed.
“Simple?”
“Your father loved me.”
“Mom—”
“And that night he hated me.”
Nico stopped.
“Both things were true.”
Elena looked at him.
“That is what frightened him afterward.”
“He spent the rest of his life knowing that for ten minutes, his anger was stronger than his love.”
Vivia began crying.
Elena continued.
“He thought I was about to destroy the company.”
“You were.”
“Yes.”
“He thought Carlo would go to prison.”
“He should have.”
“Yes.”
“He thought Gino’s death would be exposed.”
“It should have been.”
“Yes.”
Nico stared.
“And he decided you deserved to die.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“For ten minutes.”
“That is enough.”
“Yes.”
The answer broke something in Nico.
He sat down.
Elena reached toward him.
He did not take her hand.
Not yet.
Vivia looked at her mother.
“What happened after the crash?”
Elena explained.
Michael had followed her.
He wanted the USB.
He had loosened the brake line enough to create a gradual failure.
He expected Elena to stop the car.
Instead, heavy rain and a downhill curve caused a catastrophic loss of control.
Vincent had followed too.
He knew.
He did nothing.
After the crash, he realized what he had allowed.
He reached Elena before Rafe.
He called for emergency help anonymously.
Then he saw Rafe approaching and fled.
At the hospital, Vincent learned Elena might survive.
That terrified him for two reasons.
First, she could expose Carlo.
Second, she might remember Vincent knew about the sabotage.
So he made a decision.
He reported Elena dead.
He arranged a closed casket.
He transferred her under another name.
He told himself it was protection.
Perhaps part of it was.
Most of it was fear.
Vivia whispered.
“And Marcella?”
“She discovered the transfer.”
“How?”
“Daniel.”
Of course.
“Daniel already worked for Dad?”
“He worked beneath Michael.”
Nico frowned.
“Before Michael disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“So Daniel knew the shell accounts.”
“Some.”
“Why help Marcella?”
Elena’s expression hardened.
“Because Daniel wanted Michael’s job.”
“And Marcella wanted Dad.”
“Yes.”
Rafe stood by the window.
“So Marcella blackmailed Vincent into marriage.”
Elena nodded.
“Then used Daniel to keep the company under control.”
“Yes.”
Nico rubbed his forehead.
“And Carlo?”
“He thought Marcella was useful.”
“Until tonight.”
“Carlo never trusted her.”
Elena looked at Nico.
“None of them trusted one another.”
“That is why the truth stayed hidden.”
“Everyone had evidence against everyone else.”
Vivia stared at the old dress folded on a chair.
“You hid the USB before the crash.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did they spend twelve years looking for it?”
“Because they knew I made copies.”
“Who knew it was in the dress?”
“Only me.”
“And maybe Michael?”
“No.”
“Why did Marcella attack me tonight?”
Elena’s expression changed.
“Because of the seam.”
Vivia frowned.
“What?”
“Show me the dress.”
Vivia brought it closer.
Elena touched the torn inner seam.
Then she looked carefully.
Her eyes widened.
“This wasn’t the seam I used.”
Nico stood.
“What?”
Elena took the fabric with trembling fingers.
“I hid the USB in the left waist lining.”
Vivia stared.
“The USB fell from the lower inner skirt.”
“Yes.”
Rafe moved closer.
“Someone moved it.”
Elena nodded.
“Years ago.”
Vivia’s face changed.
“Marcella?”
“Maybe.”
Nico looked at the dress.
“If Marcella already found the USB years ago, why leave it?”
Elena shook her head.
“She may not have.”
“Then who moved it?”
Elena turned the dress inside out.
Her fingers searched the old stitches.
She found a second repaired seam.
Then another.
Someone had opened the dress carefully and resewn it.
More than once.
Elena whispered.
“Bring me scissors.”
Vivia handed her medical scissors from a bedside tray.
Elena cut one line of stitching near the hem.
Something small dropped onto the blanket.
A brass key.
Not Box 317.
This one had three letters engraved into it.
S.L.C.
Rafe frowned.
“What is SLC?”
Elena stared.
“I don’t know.”
Nico turned the key over.
A number appeared.
4.
Vivia whispered.
“Another box.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
She recognized something.
“That is not a bank key.”
“What is it?”
Elena looked toward Nico.
“Vincent had one.”
Nico frowned.
“To what?”
“A locker.”
“Where?”
Elena’s face went pale.
“The St. Lucia Club.”
Rafe swore.
Alessia, who had been silent near the doorway, looked confused.
“What is that?”
Nico answered.
“A private club in Manhattan.”
Rafe corrected him.
“Not anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“It closed eight years ago.”
Elena looked at the key.
“No.”
Rafe shook his head.
“The public club closed.”
“The private vault underneath it didn’t.”
Nico stared.
“How do you know?”
Rafe looked at Elena.
“My father took Vincent there once.”
“For what?”
Rafe answered.
“Blackmail files.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Nico looked at the old dress.
Someone had moved the USB.
Someone had hidden a second key.
Someone had resewn the dress and returned it without Marcella knowing exactly what was inside.
Vivia whispered.
“Who had the dress after Mom died?”
Nico thought.
Their father had ordered most of Elena’s belongings stored.
Marcella had sorted them.
House staff packed them.
The dress disappeared into a cedar trunk.
Only one person had later given the trunk to Vivia.
Nico looked at his sister.
Vivia remembered at the same moment.
“Father Gabriel.”
The priest who had knowingly conducted an empty funeral.
The priest who had told Vivia to keep the trunk.
The priest who had whispered, Your mother would want you to protect what remains.
Nico’s phone rang.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
He answered.
An old male voice spoke.
“Nico?”
Nico stood.
“Father Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“There isn’t much time.”
“What did you sew into my mother’s dress?”
Silence.
Then Father Gabriel began crying.
“I tried to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From your father.”
Nico’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Where are you?”
“At Saint Lucia.”
“Stay there.”
“I cannot.”
“Why?”
A door creaked through the phone.
Father Gabriel whispered.
“Because Marcella found me first.”
May you like
Then the line went dead.
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