Chapter 7 - MAYA’S FATHER
Maya laughed.
It was the wrong sound.
Too sharp.
Too empty.
“My father is dead.”
Derek did not answer.
She looked at Julian.
“Tell him.”
Julian’s face was grim.
“We don’t know enough yet.”
“I have a death certificate.”
“That can be forged.”
“I went to his grave.”
“A grave proves a burial.”
She stared at him.
Julian softened his voice.
“Not necessarily who was buried.”
Maya backed away.
“No.”
Her breathing changed.
“My mother told me he died.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Maya.”
“My mother would not lie about that.”
“No one is saying she did.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Derek answered.
“Elena recognized the surname Torres in another file.”
Maya glared.
“There are thousands of Torreses.”
“The file included your mother’s name.”
Silence.
Derek continued.
“And yours.”
Maya’s face turned white.
“Show me.”
They returned to Elena’s room.
She looked exhausted.
Maya stood beside the bed.
“You knew my father?”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“Then what did you find?”
Elena handed her a printed page.
A surveillance report dated twenty years earlier.
SUBJECT: DANIEL TORRES.
Maya’s fingers trembled.
Her father’s name.
The report contained photographs.
One showed a younger Daniel Torres outside a warehouse.
Another showed him speaking with a man Maya now recognized.
Gabriel Croft.
Maya sank into the chair.
“No.”
Elena spoke softly.
“Daniel worked as an investigator for the state.”
“My father fixed elevators.”
“That may have been his cover.”
Maya shook her head.
“He worked maintenance.”
“We think that was later.”
“Later?”
Elena swallowed.
“After he disappeared.”
Maya looked at Julian.
He was already understanding pieces she could not.
“Gabriel used Daniel.”
Elena nodded.
“For what?”
“Daniel was investigating organized crime inside city contracting.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“My father’s construction operations.”
“Yes.”
Maya stared.
“So my father was investigating your family.”
Julian said nothing.
Elena continued.
“According to the files, Daniel discovered someone inside the Croft organization was selling information to Vincent Vale.”
Julian’s eyes sharpened.
“Gabriel.”
“That’s what Thomas believes.”
Maya looked down at the photograph.
Her father was younger than she remembered him.
Alive.
Smiling at someone beyond the frame.
“What happened?”
Elena hesitated.
“Daniel tried to warn Julian’s father.”
Julian frowned.
“My father never mentioned an investigator.”
“Because Daniel never reached him.”
Maya’s stomach tightened.
“Gabriel intercepted him.”
Silence.
Elena continued.
“Three days later, Daniel Torres was officially declared dead in a highway accident.”
Maya whispered.
“The accident.”
“Yes.”
She remembered her mother’s story.
A truck.
Rain.
A fire so severe the body had required closed-casket burial.
Maya had been three.
She remembered none of it.
Only a photograph on Rosa’s dresser.
“Was anyone actually in the car?”
“We don’t know.”
Maya looked up.
“But you think he survived.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena handed her another photograph.
It had been taken fourteen years ago.
A man entering a motel outside St. Louis.
Older.
Bearded.
The profile was unmistakable.
Maya stared.
Her father.
Alive when she had been nine.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Julian crouched beside her.
Maya did not pull away.
“Why didn’t he come home?”
Nobody answered.
Her grief turned instantly into anger.
“Why didn’t he come home?”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“We don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Maya.”
“Twenty years.”
Her voice broke.
“Twenty years my mother mourned him.”
Julian remained beside her.
“Twenty years she worked herself sick.”
Maya stood suddenly.
“Where is he now?”
“We haven’t found anything after that photograph.”
“Then find him.”
Julian rose.
“I will.”
“No.”
She faced him.
“We will.”
Julian nodded.
“All right.”
Maya stared at her father’s photograph.
“Does my mother know?”
No one answered.
Maya’s eyes narrowed.
“Elena.”
“I don’t think she knew he survived the accident.”
“You don’t think.”
“No.”
Maya pulled out her phone.
Julian gently stopped her.
“Before you call her, consider something.”
She glared at him.
“What?”
“If Rosa truly believes Daniel died, telling her over the phone could be dangerous.”
“You mean emotionally.”
“Yes.”
Maya closed her eyes.
He was right.
She hated that.
“We go to her.”
Julian nodded.
They drove to the secure house before dawn.
Rosa opened the door wearing a robe.
The moment she saw Maya’s face, she knew something was wrong.
“What happened?”
Maya entered.
“Mom, we need to talk.”
Rosa looked at Julian.
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Julian answered honestly.
“I don’t know.”
Rosa appreciated that more than reassurance.
They sat in the living room.
Maya placed Daniel’s photograph on the table.
Rosa looked down.
The color drained from her face.
She did not ask who it was.
That was the moment Maya understood.
“You knew.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
Maya stood.
“You knew.”
“Mija.”
“You knew he was alive.”
Rosa began crying.
Julian quietly walked toward the door.
Maya grabbed his wrist.
“Stay.”
He did.
Rosa looked at their hands.
Then at Maya.
“I knew he survived the crash.”
Maya felt as though the floor vanished beneath her.
“For how long?”
“Since the beginning.”
Maya stumbled backward.
Julian steadied her.
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Her voice rose.
“Everyone keeps ruining my life and calling it protection.”
Rosa flinched.
Maya immediately regretted shouting.
But the rage was already loose.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do not lie again.”
“I’m not.”
“When did you last see him?”
Rosa stared at the floor.
“Fourteen years ago.”
The motel photograph.
Maya understood.
“You were there.”
Rosa nodded.
Maya’s breathing became shallow.
“He came to see you.”
“Yes.”
“Did he see me?”
Rosa started crying harder.
“No.”
“Why?”
“He refused.”
Maya stopped.
The sentence hurt worse than everything before it.
“He refused to see me?”
Rosa shook her head.
“Not because he didn’t love you.”
“That is exactly what it sounds like.”
“He thought anyone watching him would use you.”
Maya laughed bitterly.
“Worked beautifully.”
Rosa covered her face.
Julian looked away.
Maya crouched in front of her mother.
“What happened to him?”
Rosa lowered her hands.
“Daniel discovered something about Gabriel Croft.”
Julian’s attention sharpened.
“What?”
Rosa looked at him.
“Gabriel was not betraying his brother for money.”
“Then why?”
“He believed Adrian Croft had become weak.”
Julian froze at the mention of his father.
Rosa continued.
“He wanted control of the organization.”
Julian’s voice turned cold.
“He tried to kill my father before Vale did.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel learned about it.”
“Yes.”
Maya whispered.
“So Gabriel tried to kill Dad.”
Rosa nodded.
“Daniel survived.”
“Then why disappear?”
“Because Gabriel threatened you.”
Maya’s eyes closed.
Rosa touched her face.
“You were three.”
Her voice broke.
“He showed Daniel photographs of you sleeping.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“He said if Daniel ever contacted us openly, you would die.”
Maya could barely breathe.
“So Dad stayed away.”
“Yes.”
“For twenty years?”
Rosa began crying again.
“I hated him for it.”
Maya looked at her.
“I still loved him.”
Rosa’s voice trembled.
“But I hated him too.”
The honesty hurt.
Julian understood that kind of love.
Maya sat beside her mother.
“Why did he meet you fourteen years ago?”
“He thought Gabriel was dead.”
Julian frowned.
“But Gabriel supposedly died twenty-three years ago.”
Rosa looked at him.
“He didn’t believe it.”
“Then why take the risk?”
“Because Daniel discovered Gabriel had returned.”
Silence.
“He came to warn me.”
“About what?”
Rosa looked at Maya.
“About you.”
Maya felt cold.
“What about me?”
Rosa swallowed.
“He said Gabriel would eventually use you to get to the Crofts.”
Julian stared.
“Fourteen years ago?”
“Yes.”
Maya’s voice became a whisper.
“I was nine.”
Rosa nodded.
“Daniel said Gabriel had become obsessed with Julian.”
Julian did not move.
“He believed Julian would eventually inherit Adrian’s organization.”
Rosa continued.
“And he wanted to destroy it from the inside.”
Maya stared at Julian.
“So he planned this before I ever met you.”
“Yes.”
Rosa reached for Maya’s hands.
“Daniel told me that if anyone ever offered you a job connected to the Croft family, I had to stop you.”
Maya’s stomach dropped.
“You knew where I worked.”
“No.”
“Mom.”
“You told me your employer’s first name.”
Maya realized.
She had always said Mr. Croft only when discussing official work.
Rarely.
Rosa’s face turned pale.
“I didn’t connect it.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Julian suddenly stood.
“What?”
Maya looked at him.
Julian’s eyes were fixed on Rosa.
“You said Daniel came to warn you fourteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“How did he contact you?”
Rosa frowned.
“A letter.”
“Do you still have it?”
Rosa hesitated.
“Yes.”
She retrieved an old box from a locked closet.
Inside were photographs, hospital records, and one envelope.
Julian examined the letter.
Daniel had written only six lines.
Rosa.
Gabriel is alive.
Do not trust anyone carrying the Croft name.
If Maya is ever approached, take her and leave Chicago.
I found the ledger.
I know what Gabriel wants.
Beneath the signature was a string of numbers.
Maya frowned.
“What are those?”
Julian stared.
His expression changed.
Derek looked over his shoulder.
“That’s a bank deposit key.”
“For what bank?”
Julian whispered.
“Not a bank.”
He looked at Maya.
“It’s a vault code.”
“Where?”
Julian’s face turned grim.
“My father’s private vault.”
A vault Julian had inherited after Adrian Croft’s death.
A vault no one had been able to open in fifteen years.
Because the second half of the code had supposedly died with Adrian.
Julian looked at Maya’s father’s letter.
Daniel Torres had known it all along.
May you like
And if Daniel had found the ledger before disappearing, whatever was inside that vault could expose Gabriel.
Or destroy the entire Croft empire.
