Chapter 5 - The Secret Behind the Cavalcante Name
Nobody spoke.
The cassette continued spinning.
Raven looked as though the foundations of his life had been removed beneath him.
Sarah wanted to stop the tape.
Raven shook his head.
“Continue.”
Daniel's recorded voice filled the car.
“Antonio knew Raven was not biologically his. Victoria told him before their marriage. He accepted the child and promised never to use the truth against either of them.”
Raven stared forward.
Victoria sat opposite him.
Tears silently ran down her face.
Daniel continued.
“For fourteen years Antonio kept that promise. Then Malcolm discovered documents proving Raven's biological parentage.”
Raven looked at his mother.
“Who?”
Victoria whispered, “Please listen.”
The tape continued.
“Malcolm believed the information could destabilize the Cavalcante organization. He feared Antonio's enemies would use Raven's parentage against him and argued that Victoria should disappear.”
Sarah frowned.
That wasn't what she expected.
“Malcolm didn't frame Victoria to steal Antonio's money,” Daniel continued. “He moved funds to create a believable story because he believed separating Victoria from Raven was the only way to protect the boy.”
Raven looked stunned.
Sarah finally understood.
Malcolm had lied.
But perhaps not for money.
“Antonio discovered the transfers and believed Victoria was responsible. Malcolm allowed him to believe it.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Coward,” she whispered.
The tape continued.
“I confronted Malcolm. He admitted everything. He believed he was protecting Raven. I told him destroying a family wasn't protection.”
Then came static.
Sarah held her breath.
“The real danger came from someone else.”
Raven leaned forward.
“Who?”
Daniel answered from twenty years in the past.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Sarah turned toward Victoria.
Victoria looked devastated.
Silian's surname.
Elena's surname.
The family Sarah had entered the gala with.
“Gabriel was Victoria's older brother,” Daniel continued. “And Raven's biological father was Gabriel's closest friend, Julian DeLuca.”
Raven stared at Victoria.
“Julian?”
She nodded.
“I loved him before Antonio.”
“What happened?”
“He died before you were born.”
“How?”
“An accident.”
Sarah almost laughed bitterly.
Apparently every important death in these families was described as an accident.
Daniel continued.
“Gabriel blamed Antonio for Julian's death. When he learned Raven was Julian's son, he decided Raven belonged to the DeLuca legacy, not the Cavalcante family.”
Raven's expression hardened.
“Where is Gabriel now?”
Victoria answered.
“Dead. Twelve years ago.”
Sarah exhaled.
“Then what's the danger?”
Victoria looked at her.
“Gabriel had a son.”
Sarah already knew.
“No.”
Victoria nodded.
“Silian's father.”
Sarah's stomach dropped.
“Silian?”
“No. His father, Marco.”
Raven's face became unreadable.
“Silian knows?”
“I don't believe so.”
Sarah immediately pulled out her phone.
Three missed calls.
All from Silian.
A voicemail.
She played it.
“Sarah, something weird is happening. Dad showed up at Grandma's apartment after the gala. They started arguing about you. He asked where you went with Raven. Call me.”
Sarah's heart pounded.
She called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
“Where does his grandmother live?” Raven asked.
Sarah gave the address.
They drove.
When they arrived, the apartment door was open.
Elena sat in the living room.
Silian stood beside her.
Sarah nearly collapsed with relief.
“You're okay.”
Silian stared at Raven.
“What exactly is happening?”
“Where's your father?” Sarah asked.
“He left.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Elena looked at Victoria.
“You finally told them.”
Victoria nodded.
“Not everything.”
Raven stepped forward.
“Then tell me everything now.”
Elena looked at him.
For the first time, her expression softened.
“You look like Julian.”
Raven froze.
“Don't.”
“Especially when you're angry.”
“I said don't.”
Sarah touched Raven's arm.
He didn't pull away.
Elena sighed.
“Marco inherited his father's obsession. Gabriel believed Antonio stole Julian's legacy. Marco believes the same.”
“What legacy?” Sarah asked.
“A trust,” Victoria replied.
“Julian's family established one before his death. It was meant for his descendants.”
Raven laughed coldly.
“I don't want it.”
“It isn't about money,” Elena said.
“Then what?”
“Control.”
She looked toward Sarah.
“Daniel discovered the trust contains voting rights in several companies that later became part of Cavalcante Holdings.”
Raven understood immediately.
“If my parentage is proven—”
“You could challenge ownership structures Antonio established decades ago.”
“I have no intention of doing that.”
“Marco doesn't care what you intend. He wants you to claim the assets, then believes he can control them through family litigation.”
Sarah frowned.
“Why involve my father?”
“Daniel had the records.”
“And now?”
Elena looked toward the cassette.
“Perhaps he still does.”
Sarah remembered the empty locker.
“Someone took something.”
Silian stepped forward.
“My father.”
Everyone turned.
“I saw an old metal box in his car tonight. He wouldn't let me touch it.”
“Where did he go?” Raven asked.
Silian hesitated.
“Silian,” Sarah said.
He looked at her.
“My family's warehouse in Red Hook.”
Raven immediately reached for his phone.
Sarah stopped him.
“No armies.”
“Sarah.”
“If Marco thinks Silian doesn't know anything, we keep that advantage.”
Silian nodded.
“I can call him.”
“No,” Sarah and Raven said simultaneously.
Silian raised both hands.
“You two are disturbingly synchronized.”
Even Raven almost smiled.
Elena gave Sarah a strange look.
“You're good for him.”
Sarah pretended not to hear.
Raven did.
An hour later, Raven's investigators confirmed Marco had entered a private warehouse in Red Hook.
They also discovered Malcolm had gone there.
Raven stared at the security photograph.
“Together?”
Sarah studied it.
“No.”
“What?”
“Look at their arrival times.”
Malcolm arrived nineteen minutes after Marco.
“He's following him,” Sarah said.
Raven looked at her.
“Patterns?”
“Patterns.”
They went to Red Hook with Raven's private security waiting several blocks away.
Sarah insisted on coming.
“This involves my father.”
Raven didn't argue.
Inside the warehouse, voices echoed.
Marco.
Malcolm.
“You should have left the locker alone,” Malcolm said.
Marco laughed.
“You've spent twenty years cleaning up your mistakes.”
“I've spent twenty years preventing your father's obsession from destroying Raven.”
Sarah and Raven exchanged a look.
Malcolm had been protecting him.
Marco replied, “Raven isn't a Cavalcante.”
“He is whatever he chooses to be.”
Sarah heard metal scrape.
Then Malcolm said, “Give me Daniel's files.”
“You mean these?”
Raven stepped into view.
“Actually,” he said, “they belong to Sarah.”
Everyone froze.
Marco turned.
He was perhaps sixty, elegant like Silian, but colder.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Raven's expression was calm.
“I've heard that a lot tonight.”
Sarah stepped beside him.
“Where are my father's files?”
Marco smiled.
“Your father caused all of this.”
“My father tried to expose it.”
“Your father couldn't leave anything alone.”
Sarah felt Raven tense.
“Did you kill him?” she asked.
Marco's smile faded.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Silence.
Malcolm looked away.
Sarah saw it.
“You know.”
Malcolm closed his eyes.
“Daniel's accident wasn't intended for Daniel.”
Sarah's heart stopped.
“What?”
“The vehicle was supposed to belong to me.”
Nobody moved.
“Gabriel ordered someone to frighten me,” Malcolm continued. “Daniel borrowed my car that evening because his wouldn't start.”
Sarah covered her mouth.
“The truck crossed the center line deliberately.”
Malcolm nodded.
“I learned the truth afterward.”
“You never told me.”
“I was afraid.”
Sarah's eyes filled with angry tears.
“You let me believe my father died because of rain.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel was alive, and you were nineteen and alone. If you knew what Daniel knew, you might have started asking questions.”
“I deserved the truth.”
“Yes.”
No excuses.
That somehow made it worse.
Marco lifted the metal box.
“My father made mistakes. I'm correcting them.”
Raven stared at him.
“By doing what?”
“Giving you what belongs to you.”
“I don't want it.”
“You haven't seen what's inside.”
“I don't care.”
“You will.”
Marco opened the box.
Inside were documents.
And a photograph.
He tossed it onto a table.
Raven picked it up.
Sarah looked over his shoulder.
Victoria stood beside a young man Sarah had never seen.
Julian.
Raven's biological father.
But another person stood beside them.
Daniel Ashford.
And in Daniel's arms was a baby.
Sarah.
On the back of the photograph were four handwritten words:
Our children deserve better.
Sarah stared.
Then noticed the date.
It had been taken two years after Julian was supposedly dead.
She looked at Victoria.
“Julian didn't die before Raven was born.”
Victoria went pale.
Raven slowly turned toward his mother.
May you like
And for the second time that night, everything he believed about his childhood collapsed.
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