Chapter 11 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
The abandoned Romano shipyard smelled of salt, rust and rain.
Alexander arrived with six men.
Elena had demanded three.
He compromised by hiding three more.
I had started to understand how Alexander negotiated.
Julian stood beside him, pale with fear.
I stood on Alexander’s other side.
“You stay behind me,” he said.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“If Elena sees me hiding, she’ll assume we’re planning something.”
“We are planning something.”
“She doesn’t need confirmation.”
He looked at me.
“You’re becoming inconvenient.”
“You hired me.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“Worst administrative decision of my life.”
The warehouse doors opened.
Elena walked out holding Emily’s hand.
The little girl looked frightened but unharmed.
Julian took one step forward.
“Daddy!”
Emily tried to run.
Elena released her.
Julian crossed the distance faster than I thought possible and dropped to his knees.
Emily crashed into him.
He held her so tightly she squeaked.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“I want Mommy.”
“We’re going.”
Elena didn’t stop them.
Alexander watched carefully.
“You brought us here just to return her?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Elena looked at me.
“Claire.”
I stepped forward.
Alexander caught my wrist.
I looked at him.
He released me reluctantly.
Elena studied my face.
“You look like Margaret.”
“You knew my mother.”
“She was my friend.”
“Friends don’t threaten their daughters.”
Elena flinched.
“I never ordered anyone to hurt you.”
“You helped poison Alexander.”
Her expression hardened.
“Yes.”
At least she admitted it.
“Why?”
“Because Romano men destroy everyone who loves them.”
Alexander remained silent.
Elena looked at him.
“Your father destroyed Sebastian. He destroyed Gabriel. He destroyed me.”
“Sebastian stole from him for decades.”
“Because Vittorio stole first.”
“What?”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“You really don’t know.”
She revealed what everyone had hidden.
Before Vittorio built his fortune, Elena had inherited part of a shipping company from their grandfather.
She invested that money into Vittorio’s first legitimate business.
But because she was young, unmarried and considered unreliable by the family, paperwork was placed in Vittorio’s name.
He later expanded the business into the foundation of Romano Holdings.
Elena believed half the empire belonged to her.
“Did Father steal from you?” Alexander asked.
“He promised to restore my shares.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Eleanor had hinted that Vittorio paid Elena money.
Elena laughed when I mentioned it.
“He offered me a settlement worth one-tenth of what he owed.”
“Sebastian used your anger,” Alexander said.
“I used Sebastian.”
“Did you?”
That silenced her.
“Because from where I’m standing, he spent thirty years stealing money while convincing you it was justice.”
Elena’s eyes changed.
Alexander continued.
“He hid Gabriel. Staged his death. Manipulated Nathan. Poisoned me. Threatened children.”
“He did what?”
There it was.
Real surprise.
“You didn’t know about Emily being threatened in London?”
“I took Emily to keep Sebastian from taking her.”
Julian stared.
Elena turned toward him.
“He already knew where she lived.”
Julian looked sick.
“I moved her because of you.”
“You moved her directly into a safe house run by a security company Sebastian owned.”
Silence.
Elena had kidnapped Emily to save her.
Wrong method.
But different motive.
I suddenly understood why she demanded me.
“You think my mother left evidence proving your ownership.”
Elena nodded.
“Margaret found the original partnership documents.”
“Where?”
“I believed she gave them to you.”
“She didn’t.”
Elena’s hope disappeared.
Then Gabriel stepped from inside the warehouse.
“Mother.”
She turned.
He approached slowly.
“You kidnapped a child.”
“To save her.”
“You could have called me.”
“You disappeared.”
“To get away from Sebastian.”
“To get away from me.”
Gabriel’s pain was visible.
“Because you turned me into a reason for revenge.”
Elena shook her head.
“I spent my life trying to restore what was yours.”
“I never wanted an empire.”
“You were a child.”
“I’m not anymore.”
He stood before her.
“I want my life.”
Elena’s shoulders sagged.
For the first time she looked old.
Not dangerous.
Just exhausted by thirty-five years of anger.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Alexander pulled me behind a steel column.
Vincent shouted through the radio.
“Sebastian’s men!”
So Sebastian had tracked us.
Of course.
He wanted everyone in one place.
Alexander’s hidden men returned fire defensively while Vincent moved Emily and Julian toward an exit.
Gabriel grabbed Elena.
“Come!”
“I’m not running.”
“You are today.”
A loudspeaker crackled.
Sebastian’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Family reunion.”
Elena went pale.
Gabriel whispered, “He found us.”
Alexander looked toward the ceiling.
A camera.
Sebastian could see us.
“I know you have the ledger,” his voice continued. “I know Claire has the music box.”
Alexander shouted, “Come inside and ask for them.”
Sebastian laughed.
“I taught your father patience, Alexander. Apparently none of it reached you.”
The warehouse doors locked electronically.
Vincent tried the emergency exit.
Sealed.
A smell entered the air.
Gasoline.
Alexander noticed too.
Sebastian wasn’t coming inside.
He planned to burn the warehouse.
Elena stared toward the roof.
“He wouldn’t.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes, Mother.”
His voice broke.
“He would.”
Flames appeared near the loading bay.
Smoke climbed rapidly.
Alexander took my hand.
“Stay with me.”
I did.
Not because he ordered me.
Because there was nowhere else I wanted to be.
Vincent found an old drainage access beneath the warehouse floor.
One person at a time.
Emily first.
Then Julian.
Eleanor wasn’t there.
Gabriel pushed Elena toward the opening.
She refused.
“You go.”
“Mother.”
“Go!”
Alexander shouted, “Nobody stays.”
The roof groaned.
I coughed.
Smoke thickened.
Alexander suddenly stumbled.
His body had not recovered enough for this.
I caught him.
“Alexander!”
“I’m fine.”
“You always say that when you’re about to collapse.”
Gabriel returned and took his other arm.
Together we dragged him toward the opening.
Vincent shouted.
“Now!”
A beam crashed behind us.
I pushed Alexander toward the drain.
He grabbed my arm.
“You first.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You can barely stand.”
“Which means you’ll be faster.”
“This is not a debate.”
He stared at me.
Even surrounded by fire, something almost amused appeared in his eyes.
“You really are impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Gabriel shoved both of us.
“Romance later. Move.”
We escaped seconds before part of the warehouse roof collapsed.
Outside, Julian held Emily.
Elena stood beside Gabriel.
Vincent counted everyone.
Alive.
Sebastian’s men were gone.
They had never intended a firefight.
Only the fire.
Then Alexander’s phone rang.
Sebastian.
Alexander answered.
“You failed.”
Sebastian chuckled.
“No.”
“What did you want?”
“To know which one of you would save Claire.”
My blood turned cold.
“What?”
Sebastian continued.
“Thank you for answering the question.”
Alexander looked at me.
Sebastian now knew exactly where Alexander’s weakness was.
May you like
And by morning, I was gone.
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