Chapter 3 - The Night She Lost Her Leg
The last thing Mara remembered before the car went through the barrier was her father's hand reaching across the center console.
Not to save himself.
To protect her.
Eight years later, she could still feel the weight of his arm across her chest.
The impact came next.
Then darkness.
Then rain falling on her face.
When Mara opened her eyes, the car was upside down.
Her left leg was trapped.
"Dad?"
Nothing.
"Dad!"
She reached toward him.
Daniel Ellison hung motionless against his seat belt.
There was blood beside his temple.
Mara screamed until her throat tore.
Somewhere above them, tires moved slowly along the road.
A vehicle had stopped.
Hope surged through her.
"Help!"
A door opened.
Footsteps approached the broken barrier.
Mara saw a silhouette.
"Please!"
The person stood there.
Watching.
Then turned around.
The vehicle drove away.
Mara would remember that almost as clearly as the crash itself.
Someone had seen her.
Someone had left her to die.
Firefighters arrived twenty-three minutes later.
Daniel was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mara woke after surgery to a white hospital ceiling and an absence her brain couldn't understand.
Her mother had died when Mara was eleven.
Her father had been everything after that.
Now he was gone too.
Then the surgeon explained her leg.
Mara listened without crying.
Above the knee.
Severe vascular damage.
Crush injury.
Necessary to save her life.
Words.
So many words.
None changed the empty space beneath the blanket.
She cried three days later when a nurse brought her two socks.
The nurse apologized immediately.
Mara laughed.
Then cried until she couldn't breathe.
Recovery wasn't inspirational.
It was ugly.
She fell.
She swore.
She threw a prosthetic liner across a rehabilitation room.
She told a physical therapist she hated him.
He told her to stand again.
She did.
That became her life.
Stand again.
Fall.
Stand again.
Eight years later, Dante listened to this story from across his office.
Mara hadn't intended to tell him.
But he had shown her Daniel's ledger.
Her father's handwriting changed everything.
"These entries," Dante said, "are payments."
"To whom?"
"Police officers. City inspectors. Union officials."
Mara stared at the photocopied pages.
"And you?"
Dante pointed to the line containing his name.
"That's not a payment."
"What is it?"
"A warning."
Daniel had written:
D.M. NOT INVOLVED. KEEP HIM OUT. V KNOWS.
Mara read it twice.
"V."
"Vincent."
"Your uncle."
"Yes."
"Why would my father care about keeping you out?"
"I don't know."
Dante hated those words.
He'd said them too often since Mara entered his life.
Nico walked in.
"We found the driver."
Mara stood.
Dante looked up.
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Pennsylvania. Different name."
Mara's pulse accelerated.
"Who is he?"
"Thomas Vale."
Dante knew the name.
His expression told Mara before he spoke.
"Vincent's driver."
Mara stared at him.
The room disappeared.
The rain.
Her father's hand.
The truck.
The second impact.
"He killed my father."
"We don't know that yet," Dante said.
"I do."
"Mara."
"He hit us twice."
Dante stood.
"I'll talk to him."
"I'm coming."
"No."
She laughed.
"No?"
"It could be dangerous."
"So could working in your house, apparently."
"Mara."
"My father died."
"I know."
"No, you know a fact. I lived it."
Dante's jaw tightened.
She stepped closer.
"I woke up without a father and without part of my body. I spent eight years believing the person responsible had simply driven badly."
Her voice lowered.
"If someone chose to hit us, I deserve to look him in the eye."
Dante wanted to refuse.
Every instinct told him to.
Instead he saw the woman from the service room telling him, It's my leg.
Her life.
Her answer.
"Fine."
Nico blinked.
"Fine?"
Dante pointed at him.
"Don't make me reconsider."
They drove to Pennsylvania that evening.
Thomas Vale lived in a weathered house outside Scranton.
He was sixty-two.
Cancer had hollowed his face.
When he opened the door and saw Dante, he whispered one word.
"Moretti."
Then he saw Mara.
His knees nearly gave out.
"You."
Mara's entire body went cold.
"You remember me."
Vale backed away.
Dante entered.
"Sit."
Vale obeyed.
Mara remained standing.
"Did you drive the truck?" she asked.
Vale looked at Dante.
"Look at her," Dante said.
Vale did.
His eyes filled.
"Yes."
Mara's nails dug into her palms.
"Did you hit us twice?"
Vale started crying.
That was answer enough.
"Why?"
"I had orders."
"From Vincent Moretti?"
Vale looked at Dante again.
Dante's voice hardened.
"Answer her."
"Yes."
Mara felt nothing.
That frightened her.
"Why did he want my father dead?"
"Daniel found the books."
"What books?"
Vale coughed.
"Vincent was moving money through construction contracts. But that wasn't the problem."
"What was?"
"He was selling information."
Dante leaned forward.
"To whom?"
Vale shook his head.
"If I tell you, I'm dead."
Dante's expression didn't change.
"You've got cancer and three months left. Pick a more convincing threat."
Vale laughed weakly.
Then looked at Mara.
"I didn't know you were in the car."
"You saw me afterward."
His face collapsed.
Mara knew.
"You were the person at the barrier."
"I'm sorry."
"You heard me screaming."
"I'm sorry."
"You left."
Vale covered his face.
Mara wanted to hate him.
She did.
But hatred wasn't satisfying.
It didn't return anything.
"Who was Vincent selling information to?" Dante asked.
Vale lowered his hands.
"Sebastian Rourke."
Dante's expression changed.
Nico swore.
Mara looked between them.
"Who is that?"
Dante stood.
"My godfather."
Vale shook his head.
"No."
"What?"
"Rourke wasn't working for Vincent."
Vale looked directly at Dante.
"Vincent was working for Rourke."
A gunshot shattered the window.
Dante threw Mara to the floor.
A second bullet struck the wall.
Nico drew his weapon.
Vale jerked backward in his chair.
Blood spread across his shirt.
"Dante!" Nico shouted.
Dante covered Mara with his body as glass rained over them.
Outside, an engine screamed to life.
Then disappeared into the Pennsylvania night.
Dante lifted his head.
Vale was dying.
He grabbed Dante's sleeve.
"Ledger..."
"What ledger?"
"Daniel..."
Blood bubbled at his lips.
"He hid the real one."
"Where?"
Vale's eyes moved toward Mara.
"He gave it... to her."
Mara stared at him.
"I don't have any ledger."
Vale smiled weakly.
"Yes... you do."
His hand fell.
May you like
And Thomas Vale died before he could explain.
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