Chapter 5 - The Woman Everyone Forgot
Nick hadn’t spoken to his mother in eleven years.
Elena Santoro lived in Connecticut.
At least that was what Nick believed.
Anthony told him otherwise.
“She helped Crane.”
Nick shook his head.
“My mother left the family.”
“She didn’t leave. She was sent away.”
“By whom?”
“Carlo.”
Rachel stood between them emotionally if not physically, torn between the father she thought was dead and the man whose life she had saved hours earlier.
Anthony explained.
Elena had discovered Carlo’s arrangement with Crane years before Daniel.
She collected evidence.
Carlo found out.
He threatened her.
She fled.
But before leaving, Elena contacted Anthony.
“She gave me the first documents,” Anthony said.
Nick stared at him.
“Where is she?”
Anthony hesitated.
“That’s complicated.”
“Where?”
“She’s alive.”
Nick’s jaw tightened.
“Where?”
“Crane has been watching her.”
Rachel stepped toward her father.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
Anthony’s face broke.
“I wanted to every day.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“If I contacted you, they’d find you.”
“They found me anyway!”
“I know.”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“You let me think you were dead.”
Anthony looked destroyed.
“I thought grief was safer than a funeral.”
Rachel turned away.
Nick understood her anger.
Different parents.
Same lie.
Both had called abandonment protection.
Vincent interrupted.
“We need somewhere secure.”
Anthony shook his head.
“There is nowhere secure.”
“There’s always somewhere.”
“No. Crane has people everywhere.”
Nick looked at the ledger.
“Then we stop hiding.”
Rachel turned.
“What does that mean?”
“We make the information impossible to bury.”
Anthony stared.
“You release it.”
“Copies. Lawyers. Journalists. Federal investigators. Everyone at once.”
Vincent nodded slowly.
“If Crane can stop one person, fine. He can’t stop fifty.”
Anthony looked at Rachel.
“There’s one problem.”
“What?”
“The ledger isn’t enough.”
Rachel stared.
“You spent seven years protecting something that isn’t enough?”
“It proves payments. Crane will claim fraud.”
“What do we need?”
Anthony looked at Nick.
“Elena.”
Nick went still.
“She recorded Crane.”
“Where?”
“Connecticut.”
They drove north.
For two hours Rachel barely spoke to her father.
Nick sat beside her in the back seat.
At one point their hands touched accidentally.
Neither moved away.
By noon they reached a secluded house surrounded by trees.
Nick stepped out.
The front door opened.
Elena Santoro appeared.
She was older than he remembered.
Smaller.
But unmistakably his mother.
“Niccolo.”
Nick froze.
Nobody had called him that since childhood.
Elena approached.
Nick didn’t embrace her.
“Eleven years.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“I know.”
“You knew Daniel died.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Dad was involved.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed away.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Nick laughed without humor.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Elena flinched.
Inside, she told them everything.
Crane had controlled Carlo through debt and secrets.
Eventually Carlo stopped resisting.
Daniel discovered it.
Anthony helped him gather evidence.
The night Daniel died, Carlo had ordered Daniel detained.
Not killed.
But Sal acted independently.
Daniel never left the warehouse.
Nick stared at Anthony.
“You saw it?”
Anthony nodded.
“I escaped.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Carlo told me you would be next.”
Nick walked outside.
Rachel followed.
He stood beneath an oak tree.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she said.
“That’s unusual for you.”
“I can be quiet.”
“For how long?”
“Maybe thirty seconds.”
Nick looked at her.
She smiled faintly.
It was the first warmth either had felt all day.
“Rachel.”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you really warn me?”
She looked toward the house.
“Because I knew what Mickey was.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Rachel thought.
“Because nobody warned my father.”
Nick looked at her.
“I spent seven years wondering whether someone could’ve changed what happened by saying one sentence at the right moment.”
Her eyes returned to his.
“So when I saw Mickey watching you, I decided I could either keep wiping tables or become the person I wished had been there for my dad.”
Nick said nothing.
Rachel smiled sadly.
“Also, I really didn’t want to clean the floor.”
Nick laughed.
Actually laughed.
Then the house exploded with the sound of an alarm.
Vincent rushed outside.
“We have company.”
Several vehicles were approaching the property.
Elena appeared carrying a small metal case.
“The recording.”
Nick looked toward the road.
“We leave through the woods.”
They moved.
Rachel stayed beside Anthony.
Nick beside Elena.
Vincent covered the rear.
After several minutes they reached a second vehicle hidden near an old service road.
They escaped without confrontation.
Only when they were miles away did Elena open the metal case.
Empty.
Her face drained.
“No.”
Nick stared.
“What?”
“The drive.”
“What about it?”
“It’s gone.”
Anthony turned toward Vincent.
Vincent shook his head.
“I never touched it.”
Rachel looked at Elena.
“When did you last see it?”
“This morning.”
“Who knew where it was?”
Elena slowly looked toward Anthony.
Rachel saw it.
“Dad?”
Anthony said nothing.
“Dad?”
His shoulders dropped.
“I took it.”
Rachel stared.
“Why?”
Anthony looked at his daughter.
“Because Crane contacted me.”
Nick’s expression hardened.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“What does he want?”
Anthony’s eyes filled with shame.
“Rachel.”
Silence.
“He offered me a trade,” Anthony whispered. “The recording for my daughter’s life.”
Rachel stepped backward.
“And you agreed?”
Anthony looked at her.
“I already lost seven years with you.”
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“So you stole the only thing that could end this?”
“I was protecting you.”
“No.”
Rachel shook her head.
“You were choosing for me.”
Anthony couldn’t answer.
Nick asked the only question that mattered.
“Where’s the drive now?”
Anthony looked down.
“I gave it to Crane’s courier an hour before I came to the diner.”
Vincent cursed.
Nick remained still.
Then Elena spoke.
“That wasn’t the only copy.”
Everyone turned.
Elena looked at Nick.
“Daniel made another.”
Nick’s heart stopped.
“Where?”
Elena smiled sadly.
May you like
“He gave it to you.”
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