Chapter 16 - The Night She Refused to Run
Alina discovered Marco’s location through the one person nobody expected.
Mrs. Donnelly.
Or rather, something Mrs. Donnelly left before she died.
Claire found a sealed statement in federal evidence.
Margaret had named the driver.
Elias Crane.
Former private security contractor.
Seventy years old.
Living under another identity in northern Wisconsin.
Marco had discovered the same thing.
His car crossed the state line nine hours earlier.
Alina grabbed her coat.
Dominic blocked the door.
“No.”
She stared.
“Did Marco teach you that word?”
“Yes.”
“Move.”
“He went alone because he doesn’t want you involved.”
“That has never stopped me.”
“It should occasionally.”
“Dominic.”
He sighed.
“I already fueled the car.”
They drove north.
Snow thickened near the state line.
They found Marco’s vehicle outside a small lakeside cabin.
No signs of violence.
Alina entered first.
Marco stood near the fireplace.
Across from him sat an elderly man.
Elias Crane.
Both turned.
Marco’s expression moved from shock to fury.
“What are you doing here?”
Alina removed her gloves.
“Nice to see you too.”
“Dominic.”
Dominic raised both hands.
“I lost control of the situation around Milwaukee.”
“You never had control.”
“True.”
Crane watched them with tired confusion.
“You people always argue like this?”
“Yes,” Alina and Marco said simultaneously.
For one second nobody spoke.
Then Crane laughed.
Marco did not.
Alina approached.
“You drove my father’s car off the road?”
Crane’s smile died.
“No.”
She stared.
“You were driving the other vehicle.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Crane looked at his hands.
“I was hired to force Diego to stop.”
“By Sebastian.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know he would die?”
“No.”
Alina swallowed.
“Tell me.”
Crane explained.
He had followed Diego.
Blocked the highway.
Diego accelerated instead of stopping.
Crane tried to force him toward the shoulder.
A second vehicle appeared.
“What second vehicle?”
Crane looked at Marco.
“Your uncle never told you?”
Marco went still.
“No.”
“Sebastian had another team.”
“Why?”
“To make sure Diego didn’t leave.”
Alina’s stomach tightened.
“Who drove it?”
Crane hesitated.
“A woman.”
“Who?”
“I never knew her real name.”
He reached into a drawer and removed an old Polaroid.
Alina took it.
A young woman stood beside Sebastian.
Dark hair.
Elegant.
Familiar.
Alina felt the world tilt.
“Sofia.”
Marco stepped closer.
“No.”
But it was.
Sofia.
The woman who had spent twenty years pretending to be dead.
The woman who claimed she helped Elena.
The woman they trusted.
Alina immediately called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Claire called five minutes later.
“Where are you?”
“Wisconsin.”
“Of course you are.”
“Find Sofia.”
A pause.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Claire returned the call twenty minutes later.
Sofia had disappeared.
Her apartment was empty.
Bank account cleared.
Foundation visitor logs showed she entered Alina’s office the previous evening.
Security footage captured her opening a filing cabinet.
“What was inside?” Claire asked.
Alina’s blood ran cold.
“The sealed victim-contact schedule.”
If Sofia worked with Sebastian—
she now possessed the names and current addresses of all 487 Starlight victims.
Marco grabbed his coat.
Alina stopped him.
“No.”
“What?”
“This time we don’t chase blindly.”
“She has nearly five hundred names.”
“I know.”
“She can sell them.”
“I know.”
“So what are you proposing?”
Alina looked at the old photograph.
At Sofia smiling beside Sebastian.
Then she remembered something.
Sofia had told Alina that Elena arranged her fake death.
But Elena’s private letters contained no mention of it.
What if Sofia lied?
What if she had disappeared because she helped kill Diego?
And returned only when the ledger surfaced?
“She wants something.”
“The assets?”
“No.”
Alina finally understood.
“She wants Sebastian gone.”
Dominic frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Sebastian is the only person who can prove she was involved.”
Marco’s face darkened.
“And he’s awaiting arraignment tomorrow.”
Alina reached for her phone.
“Sofia isn’t running.”
May you like
She called Claire.
“She’s going to the courthouse.”
