Chapter 3 - Eli's Mother Had Left Behind a Secret, and Someone Was Willing to Kill to Get ItMarcus found Victor Hale.
Not the same Hale family as the businessmen.
This Victor had another name.
Victor Kane.
Former lieutenant.
Former ally.
Current enemy.
Three years earlier, Kane had tried to take control of one of my shipping operations.
I stopped him.
He disappeared.
I assumed he had left Chicago.
He hadn't.
He had been waiting.
And apparently, Eli's mother had known him.
I confronted Eli gently.
“Do you remember Victor?”
He nodded.
“He gave Mommy money.”
“Why?”
“She wouldn't take it.”
“What did she say?”
“He was bad.”
I showed him a photograph.
“Is this him?”
Eli's face went pale.
“Yes.”
I immediately called Marcus.
“Find him.”
We searched every address.
Every company.
Every shell corporation.
Nothing.
Then Daniel found something.
A storage unit.
Registered under Eli's mother's name.
I went there that night.
Inside was almost nothing.
A broken chair.
A suitcase.
Some children's clothes.
And a locked metal box.
I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
My name was written across the front.
Vincent Crowe.
I stared at it.
I knew I had never met Eli's mother.
At least not knowingly.
I opened the letter.
Mr. Crowe,
If you are reading this, my son has found you.
I stopped.
The room seemed to tilt.
The letter explained that Eli's mother had once worked for a company controlled by Victor Kane.
She had discovered Kane was using children from poor neighborhoods to transport information and contraband.
She tried to leave.
He threatened her.
She escaped with Eli.
Then she disappeared.
But the final paragraph changed everything.
Eli's father is alive.
I stared.
The name beneath it was blacked out.
Someone had burned the paper.
But one word remained.
Crowe.
I couldn't breathe.
Was Eli somehow connected to me?
The answer would change everything.
Then my phone rang.
Marcus.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Someone breached the east gate.”
May you like
I ran.
Eli was missing.
Related Stories
