Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Holding the Last Piece of My Father's Secret
Clara couldn't breathe.
"My mother?"
Adriano nodded.
"She left her apartment forty minutes ago."
"How do you know?"
"We have people watching."
"Watching my mother?"
"To protect her."
"She never told me."
"No."
"Who took her?"
"We don't know."
"Then find out."
"I will."
He grabbed his coat.
Clara followed.
"Where are we going?"
"To her apartment."
They arrived in under twenty minutes.
The door was unlocked.
The living room was untouched.
Her mother's purse lay open.
A cup of tea had spilled across the carpet.
Clara found a photograph on the floor.
Her father.
Her mother.
And another man.
She recognized him.
Adriano's father.
Jonathan Moretti.
She looked at Adriano.
"They knew each other."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because our fathers were connected."
Clara picked up the photograph.
There was a note on the back.
THE TRUTH IS UNDER THE ROSE.
She looked outside.
Her mother's small backyard had one old rose bush.
They dug beneath it.
Adriano found a steel box.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
And a letter.
Clara opened it.
“My dear Clara,
If you're reading this, then the man I feared has found me.”
Her hands trembled.
“Your father was not a victim.”
She stared.
“He was a witness.”
“He found evidence that could destroy several powerful families.”
“I wanted him to run.”
“He refused.”
“He believed truth mattered more than survival.”
Clara cried silently.
The letter continued.
“Jonathan Moretti helped him.”
Adriano looked stunned.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Her mother had written that the Moretti family had not always been criminal.
Jonathan had spent years trying to dismantle the Bellflower network.
He had failed.
Then someone betrayed him.
Clara looked at Adriano.
“Who?”
His jaw tightened.
“Landon Price.”
The name made sense.
Martin's client.
A man connected to Hail.
A man who seemed to appear in every document.
The cassette recorder clicked.
Her father's voice filled the room.
“Clara, if this reaches you, then I failed to keep you out of this.”
He paused.
“You have inherited the Bellflower account.”
“The money is a decoy.”
Adriano looked at Clara.
The recording continued.
“The real secret is the ledger.”
“There is a list of every person involved.”
“I hid it where no one would look.”
A long pause.
“Inside the person I trusted most.”
Clara's heart tightened.
“Your mother?”
“No.”
Adriano answered before she could.
“Me.”
She turned.
“What?”
Her father had trusted Adriano's father.
Then perhaps Adriano.
The recording continued.
“I gave the second key to Jonathan Moretti.”
Clara looked at Adriano.
“If he survives, his son will inherit it.”
Adriano's eyes widened.
The recording ended.
A knock sounded.
Both turned.
Three federal agents entered.
The woman in front identified herself as Agent Laura Bennett.
Clara almost laughed.
“Bennett?”
“It's a coincidence.”
She held up a badge.
“We've been tracking the Bellflower network for years.”
Adriano narrowed his eyes.
“Why are you here?”
“Because your mother was taken by the same people we're investigating.”
Clara asked,
“Where is she?”
“We believe she's alive.”
“Where?”
Laura looked toward the box.
“That's what we want.”
Adriano stepped in front of Clara.
“You don't get access.”
Laura's expression hardened.
“We have a warrant.”
Clara looked at the letter.
Then at the cassette.
Then at the brass key.
Something clicked in her mind.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned.
“The note says the truth is under the rose.”
She held up the key.
“This wasn't under the rose.”
“What?”
“The box was.”
“Then what is the key for?”
Clara turned the key over.
There was a tiny groove inside it.
A hidden compartment.
She pressed.
A thin metal strip slid out.
Coordinates.
Adriano read them.
“Manhattan Harbor.”
Laura looked shocked.
“What is there?”
Clara answered.
“The old Moretti warehouse.”
They arrived at the harbor after midnight.
The building had been abandoned for years.
Inside, everything smelled of salt and rust.
They found Clara's mother tied to a chair.
Alive.
But before Clara could reach her, a voice echoed from above.
“Beautiful.”
Landon Price stepped into the light.
Martin Hail stood beside him.
Clara stared.
“You.”
Martin smiled.
“You really should have picked another man.”
Adriano moved forward.
“You're done.”
Martin laughed.
“You think this is about money?”
He held up a small ledger.
“It is about control.”
Clara looked at the book.
Her father had described it.
The Bellflower ledger.
Martin opened it.
“Every name.”
“Every payment.”
“Every betrayal.”
Adriano said,
“Give it to me.”
Martin smiled.
“No.”
May you like
He looked at Clara.
“I want her.”
Related Stories
