Chapter 6 - The Secret Son Could Never Forgive
The truth became uglier.
Royce had once been Arthur’s closest business partner.
He had known about Elena.
He had known about Norah.
And according to Lena Bell, he had arranged for Norah to disappear.
But he had not ordered her killed.
He had ordered her hidden.
Why?
That was the question Vincent could not answer.
Lena revealed one more detail.
Royce believed Norah possessed evidence that could destroy him.
The evidence had never been hidden in a bank.
It had been hidden in a children's music box.
Norah suddenly remembered something.
Her mother had always kept a music box beside her bed.
After Elena died, it disappeared.
Arthur stared at the floor.
“I know where it is.”
Everyone turned.
Arthur pointed toward the old family chapel.
They searched for hours.
At last, Vincent found a loose stone beneath the altar.
Inside was the music box.
Norah opened it.
A tiny compartment clicked.
A memory card lay hidden inside.
They found recordings.
Elena’s voice.
Norah covered her mouth.
“Arthur, if you hear this, I am sorry.”
The recording continued.
“I know Royce is watching us. I know he has people everywhere.”
“Elena,” Arthur whispered.
“She believes the Costa name can be redeemed if Vincent survives long enough to choose differently.”
Vincent stared at the speaker.
His mother had believed in him when he had been a child.
The recording continued.
“Norah must be kept away from the organization. She must have a normal life.”
Norah began crying.
Then Elena said the words that broke Vincent.
“If Vincent becomes what his father was forced to become, Norah can remind him who he was before the violence.”
Vincent sat down.
He looked at Norah.
Their mother had known they would meet.
Perhaps she had spent years trying to make sure they did.
Then the final recording played.
“If Royce ever comes after Norah, tell her this: the person funding her life is not her enemy.”
The recording ended.
Everyone looked at Arthur.
He shook his head.
“Not me.”
Vincent’s blood ran cold.
He remembered the ledger.
Someone had funded Norah every month.
For eighteen years.
The bank records revealed the truth.
The payments had come from a trust created by Clara Bell.
Clara, the missing woman.
She had survived.
And she had spent twenty years protecting Norah.
Lena finally told them where Clara was.
A remote care facility two states away.
Vincent went immediately.
Norah refused to stay behind.
They found Clara sitting beside a window, silver hair falling across her shoulders.
When she saw Vincent, tears filled her eyes.
“You look like him.”
“Like who?”
“Your grandfather.”
Vincent stopped.
“My grandfather?”
Clara nodded.
“The man who built the first Costa empire.”
She explained everything.
Arthur had inherited the organization.
Vincent had inherited the consequences.
Royce had manipulated the family for decades.
The stolen charity funds.
The hospital records.
The disappearances.
Elena had discovered all of it.
Clara had helped her hide the evidence.
Royce had tried to kill them.
Clara escaped.
Elena did not.
Norah asked the question she had feared most.
“Did my mother suffer?”
Clara took her hand.
“She was afraid.”
Norah cried.
“But she was not alone.”
Clara pulled a necklace from around her neck.
It contained a tiny photograph of baby Norah.
“Your mother gave me this the night she disappeared.”
Clara looked at Vincent.
“She said the two of you must find each other when the city was ready to tell the truth.”
Vincent’s eyes filled.
“Why did you wait?”
“Because it was not safe.”
“Is it safe now?”
Clara looked toward the window.
“No.”
A black car stopped outside.
Men stepped out.
Clara’s face tightened.
“Royce.”
Vincent stood.
“Stay here.”
Norah grabbed his arm.
“You are not doing this alone.”
He looked at her.
For once, he listened.
They escaped through the rear entrance.
The confrontation with Royce was coming.
And Vincent knew one thing.
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This time, he would not fight for his empire.
He would fight to destroy it.
