Chapter 3 - The Secret Secretary
They escaped the Calder Room through a delivery tunnel beneath the building.
Vincent’s driver was waiting in the rain.
Elena climbed into the back seat, breathing hard.
Vincent followed.
“Who were those men?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I don’t know their names.”
Vincent stared.
“That’s different.”
Elena looked out the window.
“They were probably hired.”
“By whom?”
“Raymond.”
“You believed Margaret.”
“I believed her fear.”
Vincent’s phone rang.
He answered.
“What?”
A pause.
His expression hardened.
“Send someone to the office.”
Elena looked at him.
“What happened?”
“Your apartment was searched.”
Her stomach dropped.
“They took nothing valuable.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Then they weren’t looking for valuables.”
“They were looking for me.”
“Yes.”
“Did they hurt anyone?”
“No.”
She exhaled.
Vincent studied her.
“You need to tell me everything.”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Then start with what you know.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“My mother changed my last name when I was 9.”
“Why?”
“She said our old name was dangerous.”
“What was it?”
Elena hesitated.
“Vale.”
Vincent frowned.
“Your mother was Elise Vale?”
“Yes.”
He recognized the name.
A woman from the old documents.
“Elise Vale was one of the Tribe’s best negotiators.”
Elena looked at him.
“You knew her.”
“My father knew her.”
“What did he do to her?”
Vincent did not answer.
That was answer enough.
They reached the Moretti estate.
Inside, Elena expected interrogation.
Instead, Vincent ordered food.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You haven’t eaten since lunch.”
“You keep track of that?”
“I keep track of everything.”
She sat at the kitchen island.
For the first time, they were alone without an office between them.
Vincent poured water.
“What happened to your mother?”
Elena looked down.
“She disappeared when I was 12.”
“Died?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said she died.”
“I was told she died.”
“By whom?”
“My aunt.”
“What happened to your aunt?”
“She disappeared too.”
Vincent looked at her.
“How many people in your family disappear?”
Elena gave a humorless smile.
“Enough that I stopped expecting funerals.”
He sat across from her.
“What do you remember?”
She told him.
Her mother had kept a locked room.
Nobody was allowed inside.
Every birthday, Elise gave Elena the same warning.
“If someone asks about the mark, tell them it is meaningless.”
“Why would she tell you that if it was so important?”
“Because she wanted to keep me alive.”
“What happened the last night you saw her?”
Elena swallowed.
“She woke me at 2 in the morning.”
“She packed a bag.”
“She put this necklace around my neck.”
Elena pulled a chain from beneath her blouse.
A small silver crescent hung from it.
Vincent stared.
“The same symbol.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Elena’s voice trembled.
“She said, ‘One day a Moretti man will come asking questions. When he does, decide whether he is your enemy before he decides you are his.’”
Vincent leaned back.
“My father?”
“I don't know.”
“Did she tell you my name?”
“No.”
“Then why work for me?”
“Because I thought the person who came asking questions would be you.”
Vincent stared at her.
“And after 2 years?”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“You stayed anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena looked directly at him.
“Because you were different from what I expected.”
He said nothing.
She continued.
“You never asked me about my past. You never flirted with me. You never treated me like decoration. You respected my work.”
Vincent smiled faintly.
“That sounds disappointingly romantic.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
“But now?”
Elena looked away.
“Now I’m not sure.”
The tension between them grew.
Vincent stood and walked toward her.
He stopped close enough to feel her breath.
“You lied to me for 2 years.”
“So did you.”
“About what?”
“Your business.”
He stared.
She was right.
Neither of them was innocent.
Before he could answer, footsteps sounded in the hall.
His head turned.
“Stay here.”
He disappeared.
A moment later, Elena heard a man shout.
Then silence.
Vincent returned holding a small black envelope.
“Someone left this in your room.”
Elena opened it.
Inside was a photograph of her mother.
On the back:
YOU HAVE 72 HOURS TO RETURN THE KEY.
“What key?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Vincent looked at the photograph.
Then at the necklace.
He turned the silver crescent over.
A tiny seam became visible.
He pressed it.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a miniature key.
Elena stared.
“My mother never told me.”
Vincent held the key.
The metal was stamped with 3 numbers.
61-14-9.
He recognized the format.
A locker number.
“Where?”
Elena looked at the number.
“Penn Station.”
They went that night.
The station was nearly empty.
They found locker 61.
The key fit.
Inside was a leather case.
A passport.
Cash.
A USB drive.
And a letter addressed to Elena.
She opened it.
Her mother’s handwriting filled the page.
My little girl,
If you are reading this, then someone has finally found you.
Trust no one who claims to know me.
Especially not a Moretti.
Elena’s hands trembled.
Vincent read the line over her shoulder.
“Especially me.”
The next page contained a confession.
Elise had worked for Vincent’s father.
She had discovered that the Tribe’s ledger contained evidence that members of the Moretti family had been using the network to manipulate elections, judges, businesses, and even law enforcement.
Elise wanted out.
Vincent’s father refused.
She planned to expose him.
He tried to kill her.
She escaped.
But before disappearing, she hid the ledger key inside the tattoo on her daughter.
Elena stared at her wrist.
Then the station lights suddenly flickered.
Vincent drew his gun.
A voice echoed from the far platform.
“Elena.”
She knew the voice.
May you like
Her aunt.
A woman she had believed dead for 17 years.
