Chapter 2 - The File with Elena’s Name
They left Monaco after midnight.
The private jet cut through the dark sky while the city lights disappeared below them.
Elena sat across from Enzo, laptop open, but she had not typed anything for almost twenty minutes.
She finally closed it.
“Who was on the phone?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“What is the right one?”
“Who was trying to reach me through my father's old number?”
Elena frowned.
“Your father died fifteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Who has that number now?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why did you look at me when the caller mentioned my mother?”
Enzo said nothing.
Elena's expression hardened.
“You think I know something.”
“I think someone thinks you know something.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
She waited.
Finally he said, “Tell me about your mother.”
Elena's hands went still.
“What about her?”
“What did she do before she died?”
“You know what she did.”
“I know what you told me.”
“That was the truth.”
“Was it?”
Her eyes flashed.
“You're beginning to insult me.”
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“Those are not mutually exclusive.”
Enzo almost smiled.
Almost.
Elena closed the laptop again.
“My mother was an accountant.”
“For whom?”
“Mostly private companies.”
“Which companies?”
She hesitated.
“Some of your family's competitors.”
“Which ones?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because someone just used my dead father's phone number to warn me about your mother.”
Elena's face changed.
“She wasn't involved in your family.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“My father kept a file on her.”
Silence.
“What?”
Enzo opened his briefcase.
He placed a thin folder on the table.
Elena stared at the label.
RUSSO, LUCIA.
Her mother's name.
She touched it but didn't open it.
“Where did you get this?”
“My father's private archive.”
“How long have you had it?”
“Three days.”
“And you waited until now?”
“Because I was trying to understand it.”
Her voice became quiet.
“What's inside?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you showing me?”
“Because her name appears in a larger investigation.”
Elena opened the folder.
There were bank statements.
Photographs.
Copies of shipping manifests.
A list of companies.
And one photograph.
Her mother stood beside a younger Enzo.
Elena froze.
She had never seen the photograph.
But there was more.
Lucia Russo was not alone.
Enzo's father stood beside her.
Between them was a sealed cardboard box.
The date was sixteen years earlier.
One year before Enzo's father died.
“What is this?”
“I don't know.”
Elena turned the photo over.
On the back were four words.
SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE CHILD.
Elena's breathing stopped.
“What child?”
Enzo stared at her.
“I don't know.”
She flipped through the rest of the file.
There was a birth certificate.
The mother's name had been blacked out.
The father's name was missing.
The date of birth was seventeen years earlier.
Elena looked at it.
“That was the year I was born.”
Enzo's eyes met hers.
“Exactly.”
Elena stood abruptly.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“My mother would have told me.”
“Maybe she tried.”
“You don't get to rewrite my childhood because your family kept records.”
“You're right.”
She paced toward the window.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
“How?”
“A car accident.”
“Was it?”
Elena turned.
“You think everything is a conspiracy.”
“I think people who want me dead are usually more organized than average.”
She stared at the file.
Then she whispered, “My mother was terrified the last month of her life.”
Enzo said nothing.
“She kept checking the windows.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“She ever mention a name?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“One.”
“Which?”
“Gabriel.”
Enzo went rigid.
“Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel Bellini?”
“I don't know.”
“Marco's father?”
“I don't know.”
The plane seemed suddenly too small.
Enzo stared ahead.
Marco's father had been part of the Moretti security operation.
He had died before Marco joined Enzo.
But his name carried weight.
Too much weight.
Enzo called Marco.
“Tell me everything you know about your father.”
Marco answered immediately.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena's mother knew a man named Gabriel.”
A long pause.
Then Marco said, “He wasn't my biological father.”
Enzo looked up.
“What?”
“My mother married him. But I wasn't his son.”
“Who was?”
Another pause.
“I never found out.”
Enzo exchanged a glance with Elena.
Marco continued.
“What exactly are you investigating?”
“Your father worked for mine.”
“Yes.”
“And he knew Lucia Russo.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“Find out.”
The call ended.
Elena stared at Enzo.
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
“You think my mother's death is connected to yours.”
“I think someone desperately doesn't want us to discover how.”
She looked out the window.
“What if I am the child in that photograph?”
Enzo's voice softened.
“What?”
“What if my father isn't who I think he is?”
He said nothing.
She touched the edge of the birth certificate.
“I've spent my whole life thinking my father died of a heart attack when I was twelve.”
“What was his name?”
“Antonio Russo.”
Enzo's expression changed.
“Antonio Russo worked for Bellini Logistics.”
Elena turned sharply.
“What?”
“Your father wasn't just an accountant's husband.”
“He was involved.”
“Maybe.”
The plane began descending.
When they landed in Chicago, Enzo didn't take Elena to her apartment.
He took her to his private residence.
She looked around.
“Why am I here?”
“Because your building isn't secure.”
“And this is?”
“More secure.”
“Do I have a choice?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
The answer surprised her.
Finally she said, “I'll stay.”
That night, Elena couldn't sleep.
At two in the morning, she went downstairs for water.
The house was dark.
She heard a noise from Enzo's office.
The door was open.
Inside, his desk lamp was on.
Nobody was there.
She walked closer.
A file sat on the desk.
Lucia Russo.
Elena reached for it.
Then a voice behind her stopped her.
“I wouldn't.”
She turned.
Enzo stood in the doorway.
“Why?”
“Because that file was removed from the safe thirty minutes ago.”
Her stomach dropped.
“I didn't—”
“I know.”
“Then who did?”
Enzo walked toward the desk.
He picked up the file.
A page was missing.
“What was on it?”
He stared at the empty place.
“The page with your mother's signature.”
Elena whispered, “Who took it?”
He looked at the security monitor.
“Someone who knew exactly where to find it.”
A second later, every light in the house went out.
The alarm began screaming.
Enzo grabbed Elena and pulled her behind the desk.
Gunshots shattered the windows.
Men shouted outside.
Marco appeared with a weapon in his hand.
“Back door!”
Enzo pushed Elena toward him.
“Get her out.”
Marco took her arm.
They ran.
Behind them, Enzo remained in the dark house while bullets tore through the walls.
May you like
And on his desk, hidden beneath the stolen file, someone had left a message.
ONE OF THEM IS YOUR FAMILY.
