Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be My Enemy
Thomas Vale had been hiding under the name Thomas Reed in a quiet suburb outside Boston.
He wasn't what I expected.
He wasn't old.
He wasn't frail.
He was fifty-two, sharply dressed, and calm.
Too calm.
He invited us inside without resistance.
“You took your time,” he said.
Alex stepped forward.
“You knew we would come.”
Thomas smiled.
“I was hoping.”
I stared at him.
“You're my uncle.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my mother was alive.”
His smile disappeared.
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
I nearly shouted.
“Then why did you tell my father she was alive?”
“Because she was.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Alex's eyes narrowed.
“What happened six years ago?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Vincent knows.”
“My father is dead.”
“I didn't say your father.”
Alex froze.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
I felt dizzy.
“Your grandmother,” Thomas said to me, “is the one person who knows the entire story.”
“My grandmother died when I was twelve.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No. That was another lie.”
I laughed.
“This is ridiculous.”
Thomas took out an old folder.
Inside was a hospital photograph.
An elderly woman sat in a wheelchair.
She looked like the woman from my childhood memories.
My grandmother.
Alive.
Tears filled my eyes.
“Where is she?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Protected.”
“By who?”
“By me.”
Alex stepped closer.
“Why should we believe you?”
“You shouldn't.”
Thomas looked at him.
“That is why you're dangerous.”
He turned toward me.
“Nina, your father discovered that Vincent Mancini wasn't controlling the family anymore.”
Alex's jaw clenched.
“Who was?”
“Richard.”
“My uncle?”
“Yes.”
“But Richard is dead.”
“He died after he realized Daniel had evidence.”
I looked at Thomas.
“What evidence?”
“A list.”
“Of what?”
“Everyone who was bought. Judges. Police officers. Bankers. Politicians. Businessmen.”
My stomach twisted.
“And my father hid it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Thomas looked at Alex.
“Your father doesn't know.”
Alex stared.
“What?”
Thomas smiled.
“Daniel gave it to Vincent.”
“And what happened to Vincent?”
“He was betrayed.”
Everything became clear.
The old family stories.
The sudden death.
The suspicious accidents.
The internal war.
Alex looked shaken.
“Why didn't my father tell me?”
“Because he wanted you out.”
Thomas handed me another photograph.
It showed my mother standing beside Vincent.
A handwritten note on the back said:
Trust Alex when he remembers the garden.
I frowned.
“What garden?”
Alex looked at me.
Then something changed in his eyes.
“My father's greenhouse.”
We returned to the Mancini estate.
Alex led me through the house to an old glass greenhouse hidden behind a stone wall.
Inside were dead vines and broken planters.
He stopped at a cracked fountain.
“This is where my father taught me to garden.”
I smiled faintly.
“Your father?”
“He was different with me.”
Alex crouched and moved a stone.
There was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a metal drive.
He picked it up.
“That's it.”
“What's on it?”
“Everything.”
We took it into the house.
A laptop opened the encrypted file.
But it required a password.
Alex stared at the screen.
Then he looked at me.
“What did your father call you as a child?”
“Nini.”
He typed it.
Wrong.
“What did your mother call you?”
“Little bird.”
Wrong.
“What did your grandmother call you?”
I swallowed.
“Sunshine.”
Wrong.
Then I remembered.
A phrase my father repeated every night.
Home is the place where the red door opens.
Alex typed:
RED DOOR.
The file unlocked.
Thousands of documents filled the screen.
Names.
Transfers.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And one video.
We played it.
My father appeared.
He looked exhausted.
He stared directly into the camera.
“If Nina is watching this, it means the family has collapsed further than I feared.”
My chest tightened.
“Daniel,” Alex whispered.
The video continued.
“I did not trust the police. I did not trust the courts. I only trusted Vincent Mancini.”
My father's face softened.
“And I trusted his son.”
Alex looked at me.
“Alex, if you are seeing this, protect my daughter.”
I covered my mouth.
The video ended.
A second file opened automatically.
A recording of my mother.
She was older.
Alive.
And speaking into a camera.
“Nina, sweetheart, I am sorry.”
I couldn't breathe.
“I never abandoned you.”
Tears rolled down my face.
“I left because Richard threatened to kill you if I stayed.”
She swallowed hard.
“Your father tried to protect us, but he couldn't protect both of us.”
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“The man who saved my life was Vincent Mancini.”
Alex looked stunned.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
My mother continued.
“The story you were told about the Mancinis was never the whole truth.”
The screen went black.
Then one final message appeared.
Meet me at St. Agnes Hospital.
Tomorrow.
May you like
11:00 a.m.
Come alone.
