Chapter 2 - The Woman I Buried Was Waiting for Me to Find Her
We moved before the first hour passed.
Victor wanted a full tactical team.
I refused.
Ricardo had asked for Lucia.
That meant he expected an army.
He would not get one.
Instead, I took four men I trusted with my life.
Victor.
Nico.
Matteo.
And Gabriel.
Lucia sat beside me in the SUV.
She held her stuffed rabbit against her chest.
I kept looking at her.
Seven years old.
My daughter.
I had missed every birthday.
Every fever.
Every first day of school.
Every lost tooth.
I had not even heard her first word.
And for eight years, I had mourned a family that was never actually dead.
I asked quietly, “Does your mother know my name?”
Lucia nodded.
“She talks about you.”
“What does she say?”
“That you were brave.”
My throat tightened.
“Anything else?”
“She said you had a bad temper.”
I almost laughed.
“That's accurate.”
Lucia smiled.
Then she became serious.
“She said you would be angry.”
“Was she afraid?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She said you would be angry because you loved her.”
I looked out the window.
Elena had known me better than anyone.
Even after eight years.
The warehouse Ricardo owned was outside the city.
Abandoned factory.
Two entrances.
Eight armed guards visible.
Probably more inside.
I studied the building through binoculars.
“Victor.”
“Yes?”
“Where are the cameras?”
“Three exterior. Two on the loading dock.”
“And inside?”
“Unknown.”
“Good.”
Victor looked at me.
“That isn't good.”
“It means they don't know we're here.”
We moved after midnight.
The operation lasted seven minutes.
No unnecessary gunfire.
No deaths unless absolutely required.
I had once ordered men killed for less.
Now I was thinking about the seven-year-old child sitting safely inside an armored vehicle.
I was changing.
I knew it.
And part of me hated how quickly my daughter had made me different.
We entered through a side door.
Two guards.
Quietly restrained.
A third.
Then a hallway.
Then voices.
Ricardo.
“Adriano will come.”
Another man said, “What if he doesn't?”
“He will.”
I recognized the confidence.
Ricardo had always believed he understood me.
He was wrong.
I reached the end of the corridor.
The door opened.
Ricardo stood across the room.
He looked exactly as he had eight years ago.
Older.
Grayer.
But still arrogant.
And beside him—
Elena.
I stopped breathing.
Her hair was longer.
Her face thinner.
A scar crossed one side of her neck.
But her eyes.
Those eyes were the same.
She stared at me.
No words.
No movement.
Just disbelief.
Then she whispered:
“Adriano.”
I had imagined that moment a thousand times.
In every fantasy, I ran to her.
In reality, I couldn't move.
Ricardo smiled.
“Beautiful reunion, isn't it?”
I raised my gun.
“Untie her.”
Ricardo laughed.
“You've become predictable.”
“No.”
I looked at Elena.
“I've become patient.”
He gestured toward her.
“Do you want to know why she stayed hidden?”
“Yes.”
“She wanted you alive.”
I frowned.
“She didn't believe I would kill you.”
Ricardo smiled.
“She believed you would destroy yourself trying to find her.”
Elena spoke.
“Ricardo, stop.”
He grabbed her shoulder.
I nearly fired.
But Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Her eyes told me not to.
Not yet.
I lowered my gun.
Ricardo noticed.
“Still obeying her.”
“Untie her.”
“First, the girl.”
“She's outside.”
Ricardo smiled.
“I know.”
That made my blood run cold.
“How?”
“A child is easy to track.”
He pressed a button.
A monitor appeared.
Lucia was sitting inside the SUV.
One of Ricardo's men stood beside her.
I hadn't known.
My jaw clenched.
Ricardo looked at me.
“You thought you were clever.”
I said nothing.
“Bring her in.”
Victor spoke through my earpiece.
“We have a breach. Someone is approaching from the south.”
I understood.
A second team.
Ricardo hadn't planned for a negotiation.
He planned a massacre.
Then Elena screamed.
A gunshot exploded.
Not from Ricardo.
From outside.
The windows shattered.
Bullets tore through the room.
Victor shouted.
I dragged Elena to the floor.
Ricardo disappeared through a back door.
My men returned fire.
Chaos.
When the shooting stopped, I looked at Elena.
She was shaking.
I touched her face.
She recoiled.
Then she recognized me.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You're really here.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I thought you were dead.”
She closed her eyes.
“I thought you hated me.”
“I never hated you.”
“Ricardo said you blamed me.”
“I blamed myself.”
Tears ran down her face.
I wanted to kiss her.
Instead, I unfastened her restraints.
“Where is Lucia?”
“With your men?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have to go.”
I stood.
“Why?”
Elena looked at me.
“Because Ricardo didn't kidnap Lucia tonight.”
My blood went cold.
“What do you mean?”
“He allowed you to take her.”
I stared.
“He wanted you to find her.”
“Why?”
“Because she is the key to something.”
“What?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
“I know only what Ricardo told me.”
“Tell me.”
Elena's face collapsed.
“Your family is not the only family he has been fighting.”
“What?”
“Adriano…”
She grabbed my arm.
“Your father wasn't killed by Ricardo.”
I froze.
“My father died eight years before I met you.”
“I know.”
“Then what does this have to do with him?”
She looked toward the hallway.
“Because the people who started the war between your family and mine wanted you to hate each other.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because while you were destroying each other, someone else was taking everything.”
I heard footsteps outside.
Victor.
“Boss, we need to move.”
I nodded.
Elena looked at me.
“I have to tell you something before we leave.”
“What?”
She touched Lucia's bracelet.
“Your daughter wasn't born in that safe house.”
I frowned.
“She was born in a hospital.”
“When?”
“Three months before the explosion.”
I stared.
“That means…”
“Yes.”
Lucia had been alive when the safe house exploded.
I remembered the smaller coffin.
The one I believed held my baby.
Elena whispered:
“The body you buried wasn't our daughter.”
My hands went numb.
“Then whose was it?”
Elena looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“A little girl who had died that night because Ricardo's people were trying to erase the evidence.”
I couldn't breathe.
The funeral.
The coffin.
The grave.
All a lie.
Someone had staged my daughter's death.
Someone had needed me to believe the truth was buried.
And now, after eight years, my daughter was alive.
Then Elena said the words that changed the meaning of everything.
“Adriano, Ricardo isn't the mastermind.”
“Who is?”
May you like
She looked at me.
“Your own uncle.”
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