Chapter 5 - The Woman the World Believed Was Dead
Sylvio found the first clue in a medical archive.
A patient named Elena Romano.
Admitted fifteen years earlier.
Transferred.
Then disappeared.
He stared at the record.
His mother.
Alive.
The transfer destination was a private clinic in Switzerland.
He booked a flight.
Mia came with him.
Riona, Sylvio's aunt, protested.
“She shouldn't travel.”
Sylvio looked at Mia.
“She stays with me.”
“She is a child.”
“I know.”
“You cannot keep carrying everyone.”
Sylvio almost smiled.
“That's exactly what my father said.”
They flew overnight.
The clinic was abandoned.
But the records remained.
Elena had survived an attempted poisoning.
She had spent years in hiding.
And she had left one message.
For my son.
Sylvio read it.
My darling,
If you ever find this, forgive me.
I stayed away because I believed proximity to me would kill you.
Your father discovered the truth about Vale.
Marco betrayed him.
I survived.
But I could not protect you directly.
There was one child who might survive the toxin.
Sarah Bell's daughter.
Protect her.
Because she is the key to ending what began with us.
Sylvio looked at Mia.
She had been reading over his shoulder.
“My mom.”
“Yes.”
“She knew your mother.”
“Yes.”
“Did they work together?”
“Yes.”
Mia smiled.
“Then they were friends.”
Sylvio nodded.
“Maybe.”
The clinic contained a hidden basement.
There they found Elena.
Alive.
Older.
Weak.
She looked at Sylvio.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then she whispered,
“My boy.”
Sylvio broke.
He had been sixty-three years old and feared by half the city.
But when his mother opened her arms, he became a child again.
He hugged her.
She cried against his shoulder.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I thought I was.”
“Why didn't you come back?”
“I tried.”
She looked toward Mia.
“That's her.”
Mia stepped closer.
“I'm Mia.”
Elena touched her face.
“You look like Sarah.”
“She told me about you?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Your eyes.”
Elena looked at Sylvio.
“The toxin can be stopped.”
“How?”
“Sarah discovered the antidote.”
“Where?”
“Inside the original research.”
“Vale has it.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He has the wrong copy.”
Sylvio stared.
“The real research was hidden.”
“Where?”
Elena smiled faintly.
“Your restaurant.”
He froze.
“Romano's?”
“Under the foundation.”
Sylvio realized the restaurant had been his father's headquarters.
Maybe the entire thing had been beneath them.
They returned to Chicago.
The foundation was opened.
A hidden stairway led down.
Behind a steel door was an old laboratory.
Sarah Bell's name appeared on the wall.
The original formulas were there.
So was a film.
Sylvio watched.
His father.
Sarah.
Elena.
All three together.
They were working on the toxin.
Not to weaponize it.
To neutralize it.
They had developed an antidote.
Then Vale entered.
The recording showed him threatening them.
He wanted the compound.
He wanted control.
Sylvio's father refused.
Marco appeared behind him.
The recording ended.
Sylvio turned.
Marco was standing at the doorway.
He raised his gun.
“I came to finish what I started.”
Sylvio stared.
“You killed my father.”
“Yes.”
“You killed Sarah.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to kill me.”
Marco lowered his eyes.
“I didn't know you would find her.”
Sylvio's voice became deadly.
“Find who?”
Marco smiled.
“Your mother's greatest secret.”
He fired.
Elena fell.
Sylvio caught her.
Mia screamed.
Security opened fire.
Marco escaped.
But Elena was alive.
Barely.
And before losing consciousness, she whispered,
“Your father left you a message.”
Sylvio looked down.
“What message?”
May you like
She smiled.
“He told me to tell you that the family he feared would destroy you was never the family you thought.”
