Chapter 2 - The Secret My Mother Left Behind
Dr. Russo arrived twenty minutes later with two security officers.
He was an older physician who had worked for the Conti family for years, but from the way he looked at Alessandro, I suspected he knew more than he ever said.
Mia was examined first.
Her heart rate was elevated from fear, but physically she was fine.
I almost cried from relief.
Then the doctor turned to me.
“You've been under considerable stress.”
“That’s an understatement.”
He smiled gently.
“You should rest.”
“I don't think anybody in this house is going to sleep tonight.”
His expression turned serious.
“No.”
Alessandro stood by the window.
“What is it?”
Dr. Russo looked at him.
“I examined the pendant.”
My hand went automatically to my neck.
“The blue stone?”
“Yes.”
He handed Alessandro a small envelope.
“It's hollow.”
I stared.
“What?”
“The pendant isn't ordinary jewelry.”
Alessandro opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
My mother.
Young.
Standing beside a man I had never seen before.
But Alessandro recognized him.
“That’s my father.”
I looked at him.
“Your father?”
He nodded.
“My father and your mother knew each other.”
I felt dizzy.
“My mother never mentioned your family.”
“Mine never mentioned yours.”
Dr. Russo continued.
“The pendant contains a microfilm strip.”
I stared.
“A microfilm?”
“Yes.”
“What could be on it?”
“That remains to be seen.”
Alessandro looked at Dom.
“Find someone who can decode it.”
Dom nodded.
Then footsteps came from the corridor.
Greta.
Two guards brought her back.
She no longer looked angry.
She looked frightened.
Alessandro faced her.
“Who is the man with the scar?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
“I don't.”
He took a photograph of the man from the tablet.
Greta's hands shook.
“You've seen him.”
“No.”
Alessandro placed another photograph on the table.
This one showed Greta meeting the man at a parking garage.
Her mouth opened.
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You lied.”
Greta looked at me.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She shook her head.
“He'll kill my daughter.”
Silence.
Alessandro's gaze hardened.
“You have a daughter?”
Greta nodded.
“She lives in Indiana.”
“What's her name?”
“Emily.”
Alessandro looked at Dom.
“Find her.”
Greta burst into tears.
“No.”
“You want protection for your daughter?”
She nodded.
“Then start talking.”
Greta finally broke.
“The man is called Victor Kane.”
Alessandro's face changed.
I had heard the name once.
In a conversation I thought I'd misunderstood.
Victor Kane.
A rival of the Conti family.
A businessman publicly.
A smuggler privately.
Someone who had been trying for years to force Alessandro out of Chicago.
“Why did he want my daughter?” I asked.
Greta looked at Mia.
“Because he believes the child knows where the key is.”
“What key?”
“The Meridian Key.”
Alessandro's eyes sharpened.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him I didn't know.”
“Then why frame Nora?”
“He promised to leave Emily alone.”
Greta started crying harder.
“They gave me the clock. Told me to put it in Nora's locker. They said if Nora was fired and arrested, she'd be easier to control.”
I felt sick.
“Control for what?”
Greta shook her head.
“Your daughter.”
My whole body went numb.
Alessandro moved closer.
“Why Mia?”
“Because of her grandmother.”
“What about her grandmother?”
Greta whispered:
“Your mother knew where the Meridian Key was.”
I looked at my pendant.
My mother.
The dead woman whose memory had always felt simple.
Kind.
Warm.
Protective.
Now I was discovering she had secrets that could get her daughter and granddaughter killed.
Alessandro sat down.
“Tell me everything.”
Greta did.
Twenty years ago, Alessandro's father and my mother had worked together to hide an international ledger.
Not money.
Names.
Payments.
Shipping routes.
Judges.
Officials.
People connected to a vast criminal network called Meridian.
The organization wasn't owned by one family.
It was a collection of powerful people who used legal businesses as cover.
My mother discovered they planned to take control of Chicago's ports.
Alessandro's father tried to stop them.
He failed.
He died under suspicious circumstances.
My mother disappeared.
The ledger was never found.
Instead, she left behind a series of clues.
The first was the blue pendant.
The second was the jeweled clock.
The third was Mia.
I stared.
“My three-year-old daughter?”
Greta nodded.
“She was born on the date your mother predicted.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It doesn't have to.”
Alessandro looked toward the clock.
“Where is it?”
Dom answered.
“Still in evidence.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Bring it.”
The clock was placed on the table.
It was beautiful.
Gold case.
Small diamonds.
A face that looked old enough to have witnessed wars.
I studied it.
“My father gave this to my mother.”
Alessandro nodded.
“Then your mother gave it to you?”
“No.”
I suddenly remembered.
It had been in my mother's bedroom.
After her death, I had packed it away.
I never remembered bringing it to the mansion.
But Greta had found it in my locker.
“How did they know I still had access to it?”
Alessandro looked at me.
“Someone has been monitoring you for months.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“We'll find out.”
Mia climbed into my lap.
“Mommy.”
“Yes?”
“Open rabbit.”
I looked at the stuffed rabbit.
“You said there's a secret.”
She nodded.
“The blue key.”
I remembered something.
Mia had slept with that rabbit since she was born.
My mother had sewn it.
I took it gently.
Opened the torn seam.
Inside was a tiny brass key.
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
“That's not a toy key.”
I handed it to him.
The moment he touched it, his face changed.
“What?”
He turned the key over.
There was a symbol engraved into the metal.
A circle with three lines through it.
He whispered:
“Meridian.”
I felt my knees weaken.
“Where does it open?”
He stared at me.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“According to my father, the Meridian Key opens the vault where the ledger is kept.”
“Where is the vault?”
He looked directly at me.
“No one knows.”
Mia reached for the key.
Alessandro handed it back.
She smiled.
“Nana said Daddy would know.”
I looked at her.
“Mia, honey, Grandma said that?”
She nodded.
“Daddy knows.”
My heart stopped.
Her biological father had left us before she was born.
She had never met him.
But I had never told her stories about him.
Why would she say that?
Alessandro asked:
“Who is Daddy?”
Mia pointed at him.
Everyone in the room went silent.
I laughed nervously.
“She means her father.”
Mia shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed at Alessandro again.
“Daddy.”
Alessandro froze.
I stared at my daughter.
“Mia.”
She smiled innocently.
“Daddy.”
Alessandro looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then Dom rushed into the room.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We have a problem.”
“What kind?”
“Someone has breached the north gate.”
Alessandro stood.
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
Then the mansion lights died.
Mia screamed.
Nero barked.
Alessandro grabbed my hand.
“Stay with me.”
May you like
And from somewhere beyond the darkness came a voice.
“Give me the girl.”
