Chapter 4 - The Secret the Mafia Boss Never Knew
Vincent did not sleep.
Neither did Karina.
By three in the morning, they were sitting across from each other in the study.
Levi had left them alone.
A photograph lay between them.
Elena.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
Holding a teenage Vincent's hand.
Karina looked at the image again.
“You said Roman wanted you dead.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my father had chosen me as his successor.”
“You were a child.”
“I was fourteen.”
“That makes it worse.”
Vincent looked toward the window.
“Roman believed my father would give me too much power.”
“So he tried to eliminate you.”
“Yes.”
“And your mother?”
“My mother had already died.”
Karina studied him.
“Then Elena…”
“Your mother.”
He said it like the words themselves were painful.
“She found me hiding in an old warehouse.”
Karina felt a strange chill.
“How?”
“She worked for my father.”
“As what?”
“Security.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“Your mother was security?”
Vincent nodded.
“She knew how to shoot.”
Karina looked at the photograph.
“That doesn't sound like the woman I imagined.”
“You barely knew her.”
Neither did Vincent.
Not really.
He had forgotten most of the details.
A hand.
A voice.
A woman hiding him under a table.
Then a long drive.
A promise.
“We're going to get you somewhere safe.”
He remembered the smell of lavender.
Karina's eyes filled.
“My mother had lavender perfume.”
Vincent looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“My father kept one bottle.”
He stood.
“Where?”
“My aunt's house.”
“We need it.”
“Why?”
“Your mother's fingerprints may still be on it.”
Karina stared.
“After twenty-seven years?”
“Maybe.”
He sat again.
“We have to stop thinking like ordinary people.”
Karina shook her head.
“That's exactly what got people hurt.”
Vincent smiled faintly.
“You're right.”
“Then why are you smiling?”
“Because nobody talks to me like that.”
“You need to hear it more.”
He laughed once.
The sound surprised them both.
It was the first genuine laugh Karina had heard from him.
By morning, the perfume bottle had been recovered.
Forensic analysis would take time.
But there was another clue.
A label.
A hotel.
The St. Clair.
Vincent recognized it.
“My father owned it.”
Karina's heart raced.
“Then my mother may have worked there.”
“She did.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I remember.”
They drove to the hotel.
It had been renovated decades earlier.
But the basement remained nearly untouched.
Vincent led Karina through a storage corridor.
“This was my father's office.”
He opened an old door.
Dust filled the air.
Inside were ledgers, photographs, and boxes.
Karina found a framed picture.
Elena.
Standing beside Adrian.
And Kenji.
All three were smiling.
On the back was a date.
Three months before Karina was born.
She turned it over.
There was a handwritten message.
Family isn't always blood.
Vincent stared.
“What?”
Karina pointed.
“My father wrote that.”
He nodded.
“Maybe he considered your mother family.”
They searched for hours.
Near sunset, they found a locked metal cabinet.
Vincent opened it.
Inside was an old cassette recorder.
And a tape.
He inserted it.
Static.
Then Adrian's voice.
“If you're hearing this, Roman knows.”
Karina felt her heart pounding.
Adrian continued.
“Elena is alive.”
Vincent stopped the tape.
Karina stared.
“Play it.”
He did.
“If Vincent survives, tell him Elena saved him because she believed he could be different.”
A pause.
“She also saved her daughter.”
Karina closed her eyes.
“Her daughter.”
Another pause.
“Karina.”
She opened her eyes.
Vincent stared at her.
The tape continued.
“She doesn't know who she is. I had no choice.”
Karina's knees weakened.
She sat.
“Why would he hide it?”
“Because Roman would have used you against Elena.”
The final words on the tape were barely audible.
“The girl must never know that her mother is alive until Roman is gone.”
The tape ended.
Silence.
Karina whispered.
“Roman isn't gone.”
“No.”
“And my mother is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Then she's been hiding for twenty-seven years.”
“Yes.”
Karina stood.
“I need to find her.”
Vincent nodded.
“I'll help.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
His answer was simple.
“Because she saved me.”
Three days later, they found a lead.
A small coastal town in Maine.
A woman named Elena Rose had rented a cottage under an alias.
Karina drove there with Vincent and Levi.
The house stood near the ocean.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Karina's hands shook.
“What if it's not her?”
Vincent looked at her.
“What if it is?”
She stepped out.
Knocked.
No answer.
She knocked again.
A voice came from inside.
“Who is it?”
Karina couldn't speak.
Vincent stepped back.
“This is yours.”
Karina whispered.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then the door opened.
The woman standing there looked older.
Her hair was streaked with silver.
Her eyes were exactly the same.
Karina knew immediately.
She began crying.
Elena covered her mouth.
“My God.”
Karina whispered.
“I thought you were dead.”
Elena stepped outside.
“So did everyone.”
They stared at each other.
Then Elena reached for her.
Karina collapsed into her arms.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
There were too many missing years.
Too many questions.
Too much pain.
Finally, Karina whispered.
“Why didn't you come back?”
Elena cried.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“More than once.”
“Then why?”
“Because Roman was still alive.”
Karina looked at Vincent.
Elena saw him.
Her face changed.
“You.”
Vincent nodded.
“I remember.”
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I know.”
“Roman will come for you.”
“He already knows about Karina.”
Elena's face went pale.
“No.”
“He sent people to the house.”
Elena stepped back.
“Then we have to move.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere he can't find us.”
Vincent shook his head.
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“You don't understand.”
“I do.”
He stepped closer.
“We're ending this.”
Elena stared.
“You are Adrian's son.”
“Yes.”
“You sound just like him.”
Karina looked between them.
“Did my father know you were alive?”
Elena nodded.
“He visited me.”
Karina froze.
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
Her heart sank.
“He knew where you were.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“He thought Roman had found you.”
“Did Roman kill him?”
Elena looked away.
“I don't know.”
Vincent's expression darkened.
“My father died believing Roman had.”
Karina swallowed.
“Then maybe the truth is still alive somewhere.”
Elena looked at Vincent.
“There is one place.”
“Where?”
“The Graham family estate.”
Vincent stiffened.
“The old house?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian kept the red ledger there.”
May you like
Karina closed her eyes.
The secret her father died protecting had been inside Vincent's family home the entire time.
