Chapter 4 - The Doctor Who Treated My Son Was Working for Someone ElseDr. Samuel Price disappeared before dawn.
His apartment was empty.
His office was empty.
His bank accounts were frozen.
His private plane was gone.
But we found his assistant.
She was terrified.
She told us everything.
Dr. Price had been receiving money through an offshore company.
The company belonged to Salvatore Moretti.
My dead uncle.
“He's alive,” I said.
She nodded.
“I never met him.”
“Then who did?”
She hesitated.
“Your chief financial officer.”
My stomach dropped.
“Adrian Bell?”
“Yes.”
Adrian had worked for my family for twenty-three years.
He had been beside me after my father's death.
He handled the books.
Contracts.
Investments.
Everything.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Of course.
Everyone was gone.
Everyone except Elena.
I looked at her.
“Were you expecting this?”
“No.”
“You seem remarkably calm.”
She smiled sadly.
“I'm not.”
“What are you?”
“A woman who has spent three years expecting something like this.”
I didn't like the answer.
But I believed it.
We returned to the hospital.
Daniel was awake.
He looked at me.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Did you find Mommy?”
My throat tightened.
“Not yet.”
He nodded.
“I think she's alive.”
I looked at Elena.
She smiled.
“He's right to hope.”
Daniel smiled back.
“Are you staying?”
I looked at Elena.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He closed his eyes.
A few minutes later, he fell asleep.
Elena stayed beside him.
I watched her.
“You care about him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was scared.”
“So?”
“I know what that feels like.”
Her answer was too simple.
I didn't understand it.
Then she said:
“Your son reminds me of my sister.”
“Rosa?”
“Yes.”
“She was afraid.”
“She was brave.”
“She died.”
Elena looked down.
“She did.”
For the first time, I saw anger in her.
Not toward me.
Toward herself.
“I couldn't save her.”
“You tried.”
“I wasn't there.”
She whispered:
“I was in another city.”
“And?”
“I ignored her call.”
Silence.
“She called me seven times.”
I didn't know what to say.
“She left one voicemail.”
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Find Sofia.’”
“And?”
“That was it.”
Elena's eyes filled.
“I listened to it after she died.”
I looked at her.
“That's why you became a cleaner.”
“Yes.”
“To find my wife.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now I know she's alive.”
“How?”
Elena pulled a folded paper from her pocket.
A hospital receipt.
Issued two years ago.
Patient:
Sofia Moretti
The name was slightly different.
But close enough.
I stared.
“Where?”
The location was a clinic in Quebec.
Sofia had been treated there.
Three years after her supposed death.
That was impossible.
I called the clinic.
They confirmed the file.
A woman using an alias had been treated for trauma.
Description matched Sofia.
Then the record ended.
The alias:
Mara Bennett.
I looked at Elena.
“Who gave you this?”
“My sister.”
“But she's dead.”
“She left records.”
“Where?”
“In a safe place.”
“Why didn't you give them to me?”
“Because I needed to know whether you were responsible.”
I felt anger.
“You thought I killed my wife?”
“I didn't know.”
“And now?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“I don't think you did.”
That was somehow worse.
Because trust had to be earned.
I understood that.
My entire empire existed because I had built it on loyalty.
Now I wasn't sure who was loyal.
Then a gunshot came from the hallway.
The hospital erupted.
We dropped.
Vincent returned fire.
I pulled Daniel's bed away from the window.
Elena moved toward the door.
“No!”
She ignored me.
She looked through the crack.
Then whispered:
“Three men.”
“How do you know?”
“Two footsteps.”
“Two?”
“The third is injured.”
I stared.
“How?”
She shrugged.
“His breathing.”
I looked at her.
She wasn't guessing.
She knew.
The first attacker entered.
Vincent fired.
The man fell.
The second rushed in.
Elena struck him with the broken mop handle she had saved.
He dropped.
The third tried to run.
I caught him.
“Who sent you?”
He smiled.
“Ask the cleaner.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because she knows where your wife is.”
Then he swallowed something.
I tried to stop him.
Too late.
He died.
I turned toward Elena.
She looked shaken.
But not surprised.
“You know where Sofia is.”
“No.”
“He said you did.”
“He wanted you to think I did.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody wants us fighting each other.”
I didn't respond.
Because I had just realized something.
Every attack had one purpose.
Make me doubt the people closest to me.
Make me isolate myself.
Then take Daniel.
The perfect strategy.
Unless Elena was part of it.
I stepped closer.
“I'm going to ask you one last time.”
She waited.
“Who are you?”
Her eyes filled.
“I don't know what name you want.”
“The truth.”
She whispered:
“My real name is Elena Moretti.”
I froze.
May you like
She wasn't simply connected to my family.
She was family.
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