Chapter 6 - Elena Wasn't Just My Employee—She Was the Last Person My Father Had Tried to Save
Elena sat in my office for almost an hour without speaking.
Then she told us everything.
Her father had been a courier.
He worked for Elijah Vance.
He eventually discovered the organization was using innocent businesses to move illegal money.
He tried to leave.
Vance ordered his death.
My father found out.
He couldn't save him.
So he saved his daughter.
Elena.
She had been sent to a foster home under another name.
Years later, Isabella found her.
And that was how their paths crossed.
But there was another secret.
Elena wasn't simply protecting Mia.
She was protecting Adrian.
He was alive.
He had been hiding for years.
And he had been watching Mia from a distance.
“Where?”
Elena looked terrified.
“I can't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because he said the moment you know, everyone dies.”
I looked at Vincent.
“What do you think?”
“I think Adrian is already compromised.”
The lights flickered.
Again.
This time the building's backup generator failed.
We heard footsteps.
Mia whispered:
“Mommy.”
A gunshot came from the hallway.
Vincent moved instantly.
He pushed us behind the desk.
Men stormed through the door.
But there weren't twelve this time.
There were two.
They weren't here to shoot.
They were here to take Mia.
One grabbed Elena.
The other reached for the child.
I attacked him.
He punched me hard enough to send me into the wall.
Vincent fired.
The man dropped.
The second man ran.
I chased him into the hallway.
He reached the emergency exit.
I grabbed his jacket.
He turned.
A silver ring flashed on his finger.
A Moretti family ring.
I froze.
He smiled.
“You're looking for the wrong enemy again.”
Then he escaped.
I returned to the office.
Vincent was kneeling beside Mia.
She was shaking.
But alive.
Elena hugged her.
I looked at the floor.
The silver ring.
I'd seen it before.
On my uncle.
My father's younger brother.
Victor Moretti.
A man who had supposedly retired to Florida twenty years ago.
I called him.
No answer.
Then my phone received a message.
YOUR UNCLE WAS NEVER IN FLORIDA.
I stared.
A location followed.
An old private club.
I went there with Vincent.
We found Victor sitting alone.
He didn't resist.
He simply looked at me.
“You finally came.”
“What did you do?”
“Everything your father was too weak to finish.”
“Did you kill him?”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
The admission was so casual it almost stopped me from hearing the rest.
“He found the ledger.”
“And you poisoned him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to give everything to the government.”
“What about Isabella?”
“I tried to kill her.”
Vincent raised his weapon.
I held up a hand.
“Not yet.”
Victor laughed.
“You're exactly like your father.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I'm nothing like him.”
Victor's expression changed.
“You don't know what power costs.”
“I know what silence costs.”
He looked at Vincent.
“You told him?”
Vincent nodded.
Victor sighed.
“Elijah Vance is coming for the child.”
“We know.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“You don't understand.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
A courthouse.
Three judges.
Two detectives.
And one person I recognized immediately.
Daniel.
Standing beside Vance.
I felt sick.
“Daniel works for him.”
Victor shook his head.
“Daniel works for himself.”
Then he smiled.
“He's been playing both sides.”
The room fell silent.
I remembered Mia's first words.
Uncle Vincent.
Mr. Daniel.
She had named the two men she trusted least.
I had assumed she was accusing both equally.
But what if she had simply seen them together?
What if Vincent wasn't the danger?
What if Daniel was?
I called the hospital.
Daniel was gone.
His room was empty.
Security footage showed him walking out eleven minutes earlier.
Wearing street clothes.
May you like
Carrying a gun.
And heading directly toward Elena's hiding place.
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