Chapter 4 - The Woman Simon Had Buried Was Still Keeping Secrets
Simon's mother had been dead for eleven years.
He remembered her funeral.
The black dress.
The flowers.
The rain.
He remembered his father standing beside the grave with a hand on Simon's shoulder.
He remembered Eli being two years old and asking why everyone was crying.
And now John Barone was claiming that the woman Simon had buried had ordered the disappearance of her youngest son.
Simon refused to believe it.
But he also refused to ignore evidence.
Back at the estate, he opened every one of his mother's files.
Most were ordinary.
Charity records.
Household accounts.
Letters.
Photographs.
Then he found a file marked personal.
Inside was a handwritten page.
If Eli disappears, do not trust the family story.
Simon sat down.
His mother's handwriting.
There was no mistaking it.
Another line followed.
Simon must never know until he is ready.
He stared.
"What did you do, Mom?"
Cordelia entered quietly.
Simon held up the page.
"You knew."
Cordelia sighed.
"Not everything."
"Tell me."
"Your mother believed someone was planning to kill Eli."
"Who?"
"She never knew."
"Then why hide him?"
"Because the traitor had access to the family."
Simon looked toward the portrait.
"She made them think he died."
"Yes."
"With a fake crash."
"No."
Cordelia shook her head.
"The crash was real."
Simon's head snapped around.
"Then what happened?"
"Eli survived."
"And my mother?"
"She wanted him moved before the killers came back."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"Because she feared the person watching you."
"Who?"
Cordelia's eyes filled.
"Your uncle."
Simon went still.
His father's younger brother, Rafael Castellano, had died three years ago.
Or so everyone had been told.
Simon laughed once.
"You are telling me everybody in my family has been lying to me."
Cordelia said nothing.
"Was Rafael alive seven years ago?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"He had a separate organization."
Simon's mind raced.
Rafael had always resented Simon's father.
He believed the family empire should have been his.
After Simon's father died, Rafael disappeared.
The official story was that he died overseas.
But now—
"Where is he?"
Cordelia reached into her purse.
She placed a photograph on the desk.
Rafael.
Alive.
Standing beside John Barone.
And another man.
A younger man.
Simon stared.
"Who's that?"
Cordelia hesitated.
"Your mother's driver."
Simon looked closer.
The face was familiar.
Then he remembered.
That driver had disappeared the same week as the crash.
"What was his name?"
"Tomás."
"Tomás what?"
"Vega."
Simon's eyes moved slowly toward Marisol's surname.
Vega.
He stood.
"Marisol's family?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
Cordelia nodded.
"But it explains why she was chosen."
"Chosen for what?"
"To hide Eli."
Simon walked into the kitchen.
Marisol looked up.
He placed the photograph in front of her.
She stared.
"Do you know him?"
Her face changed.
"Where did you get this?"
"Who is Tomás Vega?"
She sat down.
"My father."
Simon froze.
"He was your father?"
"Yes."
"What did he do?"
"He drove for the Castellanos."
"For my family."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know you were looking for me."
He frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Marisol looked at the photograph.
"My father disappeared the same night Eli disappeared."
Simon stared.
She continued:
"He came home that afternoon."
"He knew?"
"He told me to leave the city."
"Why?"
"He said someone inside the Castellano family had ordered a child to disappear."
Simon whispered:
"Eli."
Marisol nodded.
"My father never told me whose child."
"Then how did you find Eli?"
"I didn't."
She took a breath.
"Someone left him outside the diner."
Simon remembered.
The black-coated man.
The injured child.
The bracelet.
Everything connected.
"The man with the scar," Simon said.
Marisol nodded.
"My father called him a collector."
"Who was he?"
"I don't know."
Simon paced.
"Where is your father now?"
Marisol's eyes dropped.
"Dead."
"When?"
"Seven years ago."
"How?"
"He was shot."
Simon stopped.
"Where?"
"On his way to the police."
Something inside him went cold.
"Did he leave anything?"
Marisol shook her head.
"I thought no."
"Thought?"
"After Eli found us, I discovered a box in my father's things."
"What was in it?"
She looked at him.
"Names."
"Whose?"
"People inside your family."
Simon closed his eyes.
The truth was becoming uglier by the hour.
They opened the box.
There were names.
Payments.
Dates.
And one repeated phrase:
RIVER HOUSE.
"What is River House?" Marisol asked.
Simon didn't know.
Then Cordelia walked in.
She saw the page.
Her expression changed.
"That was your mother's safe house."
Simon stared.
"My mother had a safe house?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Outside Houma."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she ordered me never to."
They went there that night.
The house had been abandoned for years.
Inside, dust covered everything.
But the basement was untouched.
Simon found a child's drawing taped beneath a shelf.
A house.
Two boys.
And a woman.
Underneath was written:
Mama says Simon will come for me.
Simon sat on the floor.
He covered his face.
Eli had remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
Then Marisol noticed something behind the wall.
A metal safe.
Inside:
A video cassette.
A letter.
And a photograph.
The letter was addressed to Simon.
My son,
If you are reading this, then the truth survived me.
I did not abandon Eli.
I did not sell him.
I did not kill him.
I moved him because somebody inside our family wanted him dead.
And because I believed you were the only person he would ever trust.
But if you find him, don't bring him home until you know whom to fear.
Simon read the final line.
Trust the woman who saved him.
He looked at Marisol.
She looked back.
Neither spoke.
In the silence, Simon finally understood why his mother had never led him directly to Eli.
She hadn't known whom to trust.
Even among the people who loved her.
Then the door upstairs slammed.
Vincent's gun came out instantly.
Marisol pulled Eli and Maddie behind her.
Simon stood.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
A second shot cracked through the ceiling.
Then another.
The windows shattered.
May you like
Someone had found them.
The safe house was no longer safe.
Related Stories
