Chapter 2 - THE SECRET MY FATHER NEVER TOLD ME
My father had been dead for two years.
Now the most feared mafia boss in New York was claiming he knew why my parents were traveling on the night of their fatal accident.
I stared at Ravi Greedy.
"You're lying."
He didn't react.
"I understand why you think that."
"My parents were coming home from visiting relatives."
Ravi exchanged a look with Gabriel.
"That's what you were told?"
I folded my arms.
"That's what happened."
Gabriel lowered his head.
Ravi turned toward the ballroom manager.
"Arrange a private room. Miss Harper can leave whenever she wishes."
Then he looked at me.
"I have something that belonged to your father."
My anger faltered.
"What?"
"A letter."
I swallowed.
"Why would you have a letter from him?"
"Because he asked me to deliver it if anything happened to him."
My heart stopped.
"Then why didn't you?"
Ravi's face tightened.
"Because I was told you and your sister had disappeared."
I stared.
"Disappeared?"
He nodded.
"Someone gave me documents showing you'd been placed with relatives outside New York."
I shook my head.
"We've lived in Brooklyn the entire time."
Gabriel whispered something under his breath.
Ravi heard it.
"What did you say?"
The older man looked frightened.
"Nothing."
Ravi's expression hardened.
"Gabriel."
His uncle swallowed.
"I handled the family's correspondence after the accident."
Silence.
Ravi took a slow breath.
"Did you tell me the Harper girls had moved?"
Gabriel didn't answer.
I looked between them.
Suddenly, I understood something terrible.
Someone had deliberately kept Ravi from finding us.
And for two years, Sadi and I had struggled alone.
Ravi turned to me.
"I owe you an explanation."
"You owe me nothing."
"Your father would disagree."
Those words hurt.
I stepped closer.
"Don't use my father to make me trust you."
Ravi nodded.
"Fair."
His reaction surprised me.
Men like him weren't supposed to accept being challenged.
Then he reached into his jacket and removed a folded envelope.
My father's handwriting covered the front.
For Diane, when she's old enough to understand.
I took it with trembling fingers.
The paper smelled faintly of leather and old smoke.
I unfolded the letter.
My beautiful girl,
If you're reading this, I may have failed to return home.
Tears immediately blurred the words.
There are things I haven't told you about the men I once worked for.
But I need you to know one thing.
The money I saved for you and Sadi is real.
I stopped breathing.
Money?
My father had been a mechanic.
We'd struggled to pay bills even before the accident.
I continued reading.
If anything happens to me, find the man called Ravi Greedy. He knows where the trust was established.
I looked up.
Ravi was watching me carefully.
May you like
Then I read the final sentence.
And Diane, never trust Gabriel Greedy.
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