Chapter 3 - THE SISTER WHO WANTED ME DEAD
Nora did not look like me.
That was the first thing I noticed.
She sat behind reinforced glass in one of Adrien’s private holding rooms, wrists cuffed to the table, dark hair hanging around a face sharpened by exhaustion.
But her eyes were my mother’s.
My eyes.
Hazel with a ring of gold around the pupil.
I hated that I recognized her immediately.
“She tried to kill me.”
Adrien stood beside me.
“Yes.”
“And you want me to talk to her?”
“No.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because she asked for you.”
Nora looked up as we entered.
Her expression collapsed for half a second.
Not hatred.
Grief.
“You look like her.”
My throat tightened.
“Who?”
“Our mother.”
I sat across from her.
Adrien remained near the door.
“Why did you shoot at me?”
Nora laughed bitterly.
“I didn’t.”
“There were two bullets.”
“I fired into the wall.”
“That is not comforting.”
“I needed Viscari to move you.”
Adrien’s voice turned cold.
“You could have killed her.”
“I knew exactly where she was.”
“You shattered glass over her head.”
“Better glass than Reddick’s men putting a bullet through her chest.”
Silence.
I stared at Nora.
“Start over.”
She closed her eyes.
Then told me.
Evelyn had given birth to Nora at nineteen.
The father disappeared.
Evelyn’s parents took custody temporarily while she worked.
When Nora was six, Evelyn entered Vittorio Viscari’s financial network.
When Nora was eleven, something happened that forced Evelyn to send her away permanently.
“Where?”
“Canada.”
“With who?”
“A woman named Teresa Cole.”
“Why didn’t Mom ever tell me?”
“She wanted you clean.”
“Clean from what?”
“Us.”
The word hurt.
“She kept me and sent you away?”
Nora smiled without humor.
“She tried to send you away too.”
“When?”
“The night of the crash.”
My blood chilled.
Nora leaned forward.
“There was no accident, Lena.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
“What happened?”
“Our mother knew Reddick was preparing to erase everyone connected to the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“Names. Payments. Judges. Cops. Contracts. Federal people. Enough to collapse careers and start wars.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why is everyone chasing me?”
“Because Mom hid the access key with you.”
I stared.
“I don’t have anything.”
“You do.”
“No.”
Nora looked at my throat.
I instinctively touched the small silver locket I had worn since childhood.
My mother’s last gift.
Adrien noticed.
So did Nora.
“No.”
I pulled it away from my skin.
Nora whispered, “Open the back.”
“It doesn’t open.”
“It does.”
Adrien handed me a slim knife.
My fingers shook as I worked the seam.
For eighteen years, I had thought the locket contained only a tiny photograph of my mother.
The back plate came loose.
Something small dropped onto the table.
Not paper.
A microfilm strip.
I stopped breathing.
Nora looked at Adrien.
“That is what Reddick wants.”
I stared at her.
“And Marcus?”
“He was supposed to keep you close until they found it.”
My chest tightened.
“How long?”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“From the first day he met you.”
I looked down.
Every date.
Every apology.
Every hand he held.
Every time he asked about my childhood.
Investigation.
Not love.
Then Adrien picked up the microfilm.
Nora slammed her palms against the table.
“Don’t.”
Everyone froze.
“If you read that without the second key, you trigger the contingency.”
Adrien’s expression sharpened.
“What contingency?”
Nora looked at me.
“Mom built a release system.”
“What releases?”
“The entire ledger.”
“To who?”
“Every major newsroom and federal prosecutor she trusted.”
My heart pounded.
“What is the second key?”
Nora swallowed.
“Your real name.”
I frowned.
“My name is Lena Marrow.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled with pity.
“Lena Marrow is the name Mom gave you after she ran.”
The room went silent.
“Then who am I?”
Nora looked toward Adrien.
May you like
And when she answered, even he lost color.
“You were born Elena Viscari.”
