Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE SECURITY FOOTAGE
I stopped breathing.
“Say that again.”
Leo slapped one hand against the table.
“Lena.”
I looked at Dante.
“How does he know that?”
He did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“You’ve heard him say it before.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“For months.”
My chest tightened.
“Months?”
“He started saying it around six months old.”
“And you never knew what it meant?”
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
Because he knew something.
Something ugly.
Dante turned toward one of his men.
“Marco. Car.”
I stepped back.
“No.”
“You are not staying here.”
“I absolutely am.”
Dante glanced toward the restaurant entrance.
Two men had just walked in.
Not customers.
They wore ordinary jackets.
But they looked at exits exactly the way Dante’s men had.
Then one of them looked directly at me.
Dante moved in front of me.
The change in the room was instant.
The bodyguards stood.
Mr. Carrillo disappeared into the kitchen.
I whispered:
“Who are they?”
“Not mine.”
That was not comforting.
Dante lifted Leo into one arm.
“Back exit.”
I should have refused.
Then one of the strangers reached inside his coat.
I followed.
We moved through the kitchen, past terrified cooks and stacked dishes, out into an alley where a black SUV waited with its rear door open.
“I am not getting kidnapped by a mafia boss.”
Dante looked at me.
“If I wanted to kidnap you, we would not be discussing it.”
Annoyingly convincing.
I got in.
Ten minutes later, we were inside a townhouse on Beacon Hill that looked less like a home and more like an embassy.
Leo sat on the floor with blocks.
I stood beside the door.
“Talk.”
Dante opened a laptop.
Security footage appeared.
Date:
Eight months earlier.
His front gate.
A woman in a raincoat.
My mother.
My knees weakened.
“That’s her.”
Dante nodded.
Sofia looked exhausted.
Terrified.
She carried Leo in a blanket.
I watched her press the intercom.
The recording had sound.
“My name is Sofia Valdez.”
Her voice broke.
“I need to speak to Dante Rosselli.”
A guard asked why.
My mother looked directly into the camera.
“Tell him Elena is dead.”
Dante paused the footage.
“Who’s Elena?”
He looked at Leo.
“His mother.”
I swallowed.
“And my mother knew her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to determine.”
He resumed the video.
My mother entered the house.
Another camera showed her handing Leo to Dante.
Then she said:
“You cannot let them find Lena.”
I gripped the desk.
Dante paused again.
“She meant me.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she said your full name ten minutes later.”
My throat closed.
“What did she say?”
Dante opened a second recording.
My mother sat inside his study.
She was crying.
Dante’s voice came from off camera.
“Why Alina Valdez?”
My mother answered:
“Because if they learn who she really is, they’ll kill her too.”
I stared at the screen.
“Who I really am?”
Dante looked at me.
“That’s where your mother stopped cooperating.”
“Why?”
“She saw something outside the window.”
He advanced the footage.
A car passed slowly in front of the townhouse.
My mother’s face changed.
She stood.
Then ran.
“She left Leo?”
“Yes.”
“And vanished?”
“Yes.”
I whispered:
“Who was in the car?”
Dante froze the image.
The driver’s face was visible.
Older man.
Silver hair.
Scar near his ear.
Dante knew him.
I could tell.
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“My brother.”
I stared.
“You have a brother?”
“Had.”
“What does that mean?”
“He died twelve years ago.”
I looked at the image again.
The timestamp was eight months old.
May you like
And Dante whispered:
“Apparently he didn’t.”
