Chapter 4: The Man in the Hospital Bracelet
“Lena, STOP!””
Victor's voice thundered behind me, but I didn't slow down.
My father was alive.
After five years of grieving, five years of visiting a cemetery, five years of believing I had lost the only person who ever made me feel safe, I had just seen him standing beside the man responsible for destroying our family.
And Victor wanted me to wait?
Absolutely not.
I pushed through the precinct doors and ran into the freezing Manhattan night.
A black SUV was parked across the street.
Its headlights flashed twice.
Then it sped away.
“DAMN IT!””
I rushed toward the curb, waving at a passing taxi.
Victor caught my arm before I could open the door.
“Get inside my car.””
“Let go of me!””
“Lena, listen to me. If Leon has your father, running after him without a plan will get you killed.””
I turned on him.
“You've had five years to make a plan!””
Victor didn't answer.
“You knew my father was alive. You knew my mother came to you for help. And you let me spend five years thinking they were both gone!””
His jaw tightened.
“I didn't know he was alive. I suspected it.””
“That makes it better?””
“No. It doesn't.””
For a moment, his expression softened.
Then he opened the passenger door.
“Get in. I'll tell you everything.””
I hesitated before climbing inside.
The driver was a young man named Marcus. He immediately locked the doors and pulled away from the curb.
“Where are we going?”” I asked.
“Somewhere Leon can't reach us,” Victor replied.
“Does such a place exist?””
“Not anymore.””
He handed me his phone.
On the screen was a photograph of my father entering St. Catherine's Medical Center.
The date was three weeks after his funeral.
“Where did you get this?””
“An investigator sent it to me six months ago. He disappeared two days later.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because the investigator was killed shortly after sending it.””
I stared at him.
“And you thought keeping me ignorant would protect me?””
“I thought it would keep you alive.””
I laughed bitterly.
“You billionaires really think money gives you the right to decide what everyone else deserves to know.””
Victor looked out the window.
“Sometimes I wish I could go back and make different decisions.””
Before I could respond, Marcus spoke.
“Mr. Romano, we've got company.””
A black sedan had appeared behind us.
Its headlights were unusually bright.
Victor leaned forward.
“Take the next right.””
Marcus obeyed.
The sedan followed.
“Who is that?”” I whispered.
“Leon has people everywhere,” Victor replied.
Marcus accelerated.
The sedan suddenly pulled alongside us.
The rear window rolled down.
A man raised a handgun.
“DOWN!”” Victor shouted.
He threw himself across me as three bullets smashed through the rear windshield.
Marcus swerved into an alley.
The car struck a trash container before stopping.
For several seconds, all I could hear was my own breathing.
“Marcus?””
No answer.
Victor lifted his head.
Blood ran down his forehead.
“Marcus!””
The driver was slumped over the steering wheel.
Victor checked his pulse.
Then slowly shook his head.
I covered my mouth.
“He was protecting you.””
Victor closed Marcus's eyes.
“He had a daughter.””
The sedan disappeared from the alley.
Victor grabbed my hand.
“We have to move.””
We climbed out through the damaged passenger door and ran toward a side street.
A few minutes later, we entered a small twenty-four-hour diner.
Victor called someone from a disposable phone.
“It's me. I need the old apartment.””
A woman's voice answered.
“Victor? Is that really you?””
“Yes, Evelyn.””
“After everything that's happened, you're finally calling?””
“I need your help.””
She paused.
“Is she with you?””
Victor looked at me.
“Yes.””
“Then bring her home.””
The apartment was above a closed tailor shop in Queens.
Evelyn Shaw was waiting behind the door.
She was a woman in her late sixties with silver hair and a small scar beneath her chin.
The moment she saw me, she dropped the mug in her hand.
“Oh, sweetheart.””
I stepped back.
“Do I know you?””
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“I knew your father.””
Victor closed the door.
“Evelyn, we need to talk.””
She looked at the photograph in my hand.
Then her face changed.
“Where did you get that?””
“Victor showed it to me.””
Evelyn sank into a chair.
“Daniel told me this day would come.””
I approached her.
“You know where my father is?””
She nodded slowly.
“He was brought to St. Catherine's under a false identity. But he wasn't there for treatment.””
“What do you mean?””
Evelyn looked directly at Victor.
“Tell her.””
Victor swallowed.
“Your father was being kept there because Leon needed him alive.””
“Why?””
Evelyn reached into a drawer and removed a small photograph.
It showed my father sitting at a desk with several documents spread before him.
On the desk was a thick black ledger.
“Because Daniel stole the original records proving where Leon's money came from.””
She placed the photograph in front of me.
“Those records could send half the people in Leon's organization to prison.””
I looked at the picture again.
Then I noticed something.
A woman was standing behind my father.
A woman wearing a familiar necklace.
My mother's necklace.
I turned the photograph over.
There were four handwritten words.
She never died, Lena.
My fingers went numb.
“Evelyn,” I whispered.
“Where is my mother?””
May you like
Evelyn looked at Victor.
And for the first time that night, the billionaire looked genuinely terrified.
