Chapter 8 - THE BROTHER WHO DISAPPEARED
Elena had spent seventeen years believing she had lost Daniel because the system was careless.
Now she was learning someone had made a deliberate decision.
Not bureaucracy.
Not bad luck.
A name.
Gabriel Vale.
“Why?”
She stood inside Lorenzo’s secure townhouse in Brooklyn, staring at copies of her foster records spread across the dining table.
Lorenzo stood on the opposite side.
Matteo had brought every document he could legally and unofficially obtain.
None of them answered the question.
Why separate two children?
Elena pointed at the signature again.
“Why would your uncle care where two foster kids were placed?”
“He wouldn’t.”
Lorenzo looked at the documents.
“Unless you weren’t random foster kids.”
Elena laughed once.
No humor.
“My mother cleaned office buildings.”
“Maybe that wasn’t all she did.”
“You think she was involved with these people?”
“I think she attended a foundation event where Lucia, Gabriel, and Anthony were present.”
“That proves nothing.”
“No.”
Lorenzo looked at her carefully.
“But someone erased six months from her employment history.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Matteo slid over another file.
“Your mother worked for a company called Halcyon Accounting.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“It dissolved three months after her death.”
“What kind of accounting?”
“Shipping.”
Lorenzo answered.
Elena slowly looked at him.
“Your shipping?”
“My father’s.”
Her stomach dropped.
Lorenzo sat.
“My father, Vittorio Moretti, owned Moretti Maritime before I did.”
“What does that have to do with my mother?”
“We’re trying to find out.”
Elena read further.
Maria Reyes.
Junior accounts clerk.
Temporary assignment.
Internal audit division.
Elena stared.
“My mother wasn’t a cleaner.”
“No.”
“All my records said she cleaned offices.”
“Someone changed them.”
“Who?”
Lorenzo’s eyes went toward Gabriel’s signature.
Elena pushed back from the table.
She needed air.
She walked into the kitchen.
Sofia sat in a high infant seat nearby, awake and alert, chewing on the edge of a soft blanket.
Her fever had finally broken.
Elena knelt beside her.
“You’ve had a strange week, huh?”
Sofia smiled.
A real smile.
Elena’s chest tightened.
Lorenzo appeared in the doorway.
“She likes you.”
“She’s six months old.”
“She dislikes Matteo.”
“Everyone has instincts.”
From the dining room, Matteo said, “I heard that.”
Elena almost smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
“Why did you bring us here instead of your penthouse?”
“Because only six people know this property belongs to me.”
“And you trust all six?”
“No.”
“Comforting.”
Lorenzo came closer.
“Sofia is safer here.”
Elena looked up.
“What about me?”
The question surprised both of them.
Lorenzo answered without hesitation.
“You are too.”
Elena stood.
“You don’t owe me protection.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I didn’t save her for a reward.”
“I know.”
“Then stop treating me like a debt.”
His expression changed.
“That isn’t what I’m doing.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Before he could answer, Matteo entered.
“We found Daniel.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“What?”
Matteo placed a photograph on the counter.
A man in his early thirties.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A familiar crooked smile.
Elena gripped the counter.
“Daniel.”
Her brother was alive.
She touched the photograph with trembling fingers.
“Where?”
“New Jersey.”
“What does he do?”
Matteo did not answer immediately.
“Where?”
“Elena.”
“Tell me.”
“He works for Vale Maritime.”
She looked up.
The room tilted.
“No.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Elena.”
“No.”
She backed away.
“You’re wrong.”
“Matteo verified it.”
“He wouldn’t work for the man who separated us.”
“He may not know.”
“He knows his own name.”
“Elena.”
“He could have found me.”
Her voice cracked.
“Seventeen years.”
She pressed a hand to her mouth.
“He was alive seventeen years and he could have found me.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
There was no comforting lie available.
Matteo spoke softly.
“Maybe he tried.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“You found him in six hours.”
“I have resources he didn’t.”
“What does he do for Gabriel?”
“Compliance officer.”
Elena stared.
“Accounting.”
“Yes.”
Like their mother.
The connection became obvious.
“Gabriel recruited him.”
“Probably.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
Then Matteo’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression sharpened.
“Where?”
He listened.
“We’re coming.”
He ended the call.
Lorenzo knew something was wrong.
“What happened?”
“Daniel didn’t report to work today.”
Elena stepped forward.
“So?”
“His apartment is empty.”
Her face went pale.
Matteo continued.
“His neighbor saw two men escort him into a car last night.”
“What kind of car?”
“A gray sedan.”
Elena closed her eyes.
The same car.
Lorenzo took his coat.
Matteo stopped him.
“There’s more.”
He looked at Elena.
“Daniel left something behind.”
“What?”
“A note taped beneath his kitchen table.”
Elena’s pulse raced.
“What does it say?”
Matteo read it.
“If Elena ever finds me, tell her I never stopped looking.”
Elena covered her mouth.
May you like
Then Matteo read the second line.
“And tell Lorenzo Moretti that Lucia knew the truth.”
