Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
By the time Sebastian’s convoy reached the mansion, the front gates were wide open.
That alone told him something was wrong.
Anthony had left eight men on the property.
No gate should have opened without authorization.
The first guard was found unconscious in the security booth.
Alive.
No gunshot.
No blood.
Someone had used chloroform or another sedative.
Sebastian barely slowed.
“Maria!”
He crossed the lawn toward the service cottage.
The door stood open.
Furniture had been overturned inside.
Maria was gone.
Sebastian’s control cracked for exactly one second.
His fist hit the doorframe hard enough to split the wood.
Then he became calm again.
That calm frightened Anthony more.
Lucy was still in the SUV with two guards.
Sebastian would not allow her to see the cottage.
Thomas entered behind him.
On the kitchen floor lay an old photograph.
Elena Vargas.
A man stood beside her.
Thomas picked it up.
“Daniel.”
Sebastian looked.
Daniel Moretti resembled Carlo less than Thomas did.
Narrower face.
Dark eyes.
A scar through one eyebrow.
“Why was he convicted?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Because Elena disappeared and her blood was found inside Daniel’s car.”
“Body?”
“Never recovered.”
“So he was convicted without one?”
“There was other evidence.”
“Whose?”
“Vale’s.”
Silence.
Sebastian turned slowly.
“Jonathan Vale testified?”
Thomas nodded.
“He said Daniel confessed to him while intoxicated.”
Sebastian laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
“I know that now.”
“When was Daniel released?”
“Six months ago.”
Anthony was already searching.
“Federal database confirms parole after twenty-eight years. No violations.”
“Address?”
“South Side halfway house until three months ago. Then nothing.”
Sebastian looked at Thomas.
“Why would Daniel come for Maria?”
“Because Elena was Maria’s mother.”
“That doesn’t answer anything.”
Thomas sat heavily.
“Daniel loved Elena.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“You told me you had the affair.”
“I did.”
“Carlo apparently did too.”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“It was complicated.”
“That is becoming the family motto.”
Thomas rubbed his face.
“Elena worked around powerful men. Carlo met her through hospital business. Daniel met her later. I…”
“You slept with your brother’s girlfriend?”
“I didn’t know.”
Sebastian shook his head.
Three brothers.
One woman.
One missing child.
One corrupt doctor.
No wonder people had lied for three decades.
Anthony entered.
“Boss. We found Maria’s phone.”
“Where?”
“Alley three blocks south.”
“Camera footage?”
“One traffic camera caught a gray sedan.”
“Plate?”
“Registered to Jonathan Vale.”
Sebastian looked toward the SUV carrying Vale.
The doctor had been brought back under guard.
“Bring him in.”
Vale entered with his wrists restrained.
Gabriel followed voluntarily.
Sebastian placed the photograph in front of Vale.
“Where did Daniel take Maria?”
Vale smiled.
“I don’t know.”
Sebastian sat across from him.
“You kidnapped Lucy.”
“She was never harmed.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I genuinely don’t know where Daniel is.”
Gabriel said, “He’s telling the truth.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“How would you know?”
“Because Vale has been searching for Daniel for months.”
Vale glared at him.
Gabriel ignored it.
“He thought Daniel had something Elena hid.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Sebastian leaned back.
Finally.
A motive with shape.
“What’s in it?”
Gabriel shrugged.
“Names. Payments. Mercy contracts. Maybe more.”
Vale remained silent.
Sebastian looked at him.
“You killed Elena for the ledger.”
Vale’s mouth twitched.
“I didn’t kill Elena.”
“Then Daniel did?”
“No.”
Thomas stood.
“You testified he confessed.”
Vale looked at him.
“I testified to what Giovanni Moretti paid me to testify.”
The room went silent.
Sebastian stared.
“My grandfather framed Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vale smiled.
“Because Daniel discovered Giovanni was stealing from his own organization.”
Thomas looked stunned.
Vale continued.
“The Mercy scheme belonged to Giovanni.”
Sebastian thought of Carlo’s rules.
Now it made sense.
His father had not violated them.
His grandfather had.
“Elena found the records.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel tried to help her.”
“Yes.”
“So Giovanni framed him.”
“Yes.”
“And Elena?”
Vale’s eyes shifted.
“She disappeared.”
Sebastian leaned forward.
“Alive?”
“At the time.”
Maria’s childhood history flashed through his memory.
Her mother supposedly died when Maria was fourteen.
Two years after the Mercy scandal.
“Maria was told her mother died later.”
Vale nodded.
“That story may have been true.”
“May?”
“I wasn’t there.”
Sebastian looked at Thomas.
“What do you know?”
Thomas’s face was gray.
“Evelyn helped Elena escape Chicago.”
“With the baby?”
“I thought so.”
“Where?”
“I never knew.”
Anthony’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
“We have Maria.”
Sebastian stood.
“Where?”
“Live traffic camera. Gray sedan heading west on I-290.”
“Follow.”
Anthony frowned.
“They aren’t moving like a kidnapping.”
“What do you mean?”
“Passenger camera caught Maria at a stoplight.”
He turned the screen.
Maria sat beside Daniel in the front seat.
No restraints.
No panic.
She was talking to him.
Sebastian stared.
“She went voluntarily.”
Thomas whispered, “Why?”
Sebastian looked at Vale.
“Because Daniel told her something.”
Vale’s face suddenly changed.
He knew.
Sebastian saw it.
“What?”
Vale shook his head.
Sebastian moved closer.
“What did Daniel know about Maria?”
“I don’t know.”
“That expression says otherwise.”
Vale looked toward Lucy outside.
Then back.
“Maria’s father.”
Sebastian became still.
“Who?”
Vale hesitated.
Thomas whispered, “Don’t.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“You know too?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Sebastian’s patience ended.
“WHO WAS MARIA’S FATHER?”
Thomas answered.
“Daniel.”
Silence.
Maria was Daniel Moretti’s daughter.
Which meant Lucy—
Sebastian looked through the window toward the SUV.
Lucy Ramirez was Moretti blood.
Thomas said softly, “Daniel wasn’t just trying to find Elena’s ledger.”
“He was looking for his daughter.”
“Yes.”
Sebastian’s mind raced.
Maria had served the Moretti family for nineteen years.
His mother had protected her.
Because Maria wasn’t merely an employee’s daughter.
She was family.
“My mother knew.”
Thomas nodded.
“Probably.”
“Did Maria?”
“I doubt it.”
Anthony interrupted.
“The sedan exited toward Oak Park.”
Sebastian grabbed his coat.
They followed.
The vehicle stopped at an abandoned church.
Sebastian entered alone first.
Maria stood near the altar.
Daniel faced her.
No weapon.
No violence.
Maria was crying.
Daniel’s eyes moved to Sebastian.
“You came fast.”
“Where else would I be?”
Maria looked at Sebastian.
“He says he’s my father.”
Sebastian nodded.
“I know.”
Her expression changed.
“You knew?”
“For twelve minutes.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Maria looked back at him.
“Prove it.”
Daniel reached beneath his shirt.
Sebastian’s hand moved toward his weapon.
Daniel slowly pulled out a chain.
A small gold medallion hung from it.
Maria gasped.
She wore the matching half around her own neck.
“My mother gave me this.”
Daniel nodded.
“I gave her the other half.”
Maria’s knees nearly buckled.
Sebastian caught her.
Daniel looked at him strangely.
Not jealousy.
Assessment.
“You care about her.”
Sebastian ignored it.
“Why bring her here?”
“Because Vale would watch the mansion.”
“He was in my custody.”
“Vale is never the only one watching.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“Who else?”
Daniel glanced toward the church windows.
“Giovanni built an organization inside the Moretti organization.”
“My grandfather has been dead twenty-two years.”
“The men he paid aren’t.”
“What do they want?”
“The ledger.”
“Do you have it?”
“No.”
“Does Maria?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Her mother gave it to her.”
Maria shook her head.
“No.”
“You were twelve.”
“I would remember.”
“Not if she hid it inside something you never opened.”
Maria frowned.
Daniel smiled sadly.
“Your music box.”
Maria stared.
“I haven’t seen that since I was a kid.”
“Evelyn kept it.”
Sebastian remembered Rebecca’s mission.
Evelyn’s music box.
Not Maria’s.
They had assumed it belonged to his mother.
“What did it look like?” Sebastian asked.
Maria described it.
Walnut.
Carved roses.
Italian lullaby.
Sebastian’s blood went cold.
The box in his mother’s bedroom had never belonged to Evelyn.
It belonged to Maria.
“Anthony is bringing it from storage.”
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“Call him.”
Sebastian dialed.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
He called another guard.
The man answered breathlessly.
“Boss.”
“Where’s Anthony?”
Silence.
“Where is he?”
“He took the music box and left.”
Sebastian froze.
“What do you mean, left?”
“He said you ordered him to meet you.”
“I gave no order.”
Daniel swore.
Maria whispered, “Sebastian…”
Sebastian stared into the darkness of the church.
Anthony had been his security chief for twelve years.
He had saved Sebastian’s life twice.
He had buried enemies beside him.
He knew every alarm code, every safe, every Moretti property.
And now he had Evelyn’s—Maria’s—music box.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You have a traitor.”
Sebastian’s phone buzzed.
A message from Anthony.
One photograph.
The music box sat open.
Inside was a thick handwritten ledger.
Below the picture, Anthony had typed six words.
YOUR FATHER SHOULD HAVE FINISHED THIS.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph of Carlo Moretti.
May you like
Alive.
Taken less than ten minutes ago.
