Chapter 5 - MY MOTHER'S SECRET LIFE
“No.”
The word came out before I could stop it.
Everyone stared at me.
I backed away from the television.
“My mother was a receptionist.”
Gabriel stood.
“Ava.”
“She worked at a dental office for twenty-nine years.”
“Ava.”
“She has never even met your family.”
Madison looked strangely sympathetic.
“Apparently she has.”
I turned on her.
“You don't know my mother.”
“No,” she said. “But Victor does.”
That silenced me.
My hands started shaking.
I thought about every time my mother had warned me not to take the job at Romano estate.
She had never said Gabriel was dangerous.
She had only asked why I wanted to work for that family.
That family.
Not that man.
Gabriel noticed my face.
“She knew.”
I swallowed.
“No.”
“You're remembering something.”
“My mother hated this job before I even started.”
“What did she say?”
“That rich families always make poor employees pay for their secrets.”
Gabriel looked toward Isabella on the frozen television screen.
“That sounds specific.”
I pulled out my phone.
Three missed calls from Mom.
All from earlier that evening.
I called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
My chest tightened.
“She has physical therapy Friday mornings. She should be home.”
Gabriel turned to Daniel.
“Send someone.”
“I don't need your men going to my mother's house.”
“Ava.”
“No.”
I hated how afraid I sounded.
Gabriel lowered his voice.
“If Victor Romano knows her name, this stopped being your decision twenty-four years ago.”
I stared at him.
He was right.
I hated that more.
Daniel sent two people.
We continued watching Isabella's recording.
She explained that Margaret Collins had been nineteen in 2001.
A nursing student.
She had seen Elena arguing with a man outside South Station.
When two men forced Elena into a sedan, Margaret followed in her old Honda.
She watched where they took her.
Then called police.
The responding officer was on Victor Romano's payroll.
Instead of helping, he informed Victor.
Margaret became a witness who needed to disappear.
Isabella found her first.
“My mother saved your mother,” Ethan said.
“No,” Gabriel corrected quietly. “My mother did.”
Ethan looked at him.
For the first time, they sounded like people discussing shared history rather than enemies.
Isabella had paid Margaret to leave Boston temporarily.
Months later, Margaret returned under her original name because Victor believed she'd moved permanently to Arizona.
She built a quiet life.
Marriage.
Two daughters.
No connection to the Romanos.
Until me.
I had walked straight back into the house she had spent twenty-four years avoiding.
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at me.
“Your mother's house is empty.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Gabriel caught my arm.
“What do you mean empty?”
Daniel continued.
“Front door unlocked. Her purse is there. Phone on the kitchen counter.”
“Blood?”
“No.”
“Signs of a struggle?”
“No.”
That should have made me feel better.
It didn't.
One of Daniel's men found an envelope on the kitchen table.
My name was written across it.
They photographed the contents.
Daniel handed me his phone.
I read my mother's handwriting.
Ava,
If Gabriel Romano ever learns my name, tell him I am sorry.
His mother once saved my life.
I spent years convincing myself silence was gratitude.
It wasn't.
It was fear.
Victor is alive.
If he comes for me, do not trust anyone who says Gabriel ordered it.
And please forgive me for never telling you why I begged you not to work in that house.
There was a second page.
I looked at Gabriel.
“What?”
I couldn't speak.
He took the phone.
His eyes moved down.
Then his face changed.
“What does it say?” Ethan asked.
Gabriel handed it back to me.
I forced myself to read aloud.
“There is one more thing Isabella never told Gabriel.”
My voice broke.
“November 4 wasn't the first time Victor tried to separate Gabriel and Elena.”
Ethan stepped closer.
I continued.
“Three weeks earlier, Victor arranged an attack on Gabriel and blamed Elena's brother.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Elena didn't have a brother.”
Ethan looked just as confused.
“My mother is an only child.”
The letter continued.
“The man Victor called Elena's brother was actually one of his own employees.”
Gabriel paced once.
“Why?”
My mother's answer was written below.
Because Victor needed Gabriel to believe Elena's family was dangerous.
He wanted his son afraid enough to stay away from her.
It failed.
So Victor escalated.
Ethan said, “The disappearance.”
Gabriel nodded.
My phone rang.
Mom.
I answered immediately.
“Mom?”
“Ava.”
Her voice sounded controlled.
Too controlled.
“Where are you?”
“I need you to listen.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
She ignored the question.
“Is Gabriel with you?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Put me on speaker.”
I did.
My mother said, “Gabriel?”
“Margaret.”
He spoke gently.
My mother went quiet.
Twenty-four years collapsed into one strange moment.
“You sound like Isabella,” she finally said.
Gabriel swallowed.
“Where are you?”
“With Elena.”
Ethan grabbed the phone.
“Where?”
“Ethan?”
“Aunt Margaret?”
I stared.
“Aunt?”
Ethan looked at me.
“Your mother visited us when I was little. I didn't know she was your mother.”
My head spun.
Mom continued.
“Elena is alive. She's beside me.”
Ethan's eyes filled.
“Let me talk to her.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Raymond has us.”
Gabriel's expression went cold.
“Where?”
“I don't know. Warehouse. No windows.”
“Did Victor take you?”
“No.”
“Raymond?”
“Yes.”
“Where is my father?”
“He left an hour ago.”
“Why?”
“To get you.”
Gabriel didn't react.
“What does he want?”
“The ledger.”
“We don't have it.”
“Then find it.”
Mom's voice became urgent.
“Because Raymond doesn't work for Victor anymore.”
Everyone froze.
Gabriel frowned.
“What?”
“They turned on each other.”
“Why?”
“Elena has evidence Raymond has been stealing from Victor for years.”
Daniel muttered, “That's why Hale disappeared.”
My mother continued.
“Victor wants the ledger destroyed. Raymond wants it because it proves Victor's crimes and his own theft.”
Gabriel asked, “What does Raymond want from me?”
“To kill Victor.”
Silence.
“He thinks if you kill your father, Victor can't expose him.”
Gabriel gave a cold laugh.
“And my father?”
“He wants you to kill Raymond.”
Two old men manipulating one son from opposite sides.
Gabriel said, “Tell both of them they can settle their own problems.”
Mom's voice cracked.
“They won't.”
“Why?”
“Because each of them has someone you care about.”
Ethan whispered, “Mom.”
“Yes.”
“And who does Victor have?”
My mother began crying.
“Ava.”
I felt the room tilt.
“I’m right here.”
“No, honey.”
She sounded terrified now.
“Victor doesn't have you yet.”
A long pause.
“He has your sister.”
My heart stopped.
“Claire?”
“She left campus three hours ago.”
I called my sister.
Straight to voicemail.
Gabriel was already issuing orders.
Daniel sent teams to her college.
I stood frozen.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text.
From Claire's number.
A photograph loaded.
My twenty-year-old sister sat in the back seat of a car.
Her hands weren't tied.
But a man beside her held a gun against his thigh.
Beneath the picture:
BRING GABRIEL TO THE OLD ROMANO HOTEL. COME ALONE.
Gabriel read it.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“She's my sister.”
“And that's exactly why you're not going alone.”
“The message says—”
“I can read.”
“You don't get to decide.”
He stepped closer.
“No, Ava. Victor already took twenty-four years from Ethan and Elena.”
His voice lowered.
“I am not letting him take your sister because you happened to tell me the truth in my study.”
Something in his face stopped me.
This wasn't the cold mafia boss everyone whispered about.
This was a man who had discovered his entire life had been built over graves he never saw.
Gabriel turned to Daniel.
“Prepare both locations.”
“We only know one.”
“We'll find the other.”
Ethan said, “I'm going.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“My mother is there.”
“So is Ava's.”
Ethan's eyes hardened.
“And Elena is my mother.”
For several seconds they stared at each other.
Then Gabriel nodded.
“All of us go together.”
Madison stepped forward.
“You'll need me.”
“No.”
“I know Victor.”
“So do I.”
“Not this version.”
Gabriel turned.
Madison said, “Victor has changed his appearance, routines, safe houses. I can get you close.”
“Why would I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
Her honesty surprised everyone.
“But if Raymond wins, he kills Elena, Margaret, and probably Ethan because they're witnesses.”
“And if Victor wins?”
“He kills Raymond.”
She paused.
“Then he makes Gabriel choose whether to become him.”
Gabriel's phone rang.
Daniel answered instead.
It was one of his men at Claire's campus.
They had found her car.
Inside was a second envelope.
This one addressed to Gabriel.
Daniel opened the photographed note.
Gabriel read it silently.
Then handed the phone to Ethan.
Ethan's face changed.
“What does it say?” I asked.
Gabriel looked at me.
“My father wants me at the Romano Hotel at six a.m.”
“And?”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“He says if I bring the ledger, Claire walks away.”
“What if you don't?”
Gabriel said nothing.
Ethan read the final line.
May you like
Then whispered it aloud.
“Then he'll introduce me to the brother I never knew I had.”
