Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WITH TOO MANY SECRETS
“Who are you?”
My voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
Elena stared at me.
The hallway outside had gone silent.
Vincent was still holding the corridor.
But inside Room 412, the danger had changed.
It wasn't outside anymore.
It was standing six feet from me.
Elena swallowed.
“I told you. Elena Cruz.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Her eyes dropped.
Daniel suddenly coughed.
I looked at him.
His oxygen saturation was falling.
Elena moved immediately.
“His mask isn't seated correctly.”
She adjusted the oxygen line.
The numbers slowly climbed.
I watched her hands.
Steady now.
Professional.
Not the hands of an ordinary janitor.
“You've done this before.”
She didn't answer.
“Elena.”
She finally looked at me.
“I used to be a nurse.”
Vincent stepped back into the room.
“We cleared the hallway.”
His eyes moved to Elena.
Then to me.
“What's going on?”
“She used to be a nurse.”
Vincent's expression changed.
“How long?”
Elena looked at him.
“Eight years.”
“Why are you cleaning hospitals?”
She hesitated.
“Because sometimes it's easier to disappear than to explain why you ran.”
I didn't like that answer.
“Ran from what?”
Her eyes became distant.
“From people who don't forgive witnesses.”
That sentence changed everything.
I stepped closer.
“Witness to what?”
Elena looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
“I can't tell you here.”
“You're going to tell me now.”
“No.”
I almost laughed.
“You don't understand who you're talking to.”
“Yes, I do.”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Vincent's hand moved toward his weapon.
Nobody said my name like that.
Elena continued.
“I know exactly who you are.”
I lowered my gun.
“Then you know what happens to people who lie to me.”
“Yes.”
She touched the blood on her eyebrow.
“And you know what happens to people who tell the truth about men like you.”
Silence.
Then Daniel whispered:
“Dad?”
I turned.
He was awake.
His eyes were fixed on Elena.
“Don't hurt her.”
My chest tightened.
“Why would I hurt her?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Because the bad man told me she was coming.”
I froze.
“What bad man?”
Daniel looked frightened.
“He said…”
His breathing became faster.
“He said the lady with the blue shirt would save me.”
Elena closed her eyes.
I looked at her.
“What did you know?”
“I didn't know he would come tonight.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know his name.”
“Then tell me what he looked like.”
“Tall. Gray suit. Scar on his left hand.”
Vincent suddenly went still.
I noticed.
“You know him?”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Vincent.”
He looked at me.
“I've seen that description before.”
“Where?”
“Your father's old files.”
The room became colder.
My father had been dead for fourteen years.
And his files had been locked away since the night he was murdered.
I stared at Elena.
“Why would someone connected to my father want my son?”
She whispered:
“Because your father left something behind.”
“What?”
She looked toward the ceiling camera.
“Not here.”
Vincent immediately understood.
He pulled out his phone.
“Boss, we need to leave.”
“No.”
“Gabriel—”
“I am not leaving my son.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“Then move him.”
“Where?”
“Basement.”
Vincent frowned.
“That's insane.”
“No,” Elena said.
“It's the safest place in this building.”
“How would you know?”
She looked at him.
“Because there's a tunnel beneath this hospital.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Elena took a shaky breath.
“My father helped build it.”
Vincent's face changed.
“What was your father's name?”
Elena looked at me.
“Rafael Cruz.”
My blood ran cold.
Rafael Cruz.
My father's closest lieutenant.
The man everyone believed had died the same night my father was killed.
But if Elena was telling the truth…
Then the woman who had saved my son wasn't a random cleaning lady.
May you like
She was the daughter of a ghost.
And somewhere beneath Lenox Hill Hospital was a secret my family had buried for fourteen years.
