Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The photograph changed everything.
Marco returned to his penthouse with Elena and Mia under heavy security.
He didn't trust his own house anymore.
That was the part that frightened Daniel.
"You're bringing them here?"
Marco nodded.
"Until I know who's behind this, nobody touches them."
Daniel glanced at Elena.
"Does she know where she is?"
"No."
Elena looked through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Manhattan stretched beneath her.
She had never been this high above the city.
But she couldn't enjoy the view.
She was thinking about Lucas.
Five years.
Five years believing he was dead.
Five years raising their daughter alone.
Five years wondering why he had abandoned her.
Now she knew.
Someone had wanted her to believe that.
Sofia entered the room.
The moment she saw Elena, she stopped.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry."
Elena stared at her.
"You knew."
Sofia looked down.
"Not everything."
"But you knew Lucas."
"Yes."
"You knew he was alive?"
Sofia hesitated.
"Years ago."
Elena's voice broke.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
"You're his mother."
"And I have spent five years searching for him."
Marco turned sharply.
"You never told me."
Sofia looked at her son.
"I was protecting you."
"From what?"
"Your father."
Marco went silent.
Sofia sat down.
"Your father wasn't the man you believed him to be."
Marco laughed bitterly.
"I already know that."
"No."
She looked at him.
"You don't."
Sofia's hands trembled.
"Your father built everything around control. Money. Fear. Loyalty. Even family."
"What did he do to Lucas?"
"He discovered Lucas wanted to leave."
Marco stared.
"Leave the family?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Lucas loved Elena."
Elena's eyes filled again.
Sofia continued.
"He wanted a normal life."
Marco looked toward the window.
"And Father refused."
"He said Lucas had obligations."
"What obligations?"
"The business."
Marco shook his head.
"Lucas wasn't a criminal."
Sofia's eyes hardened.
"He was born into one."
Silence.
Then Sofia whispered:
"Lucas tried to expose your father's operation."
Marco looked at her.
"Expose it to whom?"
"The federal government."
Daniel stepped forward.
"That would explain the missing records."
Marco looked at him.
"What missing records?"
"Your father's financial archives."
Marco's face changed.
"What archives?"
"The ones we thought were destroyed when he died."
Sofia stood.
"They weren't destroyed."
"Where are they?"
She looked at the silver key.
"That's what the key opens."
Elena remembered the key.
"Where?"
Sofia looked at Mia.
"Somewhere your daughter has already been connected to."
Elena's stomach tightened.
"What does that mean?"
Sofia didn't answer.
Instead, the elevator bell rang.
Everyone turned.
Marco's security team had strict instructions.
Nobody entered without approval.
Daniel touched his earpiece.
"Who is it?"
No response.
Then the lights went out.
Mia screamed.
Elena grabbed her.
Marco moved instantly.
"Stay behind me."
Glass shattered somewhere down the hall.
A security guard shouted.
Then gunfire erupted.
Marco pushed Elena and Mia behind a marble wall.
"Don't move."
Elena held Mia against her chest.
"Marco!"
He disappeared into the darkness.
Seconds later, a man shouted.
Then silence.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Marco returned.
His shirt was torn.
There was blood on his hand.
Elena gasped.
"Are you hurt?"
"Not mine."
Mia peeked around Elena.
"Did the bad man go away?"
Marco looked at the child.
"Yes."
But his expression told Elena something else.
The attacker hadn't come for Marco.
He had come for Mia.
Because on the floor near the broken window was a tiny device.
A tracker.
And taped beside it was a message.
Marco picked it up.
Only one sentence.
THE GIRL BELONGS TO US.
Elena felt sick.
Marco crushed the note in his fist.
"No."
His voice was quiet.
Deadly.
"She belongs to nobody."
Sofia stared at the message.
Then she whispered:
"They know she's alive."
Marco looked at her.
"Who?"
May you like
Sofia's face had gone pale.
"The people who took Lucas."
