Chapter 5 - THE SECRET VICTOR’S FAMILY BURIED
Victor woke to Chloe sleeping in a chair beside his bed.
For a moment, he thought he was dreaming.
Then pain struck his side.
Reality returned quickly.
He moved.
Chloe’s eyes opened.
“Don’t.”
Victor blinked.
“That sounds familiar.”
“You were shot.”
“I noticed.”
“You tried to stand up twice while unconscious.”
“That sounds productive.”
“It was not.”
He looked around.
His private medical suite.
Morning sunlight.
IV line.
Bandages.
Then memory.
“Tommy.”
“Safe.”
Victor exhaled.
“Luca?”
“Gone.”
His face hardened.
Chloe watched him.
“Tommy told us.”
Victor’s eyes met hers.
“About what?”
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Victor looked toward the window.
“My mother is dead.”
“Luca said she isn’t.”
“Luca lies.”
“He also spent eleven years pretending to be dead.”
Victor said nothing.
Chloe leaned closer.
“What happened to her?”
He remained quiet long enough that she expected refusal.
Then he spoke.
“She left.”
“How old were you?”
“Seventeen.”
“Why?”
“My father said she couldn’t handle the life anymore.”
“You believed him?”
“I saw the letter.”
“What did it say?”
Victor swallowed.
“That she loved Luca.”
Chloe’s chest tightened.
“And you?”
A pause.
“That she hoped someday I would understand.”
“That’s all?”
“That was enough.”
She reached for his hand.
Victor stared at their fingers touching.
“I spent years believing I wasn’t enough to make my own mother stay.”
Chloe’s voice softened.
“You were seventeen.”
“I was old enough to understand abandonment.”
“Not the reason.”
Victor looked at her.
“My father never spoke about her again.”
“And Luca?”
“He blamed me.”
“For what?”
“Being Father’s favorite.”
Victor laughed once without humor.
“It never felt like a prize.”
Chloe squeezed his hand.
Victor’s eyes moved to her face.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I work here.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Luca has already used your brother once.”
“So we deal with Luca.”
“We?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Chloe leaned back.
“You get very repetitive after being shot.”
Victor almost smiled.
Then pain crossed his face.
Chloe immediately stood.
“Doctor?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m resting.”
“You’re bleeding through the bandage.”
Victor looked down.
Damn.
Chloe pressed the call button.
Two nurses rushed in.
By afternoon Victor was stable again.
By evening, he had ignored enough medical instructions to qualify as a full-time occupation.
Marco brought files.
Mrs. Gable brought food.
Chloe brought arguments.
Tommy brought something more important.
A memory.
“He called someone Elena.”
Victor stopped.
Tommy sat in the chair across from him.
“Luca?”
“Yeah. When he thought I was asleep.”
Victor’s pulse changed.
“What exactly did he say?”
“He was on the phone.”
“Words, Tommy.”
Tommy thought.
“He said, ‘Tell Elena the younger prince finally grew a heart.’”
Victor’s face went pale.
Chloe saw it.
“Who is Elena?”
“My mother.”
Marco sat down slowly.
“Her full name was Elena Russo.”
Victor stood despite three people telling him not to.
“Find every Elena connected to Luca for the last eleven years.”
Marco nodded.
“Already started.”
By midnight they had an answer.
Elena Russo was alive.
At least someone using her birth name was.
Property records showed a cottage purchased nine years earlier outside Traverse City, Michigan.
The buyer had been a shell company connected to an attorney.
That attorney once represented Luca.
Victor stared at the photograph of the cottage.
His mother might be alive.
He felt nothing.
Then everything.
Rage.
Hope.
Humiliation for having hope.
Chloe stood beside him.
“Go.”
Victor shook his head.
“It could be another trap.”
“Probably.”
“You say that very calmly.”
“I’ve had an educational week.”
He looked at her.
She continued.
“If she’s alive, you need to know.”
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
“What if she says the letter was real?”
Chloe understood then.
The most feared man in Chicago was afraid of hearing his mother tell him she had chosen his brother.
“You’ll survive.”
Victor’s mouth tightened.
“That’s not the same as being fine.”
“No.”
She touched his hand.
“But you won’t wonder anymore.”
They left Michigan before dawn.
Victor insisted Chloe remain behind.
Chloe ignored him and got into the car.
He was beginning to realize that giving Chloe Bennett instructions merely provided her with useful information about what he did not want her to do.
The cottage sat near a frozen lake.
Small.
Blue shutters.
Smoke from the chimney.
Victor stood at the path without moving.
Chloe waited beside him.
“You want me to knock?”
“No.”
“You’ve been standing here eight minutes.”
“I’m aware.”
“Very intimidating.”
He looked at her.
She smiled faintly.
Victor finally walked to the door.
Knocked.
Footsteps approached.
The door opened.
An older woman stood there.
Gray threaded through dark hair.
Fine lines around brown eyes.
Victor stopped breathing.
She dropped the mug in her hand.
It shattered.
“Victor?”
His jaw trembled once.
He hated it.
“You’re alive.”
Elena Russo covered her mouth.
Then she began crying.
Victor did not move.
She reached toward him.
Stopped when she saw his expression.
“My God.”
“No.”
“Victor—”
“No.”
His voice was cold.
“You don’t get to say my name like that.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Chloe stepped backward, giving them space.
Victor continued.
“Eleven years.”
“Seventeen.”
He stared.
“What?”
“I’ve been gone seventeen years.”
His face changed.
The letter.
He had been seventeen.
Of course.
Luca’s supposed death came later.
His father’s death later still.
Everything blurred.
“Why?”
Elena looked behind him.
Saw Chloe.
Then guards.
“Come inside.”
“No.”
“Victor.”
“Tell me here.”
Snow began falling lightly.
Elena wrapped her cardigan around herself.
“Your father made me leave.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
“He threatened Luca.”
Victor froze.
“Luca?”
“He said if I didn’t disappear, Luca would die.”
“Why Luca?”
“Because he knew I would believe it.”
Victor stared.
“And me?”
Elena’s tears deepened.
“He threatened you differently.”
“How?”
“He told me if I contacted you, he would make you hate me.”
Victor’s stomach turned.
“The letter.”
“I never wrote it.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
Victor whispered, “He told me you chose Luca.”
“I chose both my sons.”
“Luca says otherwise.”
Her expression changed.
“You’ve seen Luca?”
“He kidnapped Chloe’s brother.”
Elena turned pale.
“No.”
“You knew he was alive.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He found me eight years ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“He threatened you.”
Victor’s laugh was broken.
“Everyone keeps protecting me by destroying my life.”
Elena flinched.
Chloe moved closer.
Victor continued.
“Luca killed Father.”
Elena’s face went still.
“What?”
“He admitted it.”
“No.”
“You didn’t know?”
“He told me your father died in a robbery.”
Victor looked away.
Of course Luca lied to her too.
Elena sat slowly.
“There’s something you need to understand.”
Victor waited.
“Luca was not always like this.”
“He murdered our father.”
“I’m not defending him.”
“Then don’t.”
“He believed your father planned to kill him.”
Victor’s expression sharpened.
“Why?”
Elena swallowed.
“Because Luca wasn’t your father’s son.”
Silence.
Victor stared.
“What?”
“Your father knew.”
Chloe felt the air change.
Elena continued.
“Luca’s biological father was a man named Antonio Rossi.”
Victor remembered the tattoo.
Rossi crew.
Everything connected.
“Antonio worked for Father.”
“Yes.”
“Did Father kill him?”
Elena’s silence answered.
Victor shut his eyes.
“And Luca found out.”
“Eventually.”
“So he killed Father.”
“I didn’t know.”
Victor walked away several steps.
Chloe followed.
He turned suddenly.
“Everything was a lie.”
“No.”
“My mother abandoned me.”
“No.”
“My brother died.”
“No.”
“My father was murdered by enemies.”
“No.”
He laughed.
“Anything else?”
Elena spoke from behind them.
“Yes.”
Victor turned.
She looked terrified.
“Luca believes the Russo organization belongs to him because Antonio Rossi helped build it.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“He can believe whatever he wants.”
“He doesn’t only want the organization.”
“What else?”
Elena looked at Chloe.
“You.”
Chloe frowned.
“Me?”
“No.”
Elena pointed at Victor.
“You.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“He wants me dead.”
“He wants you destroyed first.”
Elena stood.
“He talked about someone close to you.”
Victor glanced at Chloe.
Elena noticed.
Her face changed.
“Oh, Victor.”
“Don’t.”
“That’s her.”
Chloe’s heart pounded.
Victor said, “We’re leaving.”
Elena grabbed his arm.
“He will use your love against you.”
Victor froze.
Chloe did too.
Victor pulled free.
“You don’t know what I feel.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“I’m your mother.”
“You haven’t been my mother for seventeen years.”
The words landed like gunshots.
Victor regretted them instantly.
He still walked away.
Chloe followed him to the car.
He stood with one hand on the door.
She said nothing.
Finally Victor whispered, “Don’t ask.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“About what she said.”
“I know.”
He looked at her.
Snow caught in her hair.
“Chloe.”
“Yes?”
The question almost came.
Do you think I love you?
Instead, headlights appeared at the end of the road.
Too fast.
Victor turned.
Black SUV.
No plates.
“Down!”
The first bullet shattered the rear window.
Victor dragged Chloe behind the car.
His guards opened fire.
Another vehicle appeared behind them.
Then another.
Ambush.
Victor pressed Chloe against the frozen ground.
“Stay here.”
“Where are you going?”
“To finish this.”
Before he could move, the cottage exploded.
The blast knocked everyone down.
Victor’s ears rang.
Flames tore through the roof.
“Elena!”
He ran.
Chloe grabbed his coat.
“Victor, no!”
“My mother is inside!”
Another explosion shattered the windows.
Victor fought two guards trying to restrain him.
“Elena!”
Then someone emerged through the smoke.
A woman.
Burned sleeve.
Blood on her forehead.
Alive.
Elena stumbled into the snow.
Victor ran and caught her.
For one second, seventeen years disappeared.
She collapsed against her son.
“My boy.”
Victor’s arms closed around her.
His eyes shut.
Then Elena whispered something only he heard.
“Luca knows about Chloe’s parents.”
Victor pulled back.
“What?”
Elena looked toward Chloe.
“The drunk driver who killed them…”
She struggled to breathe.
“It wasn’t an accident.”
Chloe went completely still.
Elena whispered the rest.
“Antonio Rossi’s people were in that car.”
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And suddenly Chloe Bennett’s life was no longer accidentally connected to Victor Russo’s world.
It had been connected long before either of them ever met.
