Chapter 9 - ELENA'S SECRET|
Laura did not answer immediately.
She had learned that hope could be more dangerous than fear. Fear warned you when someone was coming. Hope made you open the door.
“Prove you know my daughter's name,” Laura whispered.
A pause followed.
“Grace Romano. Born three years ago. Her birth was registered under a different surname.”
Laura's knees weakened.
“Where is she?”
“I can't tell you through a wall.”
“Then open the door.”
“I can't. Marco has men watching the passage.”
Laura gripped the edge of the grille.
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because I have spent three years trying to undo what I helped create.”
The admission struck harder than any excuse.
“You helped create this?”
Elena's voice trembled.
“I agreed to the photographs. I agreed to the late-night meetings. I knew Dominic was using our public relationship to mislead the Salazars. I thought it was temporary. I thought I could control it.”
“You let me look like a fool.”
“Yes.”
“You watched him choose you.”
“I know.”
“You let him believe I left.”
Elena went quiet.
Then she said, “I did not know Marco would take you. I thought he was moving you to a safe location after the attack. When I learned what he had done, I was already trapped. He had evidence that could put me in prison, and he threatened to have my younger brother killed.”
Laura closed her eyes.
There was no version of this story in which Elena was innocent.
But there was a difference between a woman who had helped humiliate her and a woman who had helped imprison her.
“Why are you here now?”
“Because Marco has decided to eliminate everyone who knows about the trust. Samuel is dead. Dr. Bell has disappeared. And Dominic has started asking questions.”
Laura's heart began to pound.
“Dominic knows?”
“He knows you didn't leave.”
The words should have brought relief.
Instead, Laura felt anger rise so quickly she had to steady herself against the wall.
“He knows now.”
“Yes.”
“After three years.”
“I can't change that.”
“No. You can't.”
Elena moved closer to the other side of the grille.
“I can help you escape.”
Laura looked toward the door.
“What about Rosa?”
“I have arranged for her son to be moved somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
“Out of the country.”
“That's not enough. I want proof.”
Elena hesitated.
Then something slid beneath the grille.
A photograph.
Laura picked it up with shaking fingers.
It showed a little girl sitting on a wooden bench in a garden. She had dark curls, a small nose, and a serious expression. A yellow ribbon was tied around her wrist.
Laura knew the shape of that face.
She had seen it in the mirror.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten note:
Grace, age two. She asks why her mother never comes.
Laura pressed the picture to her mouth.
A sob escaped before she could stop it.
“Where is she?”
“She lives with a woman named Margaret Bell. Dr. Bell's sister. She believes Grace is an orphan.”
“Does Dominic know?”
“No.”
Laura looked at the photograph again.
“Does Grace know who her father is?”
“She has been told her father died.”
Laura's tears turned cold.
“Then everyone has lied to my child.”
Elena did not defend herself.
A sound echoed from the corridor. Metal against metal.
Elena whispered, “They're coming.”
“Wait!”
“I'll return tonight.”
“Don't leave me here.”
“I won't.”
Laura grabbed the grille.
“Elena!”
The footsteps moved closer.
“What?”
“If you betray me, I will tell Dominic everything. Every photograph. Every meeting. Every lie.”
“I know.”
“And if you help me, don't expect forgiveness.”
Elena's answer came softly.
“I don't.”
The footsteps stopped outside Laura's door.
A man's voice spoke.
“Mrs. Romano?”
Laura stepped back.
The lock turned.
The door opened, and Marco entered with two armed guards.
He looked at the photograph in Laura's hand.
For the first time in three years, his expression showed genuine surprise.
“Where did you get that?”
Laura closed her fist around the picture.
“From my daughter.”
Marco reached for it.
She pulled away.
He seized her wrist.
“Give it to me.”
Laura looked him in the eyes.
“She's alive.”
Marco's grip tightened.
“Yes,” he said. “And if you want her to stay that way, you'll stop asking questions.”
He took the photograph.
May you like
Then he leaned close enough for her to smell the mint on his breath.
“Because the little girl in that picture is not the only child whose life is in danger.”
