Chapter 6 – The Driver’s Secret

The silence in the kitchen was heavier than the heavy steel door of the oven.

I stared at the silver bracelet in Nico’s hand.

My mind raced back to my childhood.

October 14th.

That was my birthday.

I remembered wearing a bracelet exactly like that when I was a little girl. I thought I had lost it at the park when I was seven.

“My father?” I stammered, looking at Nico. “Thomas Bennett? What does he have to do with your family?”

Nico stared at the journal. He quickly flipped through the fragile, yellowed pages.

His eyes scanned the ink rapidly.

“Your father wasn’t just a mechanic, Sophie,” Nico said softly. “Twenty-seven years ago, Thomas Bennett was my mother’s private driver.”

I felt the blood rush from my face.

“A driver?” I repeated. “No. He worked at the auto plant. He’s always worked at the auto plant, until he got laid off last winter.”

Rosa placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“He lied to protect you, sweetheart,” she whispered.

Nico looked up from the journal.

“On the night my mother died,” Nico read aloud, summarizing the text, “her car was run off the road by the Ashford men. Your father was driving.”

My knees suddenly felt weak. I grabbed the edge of the stainless steel counter to steady myself.

“He survived,” Nico continued, “but my mother was trapped. Before the car caught fire, she gave him this bracelet.”

Nico held up the small silver chain.

“She told him to take it, to remember the promise he made her. She told him to run, to hide, and to never speak to the Santoro family again, because the Ashfords would kill him and his daughter if they knew he survived as a witness.”

Tears blurred my vision.

My father.

The quiet, hardworking man who always looked over his shoulder. The man who never let me take the same route to school twice. The man who had been struggling to buy groceries for the past eight months.

He had carried this secret my entire life.

“Wait,” I said, wiping my eyes. “If he promised to stay away… why did I get a job here?”

I looked at Nico.

“I applied online eight months ago through a temp agency. Victoria was the one who interviewed me. She hired me on the spot.”

Nico’s eyes widened.

He slammed the journal shut.

“Victoria,” he breathed.

He looked at his father.

“She didn’t just hire a random maid. She knew exactly who Sophie was.”

Mr. Santoro leaned heavily on his cane. “Why would she bring the daughter of the only witness into our house?”

“To keep her close,” Nico realized, his voice laced with pure fury. “To monitor her. And…”

He looked at me with a terrifying realization.

“To use you as leverage against your father, if he ever tried to talk.”

My stomach dropped.

“My father,” I whispered. “When he lost his job last winter… it wasn’t a layoff, was it?”

Nico shook his head slowly.

“Victoria’s family has deep ties in the local unions. She orchestrated his firing. She made your family desperate, so you would be forced to take this job.”

I felt sick.

The woman who had treated me like dirt, who had ordered me to take food away from Rosa, had systematically destroyed my family’s life just to keep a twenty-seven-year-old secret buried.

“Mr. Santoro,” a deep voice interrupted.

We all turned.

Marcus, the head of security, was standing in the kitchen doorway.

“What is it, Marcus?” Nico asked.

“We interrogated the man who broke through the window,” Marcus said grimly. “He gave us Victoria’s backup plan.”

Nico’s jaw tightened. “And?”

“She didn’t just call the Morettis to break into this house tonight,” Marcus said.

He looked directly at me.

“She sent two men to a small apartment complex in Newark. To tie up loose ends.”

My heart stopped.

Newark.

That was where my father lived.

“No,” I choked out.

Nico didn’t hesitate for a single second.

He grabbed his car keys from the kitchen counter.

“Marcus. Lock down this estate. Nobody gets in or out.”

He looked at me.

“Come with me, Sophie. Right now.”

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