Chapter 4 – THE TAPE BENEATH THE FLOORBOARDS

The apartment was so quiet I could hear the rain lashing against the cracked window.

Luca stood entirely still. His dark eyes flicked from my mother’s terrified face to the blood-stained envelope in her trembling hands.

“What did you say?” Luca’s voice was barely a whisper, but it carried a lethal edge.

My mother sobbed, leaning heavily against my chest. “I was cleaning the study that night, fifteen years ago. Your father liked me to clean late when the house was quiet. I was behind the heavy velvet curtains, dusting the window frames.”

She swallowed hard, her voice shaking. “Marcus came in. He didn’t know I was there. Your father was drinking scotch. They started arguing about the family business. Marcus wanted to move into narcotics. Your father refused. He told Marcus he was cutting him out of the will.”

Richard pushed himself off the wall, his face pale. “That’s insane. Uncle Marcus loved Dad.”

“He loved the power,” my mother spat back, a sudden fierce bravery in her eyes. “I watched him pour a vial of clear liquid into your father’s second glass. Five minutes later, your father was clutching his chest, gasping for air on the rug.”

“And you did nothing?” Richard yelled, stepping forward.

Luca’s arm shot out, shoving his brother back with brutal force. “Do not speak to her. Let her finish.”

My mother wiped the blood from her forehead. “I was a maid, Richard. I was a nobody with a ten-year-old daughter. If I stepped out from behind that curtain, he would have killed me too.”

She looked up at Luca, her eyes filled with agonizing guilt. “But your father had a voice-activated dictaphone on his desk. He used it to record his memos. It caught the whole thing. The argument. The glass clinking. The struggling. After Marcus left the room to call the paramedics, I took the tape.”

She held up the small, battered envelope.

“I kept it hidden for fifteen years. But last week, Anna found me.”

Luca dropped to one knee in front of my mother. His hands were shaking as he took the envelope. “How did Anna know about this?”

“Because Anna didn’t run away eight years ago just because Richard threatened her,” my mother explained, crying softly. “Anna overheard Marcus talking on the phone at the estate. She heard him bragging about how he handled his brother. She knew the truth.”

Everything suddenly made horrifying sense.

Anna hadn’t just been protecting her baby from a cruel family. She had been protecting her baby from a murderer.

“Marcus knew Anna heard him,” Richard whispered, the realization draining the last bit of color from his face. “That’s why he told me she was a Vance. He lied to me. He manipulated me into driving her away so she wouldn’t expose him.”

“And tonight,” my mother said, “Marcus found out Anna mailed me a letter begging for the tape. He’s taking her to the old shipyard on the river. He’s going to finish what he started.”

Luca stood up. The grief in his eyes was instantly replaced by a cold, calculated wrath.

He didn’t yell. He didn’t break anything.

He just looked at his security chief. “Call the men. We’re going to the shipyard.”

He turned to his brother. “Richard. You have a choice. You can walk out that door and never use my last name again. Or you can get in the car and help me save the woman you condemned.”

Richard stared at the floor for a long second. Then he looked up, his jaw set. “She’s my family too.”

Luca nodded once.

He turned to me. “Elena. Stay here with your mother. My men will guard the door.”

“No,” I said, standing up. My legs were shaking, but my voice was steady. “Lucy is in the car downstairs. She’s terrified. If we find Anna, she’s going to need someone she trusts. I’m coming.”

Luca studied my face. Then, he gave a curt nod.

We ran downstairs. I climbed into the back of the SUV and pulled Lucy into my lap. She was hugging her stuffed rabbit so tightly the seams were stretching.

“Are we going to get Mommy?” she whispered.

“Yes,” I promised, kissing the top of her curls. “We’re going to get her right now.”

The drive to the river took less than twelve minutes. The SUV tore through the industrial district, the headlights cutting through the heavy sheet of rain.

We pulled up to an abandoned shipping warehouse. The rusted metal doors were slightly ajar. A single black sedan was parked outside.

Luca didn’t wait for the tactical team. He drew his gun, kicked the heavy metal door open, and stepped into the darkness.

The warehouse smelled of rust and damp earth.

At the center of the massive room, illuminated by a single dangling bulb, was a wooden chair.

Tied to the chair was a woman.

She was devastatingly thin, her dark hair plastered to her pale face. She was coughing violently, her breathing shallow and ragged.

“Anna,” Luca breathed, his voice breaking completely.

He lowered his weapon and started to run toward her.

“Luca, stop!” Anna screamed, her voice hoarse and raw. “It’s a trap!”

Before Luca could react, a figure stepped out from the shadows behind the chair, pressing the cold barrel of a gun against Anna’s temple.

It was Marcus.

He smiled, his gold signet ring catching the harsh light.

“Hello, Nephew,” Marcus purred. “I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out.”

TITLE: THE PRICE OF TRUTH

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