Chapter 10
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and panic.
Elena slept in one room with Luis and Rosa beside her.
The little brown dog, Nico, had been smuggled in under Tony’s coat and now lay curled beneath her bed like he had signed a contract with heaven.
Bruno refused to leave the hallway.
My shoulder was bandaged.
Harris wanted my statement.
My lawyer wanted silence.
I wanted answers.
I got them from an old woman named Sister Agnes.
She arrived at 3:14 in the morning wearing a gray coat and carrying a sealed envelope.
“I knew your mother,” she said.
My body went still.
“Teresa?”
“She came to me seven years ago.”
Tony stepped closer.
Sister Agnes looked at him.
“This is for Dante.”
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter in my mother’s handwriting.
My son,
If you are reading this, Victor has found the child.
Elena is not Victor’s daughter.
She is your father’s granddaughter.
Your cousin Nico had a child with Maria Vasquez before he died.
I hid them because Victor killed Nico for refusing to betray you.
I read the words three times.
Nico.
My cousin.
My brother in everything but blood.
The betrayal that cost me him.
Victor had killed him.
And Marco had helped.
I sat down before my knees gave.
Sister Agnes continued.
“Maria gave birth in secret. Your mother arranged the adoption through Rosa and Luis. She wanted Elena raised far away from your world.”
“Why not tell me?”
“Because you were at war. Because she thought love from ordinary parents was safer than protection from a powerful man.”
I looked through the window at Elena.
Luis slept in a chair, his hand wrapped around hers.
Rosa sat beside him, awake, watching her daughter breathe.
My mother had been right.
And still, my world had found her.
I folded the letter.
“Where is Maria?”
Sister Agnes lowered her eyes.
“She died six months after Elena was born.”
“How?”
“Victor.”
The old wound in my chest reopened.
Harris entered.
“We found something on Rafael’s phone.”
He held it out.
A message from Victor.
If Dante finds the child, use the priest.
“What priest?” I asked.
Sister Agnes went pale.
“The priest who signed the adoption papers.”
“Where is he?”
May you like
She whispered, “In Elena’s room.”
I ran.
