Chapter 2 - THE RED TRAIN
Mara entered her apartment behind six armed men.
She hated every second of it.
“Luca?”
“Mom!”
Her son came running.
Mara dropped to her knees and caught him so hard he squeaked.
“Mom, you’re crushing me.”
“Good.”
She kissed his hair repeatedly.
“That’s my job.”
Sophie stood near the kitchen, pale and trembling.
“The doorknob moved,” she explained. “I thought maybe it was Mrs. Alvarez, but then somebody started pushing something into the lock.”
“You did exactly right.”
Mara hugged her too.
Adriano remained in the hallway.
Luca noticed him.
“Who’s that?”
Mara opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Adriano answered.
“Your mother’s friend.”
Mara glared at him.
“We are not friends.”
Luca considered this.
“Then why did you come home together?”
Adriano’s mouth twitched.
“Excellent question.”
“Bedroom,” Mara said.
Luca groaned.
“Mom—”
“Now.”
Once Luca disappeared, Mara faced Adriano.
“The train.”
Daniel had given Luca a wooden red train for his fifth birthday.
Luca slept with it beside his bed even though he had largely outgrown toys.
They entered his room.
The train sat on a shelf.
Adriano did not touch it.
Mara did.
She turned it over.
Nothing.
Then she remembered Daniel repairing it after Luca dropped it.
“He glued this.”
She pressed one wheel.
It moved.
A tiny compartment opened underneath.
Inside was a microSD card.
Mara stared at it.
Adriano swore softly.
“You knew?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I swear.”
“I believe you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re terrible at lying.”
“That’s insulting.”
“It’s keeping you alive.”
They took the card into the kitchen.
Adriano’s technician inserted it into an isolated laptop.
Encrypted.
Then a password prompt appeared.
“Daniel liked numbers?” the technician asked.
Mara shook her head.
“He hated passwords.”
“Try Luca’s birthday.”
Wrong.
Their anniversary.
Wrong.
Mara stared at the screen.
Then she remembered something Daniel used to say whenever she worried about money.
The richest day of my life was the day you said yes.
She typed the date Daniel proposed.
The drive opened.
Folders appeared.
Hundreds of documents.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
Adriano’s face changed.
“Jesus.”
“What?”
He clicked one file.
A photograph appeared.
Daniel stood beside a gray-haired man outside a warehouse.
Adriano knew him.
“Victor Hale.”
“Who is he?”
“My father’s oldest adviser.”
Adriano opened another file.
Millions had been redirected through shell companies.
Then another.
Payments to police officers.
Customs officials.
Judges.
Mara felt sick.
“Daniel knew all this?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t he tell you?”
Adriano remained silent.
That answer frightened her more than anything.
“Adriano.”
“Because Daniel didn’t know whether I was involved.”
Mara looked at him.
“Were you?”
“No.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“You shouldn’t.”
He closed the laptop.
“Not yet.”
Luca wandered into the kitchen holding a blanket.
“Mom?”
Mara immediately softened.
“Hey.”
“Are we having a sleepover?”
She crouched.
“Kind of.”
“Where?”
Mara glanced toward Adriano.
He answered.
“My house.”
Luca looked impressed.
“Do you have a dog?”
“No.”
“Then your house sounds boring.”
One of Adriano’s guards coughed to hide a laugh.
Mara almost smiled.
Adriano looked offended.
“I have a swimming pool.”
Luca considered.
“Indoor?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Your house is less boring.”
Twenty minutes later, Mara packed one suitcase.
She stood in her bedroom afterward, staring at Daniel’s photograph.
“I didn’t know,” she whispered.
Adriano appeared at the doorway.
“He wanted you not to know.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
She picked up the photograph.
“I spent eighteen months believing he fell asleep driving.”
“He didn’t.”
Mara turned slowly.
Adriano regretted the words immediately.
“What did you say?”
He stepped inside.
“Daniel’s brakes were cut.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“You knew?”
“I learned six months ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I had no proof.”
“You had enough proof to investigate me.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Six months.”
Mara slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Nobody moved.
Adriano accepted it.
“You watched my son.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe Daniel killed himself by being careless.”
“I was trying to find whoever murdered him.”
“You should have told me.”
“You would have changed your behavior.”
“Of course I would!”
“Exactly.”
She wanted to hit him again.
Instead, she shoved Daniel’s photograph into the suitcase.
“I hate you.”
Adriano nodded.
“That’s reasonable.”
It made her angrier.
His phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression hardened.
“When?”
Silence.
“Keep everyone inside.”
He hung up.
“What now?” Mara demanded.
Adriano looked toward Luca’s room.
“Victor Hale disappeared twenty minutes ago.”
“So?”
“So he knew we found the card.”
“How?”
Adriano’s eyes moved toward the apartment.
Someone had been listening.
His security team immediately searched everything.
They found the device beneath Mara’s kitchen table.
A microphone no larger than a fingernail.
Mara stared at it.
“How long?”
The technician examined it.
“Months, probably.”
Mara covered her mouth.
Every breakfast.
Every argument with Luca.
Every night she had cried alone.
Someone had been listening.
Adriano crushed the device beneath his shoe.
“We leave now.”
They reached the garage.
Three black SUVs waited.
Adriano opened the middle vehicle.
Mara stopped.
Across the garage, someone stood beside a concrete pillar.
A woman.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
Watching them.
Adriano saw her.
His entire body stiffened.
“Get Luca into the car.”
“Who is she?”
“Now, Mara.”
The woman smiled.
Then disappeared behind the pillar.
Mara grabbed Adriano’s sleeve.
“Who was that?”
He stared into the darkness.
“My mother.”
Mara frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because I researched you after you introduced yourself.”
She swallowed.
“Your mother died twelve years ago.”
May you like
Adriano looked at her.
“That’s what I was told.”
