Chapter 8 - Audrey's Mother
Audrey had believed her mother died when she was twelve.
She was wrong.
Again.
Her name was Evelyn Davis.
Except Davis had never been her real surname.
Gabriel's investigators found her living under another identity in Vermont.
They reached the farmhouse at sunset.
Audrey walked to the door alone.
A sixty-year-old woman opened it.
The resemblance was immediate.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
Audrey stopped.
The woman whispered her name.
“Audrey.”
Audrey slapped her.
Gabriel almost smiled.
Then Audrey began crying.
“You were alive.”
Evelyn reached toward her.
Audrey stepped back.
“You let me bury you.”
“I was protecting you.”
“Everybody keeps saying that!”
Her voice cracked.
“My children are missing because everyone in my life decided lying was protection.”
Evelyn saw Gabriel.
Fear crossed her face.
“You married him.”
“Apparently I'm still married to him.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Then Vittorio succeeded.”
Inside the farmhouse, she finally told them everything.
Before Thomas Bell, Evelyn had been married to Vittorio Russo.
Secretly.
She was twenty-one.
He was thirty-eight.
Vittorio had used another name.
When Evelyn discovered his real identity and criminal operations, she fled.
Years later she met Thomas Bell.
They fell in love.
Audrey was born.
Vittorio eventually discovered them.
Thomas disappeared.
Evelyn survived only by agreeing to vanish.
“But why does he call Audrey his wife?” Gabriel asked.
“He doesn't.”
Evelyn looked at Audrey.
“He means me.”
Silence.
Vittorio wanted Evelyn.
Not Audrey.
“Why?”
Evelyn stood.
She retrieved a small metal box from beneath a floorboard.
Inside was a ledger.
Old.
Handwritten.
Gabriel opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officers.
Shipping companies.
Murders.
“This can destroy him,” Gabriel said.
“It can destroy half your organization.”
“Good.”
Audrey looked at him.
He meant it.
Evelyn stared.
“You would give up the Russo empire?”
Gabriel thought of Emma crying through the phone.
Noah clutching a stuffed dog.
Audrey sleeping beside two cribs because she was afraid somebody might take them.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Audrey's eyes softened.
Gabriel called Vittorio.
“I have Evelyn.”
Silence.
Then, “Put her on.”
Evelyn took the phone.
“Hello, Victor.”
For the first time, Vittorio sounded shaken.
“Evie.”
Audrey watched her mother.
Evelyn's face remained cold.
“You want me?”
“Yes.”
“Then bring the children to Pier 19.”
Gabriel looked at her.
Vittorio agreed.
Midnight.
The trap was set.
But after the call, Gabriel pulled Evelyn aside.
“You're not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“He'll know.”
“I don't care.”
“You should.”
She looked at him.
“You love my daughter.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“You haven't figured that out yet?”
Gabriel glanced toward Audrey.
She was standing near the window.
“I don't know how.”
“How what?”
“To love anyone.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“That's not what I said.”
At 11:52 p.m., they reached Pier 19.
Gabriel wore no body armor.
Vittorio had demanded it.
Audrey stayed inside the command vehicle.
She hated it.
Gabriel walked onto the pier with Evelyn.
At the far end, headlights switched on.
Vittorio appeared.
Noah was in his arms.
Another man held Emma.
Gabriel stopped.
His children were alive.
“Evelyn,” Vittorio whispered.
She stepped forward.
“Give him the children.”
Vittorio smiled.
“You first.”
Evelyn walked.
Gabriel's muscles tightened.
Twenty feet.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Then a gunshot exploded.
Vittorio jerked.
Everyone turned.
A man emerged from the shadows behind him.
Gabriel knew him before he saw his face clearly.
Julian.
May you like
His dead brother lowered the smoking gun.
“Sorry I'm late.”
