Chapter 6 - The Son Nobody BuriedSebastian Moretti did not attack again.
That was worse.
For forty-eight hours, nothing happened.
No threats.
No gunmen.
No mysterious vehicles.
Silence settled around Blackstone House.
Gabriel trusted silence less than bullets.
Delaney learned that by watching him.
He barely slept.
He walked the halls after midnight.
He checked Teresa’s room himself.
He ate standing up.
And whenever Delaney entered a room, his eyes found her before he seemed aware he was doing it.
On the third night, she found him alone in the kitchen.
The feared Gabriel Moretti was making grilled cheese.
Badly.
“You’re burning it.”
“I know.”
“Then flip it.”
“I was planning to.”
“Before or after the smoke detector?”
He looked at her.
She took the spatula.
“Move.”
Gabriel obeyed.
That surprised them both.
Delaney made two sandwiches.
He leaned against the counter.
“You’re not afraid of me.”
“I am.”
His expression shifted.
“I just don’t think fear should make every decision.”
“That sounds expensive.”
“It has been.”
He knew about her debts now.
The unpaid medical bills from her grandmother’s final year.
The rent increase.
The eviction notice.
Without telling her, he had offered to clear everything.
She refused.
That seemed to irritate him more than the slap.
“I don’t want your money.”
“You’re losing your apartment.”
“Then I’ll lose it.”
“That’s irrational.”
“No. Owing a Moretti seems more expensive.”
He almost smiled.
Then the security phone rang.
A package had arrived.
Inside was a child’s wooden soldier.
Delaney recognized it immediately.
The one Gabriel had given her twenty years earlier.
She stared at him.
“How does Sebastian have this?”
Gabriel’s face darkened.
“I don’t know.”
A note was wrapped around it.
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT RACHEL DIED.
Teresa was waiting in the drawing room when they entered.
One look at the soldier and she understood.
“I hoped this would die with us.”
Gabriel placed it on the table.
“No more secrets.”
Teresa sat.
The truth came slowly.
Rachel had not died immediately after her car left the road.
Teresa had reached the crash first.
Rachel was conscious.
Bleeding.
Terrified.
She gave Teresa the silver bird pendant and told her to protect Delaney.
Then Rachel said she had seen Sebastian arguing with Antonio days before Antonio died.
But she also said something else.
Sebastian had not been alone.
A police officer had been with him.
A young detective named Martin Hale.
Delaney knew the name.
Everyone in Providence did.
Martin Hale was now police commissioner.
Gabriel swore.
Teresa continued.
Rachel believed Hale had been protecting financial operations connected to several criminal organizations.
Antonio discovered it.
Sebastian discovered it too.
But nobody knew whether Sebastian joined Hale or tried to expose him.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?” Delaney asked.
“Because Hale arrived at the crash.”
Teresa looked ashamed.
“He told me Rachel was dead. He told me Delaney had already been taken somewhere safe. Then he threatened my sons.”
Gabriel stared at his mother.
“You believed him?”
“I was thirty-seven, widowed, and terrified.”
Teresa’s voice broke.
“I chose my children.”
Delaney could not hate her for it.
Because twenty years later, Teresa had run for three nights rather than risk leading unknown men back to Gabriel.
She was still making the same choice.
A phone rang.
This time, Delaney’s.
Unknown number.
Gabriel reached for it.
She answered first.
“Hello?”
“Delaney Ward.”
The voice was smooth.
Older.
“Commissioner Hale.”
Gabriel moved beside her.
Hale continued.
“You’ve gotten yourself mixed up with dangerous people.”
“That’s funny. They said the same thing about you.”
Silence.
Then a chuckle.
“You have your mother’s mouth.”
Delaney stopped breathing.
“You knew her.”
“Very well.”
Gabriel activated the recorder.
Hale seemed to anticipate it.
“If Gabriel Moretti is listening, tell him Sebastian is not his enemy.”
Gabriel took the phone.
“Where is my brother?”
“Trying to stay alive.”
“From whom?”
“From the same people who killed your father.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“Names.”
“You have something I need first.”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
Hale paused.
“I want Delaney.”
Gabriel’s face became terrifying.
“Try again.”
“She carries something Rachel hid twenty years ago.”
Delaney looked down at the silver bird.
Gabriel followed her gaze.
Hale said, “Open the pendant.”
The call ended.
Delaney removed it.
They examined the little bird.
A seam ran along one wing.
Thomas brought tools.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a strip of microfilm.
Nobody spoke.
Rachel had hidden evidence around her daughter’s neck.
For twenty years.
Thomas arranged to digitize it.
Three hours later, documents appeared on a secure laptop.
Payments.
Names.
Dates.
Police officials.
Judges.
Businessmen.
And one name repeated more than any other.
Martin Hale.
But the final document changed everything.
It was a handwritten note from Antonio.
Sebastian discovered Hale’s network. If anything happens to me, my son is not responsible. Protect him.
Gabriel stared.
His brother had spent eighteen years blamed for a murder he had apparently tried to prevent.
Then another file appeared.
A photograph.
Recent.
Sebastian stood beside someone Delaney recognized.
The diner owner.
The man who had allowed Teresa to hide in his restaurant.
Delaney whispered, “No.”
Thomas zoomed in.
On the diner owner’s wrist was the same insignia worn by one of the attackers at Blackstone House.
Gabriel stood.
“The diner was never random.”
Delaney understood.
Teresa had not stumbled into safety.
Someone had guided her there.
And Delaney had been scheduled for that exact shift.
Rachel’s daughter.
Teresa Moretti.
The same diner.
The same night.
Twenty years after Antonio’s death.
Gabriel looked at Delaney.
“Sebastian arranged your meeting.”
“Why?”
A voice came from the doorway.
“Because I needed Mother to remember who she used to be.”
Everyone turned.
A man stood there.
No weapon visible.
Dark hair threaded with gray.
Gabriel’s eyes.
Antonio’s face.
Teresa whispered one word.
“Sebastian.”
May you like
The stranger looked at her.
“Hello, Mom.”
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