Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE RECORDING
The next morning, Tessa disappeared.
Victor found her room empty.
Her phone was left behind.
So was her bag.
Only one thing was missing.
The old photograph of her father.
Victor immediately knew.
“She went looking for answers.”
Paulie shook his head.
“Boss, she doesn't know where to go.”
Victor looked at the security monitor.
“She does.”
He remembered the vault.
The old documents.
The name Richard Vale.
And one handwritten address.
Tessa had seen it.
Victor drove alone.
He found her outside an abandoned church.
She was standing beneath a broken awning.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“I don't want you here.”
“Too bad.”
She turned.
“I found this.”
She held up an old cassette tape.
“My father's.”
Victor stared at it.
“Where?”
“Inside the church basement.”
They found an old tape player.
The recording began with static.
Then a man's voice.
Tessa recognized it instantly.
Her father's.
“If you're hearing this, I'm probably dead.”
She covered her mouth.
Victor remained silent.
“I couldn't trust the police.”
A pause.
“I couldn't trust the Romano family.”
Another pause.
“But there was one person I trusted.”
The recording crackled.
“Eleanor Romano.”
Victor froze.
His mother.
The voice continued.
“She knows the truth about the ledger.”
Tessa looked at Victor.
His face had gone completely still.
The recording continued.
“Victor's father was trying to expose the network. Eleanor helped him.”
Victor whispered, “No.”
Then came the final sentence.
“Richard Vale murdered my wife.”
Tessa collapsed into a chair.
Her mother's death suddenly had a different meaning.
Her mother had not died from natural causes.
She had been poisoned.
The medical records had shown nothing because the dose had been small.
Repeated.
Invisible.
Victor stared at the tape.
“My mother knew.”
Tessa looked at him.
“Maybe she tried to protect us.”
“Then why didn't she tell me?”
“Maybe she was afraid.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
Before he could answer, headlights appeared outside.
Three vehicles.
Victor grabbed Tessa.
“Down.”
The church doors exploded inward.
Men entered.
Victor pulled Tessa behind the altar.
Shots cracked through the building.
Paulie arrived from the rear entrance with backup.
The fight lasted less than two minutes.
When it ended, one attacker remained alive.
Victor dragged him forward.
“Who sent you?”
The man refused.
Victor looked at Tessa.
Then something unexpected happened.
She stepped forward.
“Let me.”
Victor stared.
Tessa crouched.
“You don't have to hurt him.”
She looked directly at the injured man.
“Tell us where Richard is.”
The man laughed.
“You think he cares about you?”
Tessa said nothing.
“He's already inside the Romano estate.”
Victor's face changed.
“How?”
May you like
The man smiled.
“He owns the house.”
