Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
My mother had been dead for twenty-two years.
I remembered her funeral.
I remembered the flowers.
I remembered my father's grief.
I remembered Daniel holding my hand.
But Evelyn insisted.
“She wasn't dead.”
“Then who was buried?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at her.
“You expect me to believe my mother has been alive all this time?”
“I didn't say she was alive now.”
That stopped me.
Evelyn explained that my mother had discovered the financial network before my father.
She had tried to expose it.
The people running Motherline couldn't kill her publicly.
So they created a disappearance.
A false death.
A replacement body.
A new identity.
Then they used her knowledge.
My mother became one of the people managing the network.
I couldn't breathe.
“Why would she do that?”
“Because they threatened you.”
I looked at the floor.
She had sacrificed her life to protect us.
But somewhere along the way, she had become part of the machine.
I asked:
“Is she responsible for Daniel's death?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Evelyn looked toward the door.
“The man who controls Motherline now.”
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
Instead, she pointed toward the key.
“That's his.”
Marcus Hale examined it.
There was an engraving.
M-01.
He looked at me.
“Warehouse.”
“What warehouse?”
“The original Moretti warehouse.”
I knew it.
It had been closed since my father died.
We went there that night.
Inside, we found dozens of boxes.
Medical records.
Financial records.
Contractor invoices.
Names.
Thousands of them.
Then we found a photograph.
My father.
My mother.
Daniel.
Evelyn.
And a fifth person.
A young man.
I recognized him immediately.
Dr. Samuel Voss.
I turned.
Voss had followed us.
“You knew.”
He sighed.
“Yes.”
“You were part of it.”
“Initially.”
“You helped build it.”
“I helped build the system that became Motherline.”
“And then?”
“I tried to destroy it.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because people died.”
I stepped closer.
“You let them suffer.”
“Yes.”
He didn't defend himself.
That honesty made me angrier.
Then the warehouse doors slammed shut.
The lights turned on.
A dozen armed men surrounded us.
A man stepped forward.
I knew him.
He had been my family's attorney for eighteen years.
Richard Bell.
He smiled.
“Anthony.”
I stared at him.
“You.”
He nodded.
“Your father trusted me.”
“So did I.”
“That was your mistake.”
Richard looked toward Lily.
“Bring me the ledger.”
I laughed.
“You came all this way for a book?”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I came for the child.”
Anna pulled Lily behind her.
Richard continued.
“Lily's medical records contain something we need.”
“What?”
“A genetic match.”
I stared at him.
“To whom?”
He smiled.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Lily wasn't just another child in the network.
She was connected to my family.
Richard wanted her because her medical records could prove my mother was alive.
And if they could find my mother, they could recover the part of the network she had hidden.
The room erupted.
Marcus Hale's team attacked.
Gunfire shattered the warehouse windows.
I grabbed Lily and Anna.
We ran through the rear corridor.
Richard shouted after us.
“You can't protect her forever!”
We escaped through an underground loading tunnel.
But when we reached the other side, Anna was crying.
“What happened?”
She looked at Lily.
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
Anna shook her head.
“She remembers the woman who visited her at the clinic.”
“Who?”
“She called herself Rose.”
May you like
I froze.
That had been my mother's nickname.
