Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Anna did not sleep.
At three in the morning, she sat in a private office overlooking Boston Harbor, staring at the photograph of her mother.
Elias had brought her to a renovated brick building on the waterfront.
The lobby looked like an expensive investment firm.
The security looked like a military installation.
Two guards stood outside the elevator.
Cameras watched every hallway.
And nobody questioned Elias when he entered.
Anna finally understood why Detective Mercer had reacted to his name.
Elias Romano wasn't simply wealthy.
He was powerful.
Dangerously powerful.
"Tell me everything," she demanded.
Elias stood beside the window.
"Your mother's name was Caroline Harding. Before she married Thomas, she worked as an accountant for a shipping company."
"I know that."
"Do you know who owned it?"
Anna shook her head.
"Victor Sloane."
Her mouth went dry.
"You're telling me my mother worked for the man who stole our bakery?"
"She worked for a company he controlled. She discovered financial records linking legitimate shipping operations to illegal cash transfers."
"And?"
"She tried to report them."
Anna stared at him.
"To the police?"
"To a federal investigator."
"What happened?"
Elias looked away.
"She disappeared before she could give her statement."
Anna stood so abruptly that her chair scraped the floor.
"No."
"Anna—"
"No. My father buried her. I remember the funeral."
"You remember being four years old at a funeral."
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Elias approached slowly.
"Your father believed Caroline had been murdered. The police recovered a burned vehicle. Personal effects were identified. But there was no conclusive identification of her remains."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Elias accepted the accusation without flinching.
"I'm telling you what I can verify."
Anna began pacing.
Her memories of her mother were fragments.
A soft voice.
A yellow kitchen.
A woman singing while brushing her hair.
A hospital waiting room.
A black dress.
A coffin.
Had she spent twenty years grieving someone who might still be alive?
She stopped.
"Did you know my mother?"
"Not personally."
"Then why were you looking into her disappearance?"
"Because Thomas asked me to."
"When?"
"Six months ago."
Anna felt anger rise through her grief.
"Six months? You knew my father was investigating this while I was sitting beside his hospital bed?"
"Yes."
"And you never told me?"
"He specifically asked me not to."
"Why?"
"He believed someone was watching you."
Anna laughed bitterly.
"Well, somebody was. You."
Elias looked wounded.
Only for a moment.
Then his expression closed.
"You're right."
That surprised her.
He continued.
"I had people keeping an eye on the bakery after Thomas died. I should have approached you sooner."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I wanted proof before I disrupted your life."
Anna looked around the guarded office.
"You think this is less disruptive?"
"No."
He lowered his voice.
"I think I made the wrong decision."
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then Anna sat down.
"What happens now?"
"First, you get independent legal representation. Second, we authenticate the documents. Third, we find out what your father discovered."
"And Beatrice?"
"We investigate her connection to SunCorp."
Anna looked at the notebook.
"She knows about a warehouse."
"Yes."
"What warehouse?"
Elias opened a map on his desk.
"Twenty years ago, Sloane controlled a storage facility in East Boston. It was used for commercial shipping records."
He pointed toward a waterfront district.
"The property changed ownership six times. Three companies no longer exist."
"Who owns it now?"
Elias hesitated.
"According to the most recent records, a charitable foundation."
"Whose foundation?"
"Beatrice Harding's."
Anna stared at him.
Her stepmother had never mentioned owning commercial property.
She claimed the bakery barely paid its bills.
Yet she had been attending charity galas and traveling to Europe while Anna struggled to cover her father's medical bills.
Anna leaned forward.
"I want to see it."
"Not tonight."
"Tomorrow."
"Anna—"
"You said you were helping me find proof."
"I am."
"Then stop treating me like something fragile."
Elias studied her.
Finally, he nodded.
"Tomorrow. With your attorney."
Anna leaned back.
For the first time since Beatrice fired her, she felt something stronger than grief.
Purpose.
Then Elias's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
"Excuse me."
He stepped into the adjoining room.
Anna could hear his voice through the partially open door.
"How long?"
A pause.
"Are you certain?"
Another pause.
"Don't touch anything. I'm coming."
He returned.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked.
Elias picked up his coat.
"Someone broke into the warehouse."
"Beatrice?"
"We don't know."
"Then why do you look like that?"
Elias stopped.
"Because they found a room behind a false wall."
Anna's heartbeat accelerated.
"What was inside?"
"A bed. Medical equipment. Personal belongings."
She stared.
"Someone was living there?"
"Someone was being kept there."
Anna stood.
"Who?"
Elias's expression was grim.
"There's a photograph on the wall."
"Of whom?"
He hesitated.
May you like
Then answered.
"You."
