Chapter 3 - He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and removed a folded envelope.
The paper was yellowed at the edges.
He placed it on the table but kept his hand over it.
“I found this after Elena died.”
Norah stared at his hand.
“What is it?”
“A letter.”
“From her?”
“Yes.”
Roman’s fingers tightened.
“She told me there was someone I needed to protect.”
He lifted his hand.
Norah opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a young woman with dark hair and slate-gray eyes standing beside a little girl.
The child was perhaps six.
Thin. Serious. Holding a red balloon.
Norah recognized the scar above the girl’s left eyebrow.
She touched the same scar on her own face.
The room went silent.
“No,” she whispered.
Roman’s voice broke.
“Elena was your mother.”
Norah backed away from the table.
“My mother’s name was Elaine Bennett.”
“She changed it.”
“She died when I was seven.”
“The official report said she died in a highway accident.”
“That’s what happened.”
“No.”
Roman’s eyes shone with a grief so naked it frightened her.
“She survived the bombing.”
Norah shook her head.
“She couldn’t have.”
“She was pulled from the car before it exploded. My father’s people kept her alive for six years, trying to learn what evidence she had hidden.”
Norah could not breathe.
“Why would she leave me?”
“She didn’t.”
Roman stepped closer.
“She sent you to her sister under a false name. She was trying to keep you away from us.”
Norah looked at the photograph again.
Her mother’s face.
Elena.
Roman’s wife.
The woman who had supposedly died because of him.
The woman who had raised Norah until she was seven.
A memory surfaced.
Her mother sitting beside her bed, stroking her hair.
A man will come for you one day, Nora-bird. He will look frightening. Don’t be afraid of his eyes.
Norah had forgotten the words.
Or convinced herself they had been a dream.
She looked at Roman.
“How old were you when you married her?”
“Twenty-three.”
“And I was?”
“Five.”
“You knew about me?”
“No. Not until after her death.”
“Why didn’t you find me?”
“I tried.”
“For how long?”
“Fourteen years.”
Norah’s knees nearly gave way.
Roman caught her.
She pushed him away.
“You found me last night.”
“I found you eleven months ago.”
The betrayal cut through everything else.
“What?”
“I knew where you worked.”
“You watched me?”
“Yes.”
“You sat in my section.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who I was when I brought you that drink.”
Roman said nothing.
Norah’s eyes filled.
“You let me think it was an accident.”
“It was.”
“The word was. Meeting you wasn’t.”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the last person I loved died after becoming part of my life.”
“And you thought watching me from a dark booth was protecting me?”
“Yes.”
“You let David stay with me.”
Roman flinched.
“I didn’t know about him.”
“You own part of the city.”
“Not enough of it.”
Norah laughed, but it came out broken.
On the table, Roman’s phone lit up.
A message appeared.
Unknown number.
A photograph.
David stood inside the Onyx Club holding the stolen ledger.
Beside him was Mia.
Both were bound to chairs.
May you like
Below the image were six words.
BRING ELENA’S DAUGHTER TO BOOTH FOUR.
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