Chapter 6 - The Woman at the ChurchThe voice from my childhood called my name
Dante said no.
Absolutely not.
I said I was going.
He said no again.
I went anyway.
He followed me.
We arrived at the church just before midnight.
The doors were unlocked.
Inside, rows of wooden pews disappeared into darkness.
Dust floated through moonlight.
A single candle burned near the altar.
Dante signaled his men to spread out.
Then we heard footsteps.
A woman appeared from behind the curtain.
Older.
Thinner.
Pale.
She stopped.
I stopped.
Neither of us moved.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Elina."
I whispered:
"Mom?"
She covered her mouth.
I ran.
We collided in the middle of the aisle.
She held me like she had been waiting twenty-four years for exactly that moment.
I cried against her shoulder.
She stroked my hair.
"I'm sorry."
I could barely speak.
"You were dead."
"I wanted you to believe that."
"Why?"
"Because I had to disappear."
I pulled away.
"You left me."
"I left because someone was hunting you."
"Who?"
She looked at Dante.
"Your family."
Dante stepped forward.
"My family?"
"Not all of them."
"Who?"
My mother hesitated.
"Your father."
Dante froze.
"My father died."
"He was supposed to."
"What does that mean?"
My mother looked at me.
"Your father was part of the organization before he met me. He wanted out."
She told us everything.
My mother and Lucia had been twins.
Separated as infants.
One raised with their biological family.
The other given to another household after a hospital records fraud.
Lucia became Lucia Russo.
My mother became Elena Valdez.
Neither knew they were twins until adulthood.
Then they met by accident.
The crescent necklaces were made from the same piece of silver.
A promise.
A secret.
And then came Dante's father.
He discovered the family was laundering money through legitimate businesses.
He wanted to expose them.
Lucia helped.
My mother helped.
Then someone found out.
My father was killed.
Lucia disappeared.
My mother was supposed to die next.
Instead, she vanished and took me with her.
"Why did you leave me?"
My mother cried.
"Because I couldn't protect you and keep you."
I couldn't forgive her.
Not yet.
"Where is Lucia?"
My mother's eyes lowered.
"Alive."
Dante stepped forward.
"Where?"
"Victor knows."
"Victor is dead."
"He was trying to help."
"Then where is Lucia?"
My mother looked at me.
"Under the house on Mercer."
I stared.
"My house?"
She nodded.
"There's a room beneath the foundation."
Dante immediately reached for his phone.
Then my mother grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
"Why?"
"Because whoever took Lucia knows we're together."
A faint metallic click came from behind us.
Dante spun.
Three masked men entered through the side door.
The lights died.
Gunfire erupted.
I grabbed my mother.
Dante fired back.
Someone screamed.
We ran through the rear corridor.
A man caught my mother.
She fought him.
I screamed.
Dante slammed into the attacker.
He fell.
Then another man grabbed me from behind.
A cloth covered my mouth.
Everything blurred.
The last thing I saw was Dante fighting through the darkness.
The last thing I heard was my mother screaming:
"THE GIRL ISN'T THE KEY!"
Then someone answered:
"No."
May you like
A pause.
"She's the lock."
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