Chapter 4 - THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Clara took a step backward.
Her spine pressed against the locked elevator doors.
“I don't understand,” she whispered.
“Why would you care about my sister?”
Lorenzo walked back to his desk.
He picked up a small, framed photograph.
He held it out toward her.
Clara looked down at the image.
It showed two young women standing outside a diner in Brooklyn.
One of them was her mother, who had passed away two years ago.
The other woman looked hauntingly familiar.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A small scar near her left temple.
“Do you recognize her?” Lorenzo asked.
Clara shook her head slowly.
“No. Who is she?”
“Elena Moretti,” Lorenzo said softly.
“My younger sister.”
The room fell dead silent.
The hum of the HVAC system sounded like distant thunder.
“Your sister?” Clara repeated.
“She disappeared twelve years ago,” Lorenzo explained.
“Our father’s enemies hunted her down.”
“She escaped with the help of a woman named Joanne Vance.”
Clara’s knees nearly buckled.
“Joanne Vance was my mother.”
“Indeed she was,” Lorenzo nodded.
“She hid Elena under your family name.”
“Before she died, your mother entrusted Elena to a safehouse.”
Lorenzo set the photograph down.
“Two days ago, my sister’s safehouse was attacked.”
“Elena is missing.”
Clara stared at him in sheer disbelief.
“And you think I know where she is?”
“I think your mother left something behind,” Lorenzo said.
“A journal. A key. A message.”
“Something hidden inside your apartment.”
“And you want me to find it,” Clara said.
“I want us to find it together,” Lorenzo corrected.
May you like
“In exchange, your sister Maya receives permanent medical care.”
“And your rent is paid for life.”
