Chapter 6 - Mrs. Kaplan’s Real NameMrs. Kaplan’s first name wasn’t Ruth.
She wasn’t seventy-two.
And she had never had a husband named Harold.
Her real name was Rebecca Shaw.
Former federal investigator.
Age fifty-eight.
Missing from official government employment records for thirteen years.
When Daniel showed me her photograph, I couldn’t connect it to the woman who baked cinnamon bread at Christmas.
The woman who watered my plants when I traveled.
The woman who brought soup after my mother’s chemotherapy.
“She protected us,” I said.
“Maybe,” Matteo replied.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Turn every human being into a suspect.”
“That habit has kept me alive.”
“It also keeps you lonely.”
The words came out before I could stop them.
Matteo looked at me.
For once, there was no business empire between us.
No security team.
No danger.
Just a tired man in a hospital corridor waiting for doctors to finish examining his kidnapped brother.
“You’re right,” he said.
That was the moment I began falling in love with Matteo DeLuca.
Not when he carried me after seeing my bruises.
Not when he fought Vincent.
Not when he insisted I sleep behind a locked door.
It was when he admitted he was wrong without making me pay for it.
Gabriel was discharged that afternoon.
His first words were, “I need pizza.”
His second were, “Elena deserves Matteo’s office.”
“I don’t want his office.”
“Take the house.”
Matteo rolled his eyes.
Gabriel grinned.
“See? He’s already negotiating.”
The relief didn’t last.
Rebecca contacted me at 6:14 p.m.
One text.
Your mother asked me to protect you. I’m sorry I lied. Come alone if you want the truth.
An address followed.
I showed Matteo.
He said no.
I said yes.
We compromised.
I went inside alone.
His entire security team surrounded the block.
Rebecca chose an abandoned church in Queens.
I found her sitting in the front pew.
She looked older without the gray wig.
Also sadder.
“Hello, Elena.”
“Don’t.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I deserve that.”
“Did my mother know who you were?”
“Yes.”
“Did she trust you?”
“At first, no.”
“And later?”
Rebecca looked toward the altar.
“She saved my life.”
Her story began fourteen years earlier.
Rebecca had been part of the federal team investigating money laundering connected to Bellini.
Someone inside the investigation leaked information.
Two agents died.
Rebecca survived an ambush.
Anna hid her.
My mother—the quiet woman who hemmed curtains and worked bookkeeping jobs—hid a federal agent in our basement when I was fourteen.
I remembered that week.
Mom had told me the water heater was broken and forbidden me from going downstairs.
“What about Lorenzo?”
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“Lorenzo is complicated.”
“That’s becoming a family tradition.”
“He participated in the financial scheme.”
“So he’s guilty.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
“But he tried to stop Vittorio’s murder.”
I stared.
Rebecca explained.
Lorenzo had accepted illegal payments for years.
When Vittorio discovered the scheme, Lorenzo panicked.
He agreed to help federal investigators in exchange for immunity.
Vincent discovered the betrayal.
The night Vittorio died, Lorenzo attempted to warn him.
Too late.
“Then why does the payment authorization lead to Lorenzo’s company?”
“Because Vincent used Lorenzo’s credentials.”
“Can Lorenzo prove that?”
“He has spent fourteen years gathering proof.”
“Why not give it to authorities?”
“Because someone inside the government was still protecting Bellini.”
My stomach turned.
“How do we know that person isn’t you?”
Rebecca smiled sadly.
“You sound like Anna.”
I stood.
“Where is Lorenzo?”
“Safe.”
“I need more than that.”
“You’ll get it.”
“When?”
“When Matteo stops trying to solve his father’s murder with anger.”
I stepped closer.
“Don’t talk about him like you know him.”
Rebecca studied my face.
“Oh.”
“What?”
“You care about him.”
I hated how quickly I looked away.
“Elena.”
“This isn’t about Matteo and me.”
“There is a Matteo and you?”
“No.”
She almost smiled.
I remembered she had known me for twelve years.
Of course she saw through me.
A sound came from behind the church.
I turned.
Rebecca’s expression changed.
“Did Matteo send anyone inside?”
“No.”
She drew a gun.
“Down!”
Glass exploded.
I hit the floor.
Two masked men entered through a side door.
Rebecca fired.
One retreated.
The other advanced.
Then the front doors burst open.
Matteo.
He didn’t hesitate.
He tackled the attacker.
Daniel entered behind him.
Seconds later, it was over.
Matteo crossed the church toward me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He touched my shoulders, checking anyway.
“Matteo.”
“I know.”
“I’m fine.”
“I know.”
But his hands were shaking.
Rebecca watched us.
Then she said something that changed everything.
“They weren’t Bellini’s men.”
Daniel searched the attacker.
He found identification.
A federal credential.
Matteo looked toward Rebecca.
She nodded grimly.
“This is why Lorenzo ran.”
The corruption wasn’t buried in Matteo’s family.
It reached the government.
And somewhere inside the organization supposedly protecting us was the person who had kept Vincent safe for fourteen years.
Rebecca gave us a name.
Deputy Director Samuel Crane.
The prosecutor who had received my timed email.
The man currently controlling the investigation.
The man who knew exactly where every witness was being kept.
Including Gabriel.
Matteo’s phone rang.
Hospital security.
He answered.
His face emptied.
“What?”
Then he looked at me.
Gabriel’s protective detail had vanished.
And so had Gabriel.
Again.
May you like
Except this time, nobody had kidnapped him.
Security footage showed Gabriel walking willingly into an elevator beside Deputy Director Crane.
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