Chapter 12
I did not forgive myself for believing she was dead.
Not that night.
Maybe never.
But guilt could wait.
Elena might still be alive.
Elias’s men found tracks leading from Red Hollow toward the old rail line.
A supply receipt from Bellafonte.
That surprised me.
I looked at Hannah.
She looked equally shocked.
“Bellafonte?”
Samuel stared at his daughter.
“Hannah.”
“What?”
“Your manager.”
Her face changed.
“Mr. Avery?”
Samuel nodded slowly.
“He knew Elena.”
I looked at Hannah.
“Bring him.”
George Avery was fifty-three.
Restaurant manager.
Quiet.
Invisible in the way competent men sometimes are.
He entered the private room and saw Samuel.
Dropped his keys.
“Sam?”
Samuel stood.
George’s face collapsed.
They embraced.
Another missing friendship returned.
I waited.
Then George looked at me.
“She’s alive.”
My chest tightened.
“Where?”
“I don’t know now.”
“You helped her.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Since last year.”
“Why not tell me?”
He looked ashamed.
“She made me promise.”
“Why?”
“She believed your house was compromised.”
She was right.
George continued.
“Elena came here after Red Hollow.”
“To Bellafonte?”
“After closing.”
“Hannah knew?”
“No.”
Hannah shook her head.
“I swear.”
I believed her.
George continued.
“Elena watched the girls from the kitchen corridor.”
My chest broke.
“She saw them?”
“Twice.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
“The nights Bianca brought them?”
George nodded.
Elena had watched Bianca with our daughters.
Watched Hannah feed them.
Unable to step forward.
“Why?”
“Because Marco had men here.”
I looked at him.
George continued:
“Elena believed if she revealed herself before she knew which Bellandi captains were loyal, Bianca would use the girls immediately.”
I hated the logic because it made sense.
“What changed three weeks ago?”
George looked at Samuel.
“She learned Samuel might still be alive.”
Hannah inhaled.
“She went looking for him.”
“Yes.”
“To Saint Alden?”
George nodded.
Bianca’s face changed.
I turned.
“You saw her.”
Silence.
Three weeks ago.
Bianca and Elena.
Again.
“What did you do?”
Bianca smiled slowly.
“She begged.”
My hands curled.
“For Samuel?”
“For her children.”
I stepped closer.
“And?”
Bianca’s smile sharpened.
“I told her they already called someone else Mama.”
Hannah went white.
Bianca looked at her.
“Not you.”
Then at herself.
May you like
“That was the plan.”
Except the girls had just chosen differently.
