Chapter 3 - The Photograph My Mother HidI picked up the photograph with shaking fingers.
My mother looked younger than I had ever seen her.
Her hair was longer.
Her face was brighter.
And Nathaniel Graves was smiling.
I had never imagined he knew how.
I looked from the photograph to him.
“You lied.”
Nathaniel’s expression tightened.
“I didn’t lie.”
“You said you knew my mom.”
“I said nothing.”
“That’s worse.”
Dante looked away.
Nathaniel crouched again.
“Yes.”
The word surprised me.
“It was worse.”
I held the photograph against my chest.
“Who are you to her?”
Nathaniel took a long breath.
“Once, I was the man she planned to marry.”
The room seemed to become silent around us.
I blinked.
“My mom was going to marry you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
His gaze moved to the old photograph.
“She disappeared.”
“My mom doesn’t disappear.”
“I know that now.”
He pointed toward a chair.
I refused to sit.
Nathaniel understood.
“Eleven years ago, Elena worked at one of my hotels.”
He spoke slowly.
“She was studying accounting at night.”
“I loved her.”
I stared at him.
“She knew what my family was.”
“She knew what my father had built.”
“She hated it.”
I asked the question adults were usually afraid to ask.
“You mean the Mafia?”
Several men glanced toward me.
Nathaniel did not flinch.
“Yes.”
“She asked me to leave it.”
“Did you?”
“I tried.”
His answer sounded like something he had punished himself with for years.
“My father was murdered before I could leave.”
“Everyone expected me to take control.”
“Elena gave me a choice.”
“Her or the Graves organization.”
“What did you choose?”
Nathaniel stared at me.
“I chose her.”
That confused me.
“Then why did she leave?”
“I thought she changed her mind.”
His voice hardened.
“Now I know someone made the decision for her.”
Dante enlarged the photograph on a monitor.
There was another man in the background.
Marcus Calder.
Nathaniel pointed at him.
“He worked for my father.”
“What does he want?”
Nathaniel answered immediately.
“Power.”
A technician suddenly spoke from across the room.
“Sir, we found the SUV.”
The city map zoomed toward an industrial neighborhood near the river.
The vehicle had passed beneath three traffic cameras.
Then disappeared inside an abandoned warehouse district.
Dante looked at Nathaniel.
“Could be bait.”
“It is bait.”
“You’re still going?”
Nathaniel looked toward me.
“They took Elena.”
“There was never another option.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She’s my mom.”
“And that is exactly why you are staying here.”
I felt tears burn my eyes.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Something changed in Nathaniel’s face.
For eight years, I had never had a father.
And suddenly this terrifying stranger was looking at me like my safety mattered more than his own life.
“I know.”
He gently removed my hand from his sleeve.
“But until Elena tells me otherwise, I’m protecting you.”
Dante placed a tablet in front of Nathaniel.
“Sir.”
A live video had appeared.
My mother was tied to a chair inside a dark room.
Blood marked one corner of her mouth.
A man stepped into view behind her.
Marcus Calder.
He smiled at the camera.
“Nathaniel.”
Then he leaned close to my mother.
“Bring the girl.”
Nathaniel went still.
May you like
Calder smiled wider.
“Or Ruby becomes an orphan before midnight.”
