Chapter 11 - Elena’s Envelope
Elena disappeared into her room after the call.
She returned carrying an old metal box.
“I should have shown you this sooner.”
Inside was an envelope.
Yellowed.
Unopened for years except along one edge.
Luca recognized his mother’s handwriting.
Elena placed it in front of him.
“I received this twelve years ago.”
The letter contained no signature.
Only three sentences.
Luca cannot come back.
Take your daughter and stay away from the Costello family.
If you love her, never let them find you.
There had also been twenty thousand dollars.
Elena had spent none of it.
“I thought it was from you.”
Luca looked up sharply.
“You thought I paid you to disappear?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
She wiped her eyes angrily.
“You vanished.”
“Why didn’t you use the money?”
“Because I was furious.”
Despite everything, Luca almost smiled.
“That sounds like you.”
“I worked two jobs instead.”
Maya stood in the doorway.
“You kept it?”
Elena nodded.
“I thought one day you might ask questions.”
Rebecca examined the envelope.
A faint impression remained beneath the handwriting.
Caterina had written the note on top of another document.
Forensic imaging revealed several words from the page below.
A date.
A bank account.
And Dominic’s name.
The date was three days after Luca’s collapse.
The account belonged to a private medical supply company.
Payments continued for twelve years.
Every month.
Dr. Vale had received money.
So had another physician.
Dr. Alan Pike.
Luca looked toward Rebecca.
“Pike is on my current medical staff.”
Rebecca went pale.
Dr. Pike had approved every medication Luca currently took.
They tested the daily supplements in Luca’s bathroom.
The results came back the following morning.
One capsule contained a low concentration of the same compound used twelve years ago.
Elena stared at the report.
“They’re still poisoning you.”
Luca looked at the medicine bottle he had taken from every morning for years.
His paralysis had never been permanent.
May you like
His prison had simply been renewed one capsule at a time.
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