CHAPTER SEVEN

ELAIS

I folded the letter against my chest before Teo could see what was written on it.

I didn’t know why I did it. I just wasn’t ready for anyone else to read those words. Not even him.

“Teo.”

My voice sounded strange.

“What do you know about my mother?”

He didn’t answer.

He walked slowly across the ruined study, stepping around broken glass and papers scattered across the floor. Then he stopped beside my father’s desk and lowered himself onto the edge of the chair.

“Sit down, boy.”

He wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were on the sea chest lying on its side. Photographs had spilled out across the floor. One of them was partly trapped beneath a broken drawer, but I could still see the corner of a woman’s face.

My mother’s face.

“I’ve been standing in this wreckage for two days,” I said. “I don’t think sitting is going to make much difference.”

A small smile crossed his face, but it disappeared almost immediately.

“Fair enough.”

He rubbed his jaw.

When he finally looked at me, his eyes were wet.

“Your mother didn’t die in a car accident, Elias.”

I stopped breathing for a second.

“I don’t know who told you that. Maybe your father. Maybe people around here just assumed it and nobody bothered correcting them.”

He continued.

“But it’s not true.”

I stared at him.

“I’ve known that for nineteen years.”

My fingers tightened around the letter.

“Nineteen?”

He nodded.

“And I kept quiet.”

“Why?”

“Because I was a coward.”

His answer came so quickly that I didn’t know what to say.

Then he added, “And because I was paid to keep quiet.”

“Paid?”

“The Cassanos.”

He said the name without hesitation.

My stomach turned.

“Not Kai,” he said quickly. “He was only a boy then. Younger than you are now. I’m talking about his father. Old man Cassano.”

I said nothing.

“He came to me the week Adrian died. He offered me money. Good money. More than I could have made working the docks for years.”

“For what?”

“To make sure nobody connected two things that happened around the same time.”

I already knew I wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Adrian Cassano dying,” Teo said, “and Dahlia Marchetti leaving.”

My mouth went dry.

“Leaving?”

He nodded.

“You’re saying she left?”

“Yes.”

“Not that she died?”

“No.”

I took a step back.

“She left.”

“The same week,” Teo said. “The same night, actually.”

I stared at him.

He continued before I could ask another question.

“I took her out of Ironmouth by myself. There was a small boat I used for the docks. Nothing official. Nobody recorded the trip.”

He paused.

“She had a bag. Some cash. That’s all.”

“What did she say?”

“Almost nothing.”

“Teo.”

“She was scared.”

“Of what?”

“I don’t know.”

He looked down at his hands.

“She kept looking behind her. Like she expected someone to come after us.”

“And then?”

“When we reached the other side, she got off the boat.”

His voice became quiet.

“She looked at me once and said, ‘Tell him I’m sorry.’”

My chest tightened.

“Tell who?”

Teo didn’t answer.

“Tell my father?”

Still nothing.

“Or me?”

“I don’t know, Elias.”

His voice cracked slightly.

“She didn’t say. The boat was leaving. There were Cassano men watching the dock. We didn’t have time to stand there and talk.”

He rubbed both hands over his face.

“I took the money.”

I looked away.

“I took it,” he repeated. “And I kept my mouth shut.”

“For nineteen years.”

“Yes.”

“You watched me grow up believing she was dead.”

His eyes met mine.

“Yes.”

“And you said nothing.”

“I was afraid.”

“You were paid.”

“I know.”

“You let me hate my father.”

“I know.”

The words came out harder than I intended.

Teo didn’t defend himself.

“I told myself I was protecting you,” he said. “That if the truth came out, someone would get hurt. Maybe killed. Your father had enemies. The Cassanos had enemies. Your mother had disappeared. I thought keeping quiet was safer.”

“And now?”

“Now I know I was wrong.”

I shook my head.

“You should have told me.”

“I should have.”

The room went quiet.

I looked down at the letter still trapped in my hand.

My father’s handwriting was pressed into the paper.

Your mother did not die the year they told you she did.

I had spent years believing she was gone.

I had grieved for her.

I had hated my father for what I thought he’d done.

And now I didn’t even know what was real anymore.

My legs suddenly felt weak.

I lowered myself onto the floor.

Teo watched me but didn’t move closer.

“Is she alive?”

He looked at me.

“My mother.”

My voice came out quiet this time.

“Is she alive now?”

Teo shook his head slowly.

“I don’t know.”

I closed my eyes.

“I never heard from her after that night. Cassano made sure nobody could find her. At least, that’s what I assumed.”

“You never looked?”

“I did.”

His answer surprised me.

“Not openly. I asked questions. Quietly. I checked ports. I asked people who owed me favors.”

“And?”

“Nothing.”

I stared at the floor.

“So she could be dead.”

“She could.”

“Or alive.”

“Yes.”

Neither answer helped.

Teo leaned forward.

“But that’s not why I came tonight.”

I looked up.

His expression had changed.

There was something else.

“What happened?”

“I heard about the shooting.”

My body stiffened.

“At the Cassano house?”

He nodded.

“Words are already moving through the city.”

“What did you hear?”

“That Marco Reyes was there.”

My stomach dropped.

“Marco?”

“He was seen leaving through the service gate shortly before the police arrived.”

“Did anyone see where he went?”

“No.”

“Do you know him?”

Teo gave me a tired look.

“Everyone who’s worked these docks long enough knows Marco Reyes.”

“What kind of man is he?”

“The kind you don’t want looking for you.”

I said nothing.

Teo glanced toward the broken doorway.

“If Marco was at that house tonight, he had a reason.”

“You think he shot Kai?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you think he did.”

“I think a man like Marco doesn’t disappear from a crime scene for no reason.”

My hands went cold.

Teo lowered his voice.

“And if he was the one who put that bullet in Kai, then you need to understand something.”

“What?”

“Men like him don’t leave things unfinished.”

He looked directly at me.

“And right now, Elias, you might be the thing he’s coming back for.”