Chapter 3 - The Uncle Who Never Cried
Vittorio Castellano had taught Marco how to tie a necktie.
He had taught him how to drive.
He had shown him how to read a balance sheet, negotiate with dockworkers, recognize surveillance, and tell whether a man was lying by watching what he did with his hands.
When Marco’s father died, Vittorio had stood beside the grave with one hand on eighteen-year-old Marco’s shoulder.
“You are the family now.”
Marco had believed him.
For twenty years, Vittorio had been more than an uncle.
He had been adviser.
Teacher.
Strategist.
Occasionally the only man Marco trusted without needing proof first.
Now Elena’s voice was playing through Mara’s phone.
Do not trust my uncle Vittorio.
Marco asked Mara to replay it.
Then again.
By the fourth time, Mara refused.
“You heard her.”
“I need to know whether the recording was edited.”
“You think I edited your dead sister’s voicemail?”
“No.”
Marco dragged one hand across his face.
“I think nothing makes sense anymore.”
Mara understood that feeling.
She had lived inside it since the moment Marco said Jonah’s name.
Emma stirred against her shoulder.
Mara instinctively rocked her.
“What are you going to do?”
“Talk to Vittorio.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“To him?”
“To everyone.”
Marco looked at her.
“You think I should pretend I didn’t hear it?”
“I think Elena sounded terrified.”
“She named him.”
“She also contacted the widow of a man you say she barely knew.”
Marco’s expression tightened.
“What’s your point?”
“My point is that we don’t know enough.”
Marco’s phone rang.
Nico.
Marco answered.
“The storage footage?”
“Gone.”
Marco’s eyes hardened.
“What do you mean gone?”
“Camera server was wiped at 4:31.”
“Backup?”
“Also wiped.”
“Convenient.”
“Very.”
Marco looked at Mara.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Nico hesitated.
“Vittorio is at the hospital.”
“I know.”
“He’s asking for Elena’s personal effects.”
Marco went silent.
“I told hospital security nothing leaves without your approval.”
“Good.”
Another pause.
“Boss, he wasn’t happy.”
“He’ll survive.”
Marco hung up.
Mara crossed her arms.
“If he wanted evidence Elena might have left, wouldn’t demanding her belongings immediately make him look guilty?”
“Unless he assumes no one would dare suspect him.”
“Do you?”
Marco didn’t answer.
Mara understood.
That was the problem.
Marco did suspect him now.
And suspicion was more painful when it landed on someone you loved.
They returned to the hospital just after nine.
Mara brought Emma because she had no one she trusted enough to leave her with after the apartment break-in.
Marco assigned two women from his security team to remain nearby.
Mara objected.
Marco ignored her.
She eventually decided arguing in a neonatal hallway was pointless.
Vittorio was waiting near Elena’s private room.
He was sixty-two, silver-haired, broad-shouldered, and dressed in a charcoal suit that probably cost more than Mara’s car.
He looked like a man built for old photographs.
Formal.
Severe.
Permanent.
When Marco approached, Vittorio opened his arms.
“My boy.”
Marco did not move into the embrace.
Vittorio noticed.
His gaze shifted to Mara.
Then Emma.
“Who is this?”
“Mara Ellison.”
For the first time, Vittorio’s composure cracked.
Barely.
But Mara saw it.
So did Marco.
“Ellison?”
Vittorio recovered immediately.
“I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Mara’s pulse accelerated.
“No.”
Vittorio looked at Emma.
“My condolences about your husband.”
Mara went cold.
“I didn’t tell you my husband was dead.”
Silence.
Vittorio smiled faintly.
“Jonah Ellison’s accident was in the papers.”
“It was a local business article.”
Mara’s voice remained calm.
“You remember the name four months later?”
“I have a good memory.”
Marco stepped between them slightly.
“For some things.”
Vittorio looked at him.
There it was.
The first flicker of understanding.
“You’re angry.”
“My sister died.”
“We are all angry.”
“No.”
Marco’s gaze stayed fixed on him.
“I think some of us may be afraid.”
Vittorio’s face hardened.
“Is this the place for riddles?”
Marco took out Mara’s phone.
He pressed play.
Elena’s voice filled the hallway.
Do not trust my uncle Vittorio.
Vittorio did not react until the message ended.
Then he looked at Mara.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was sent to her.”
“When?”
“Before Elena died.”
Vittorio turned toward Marco.
“And you believe it?”
“I believe Elena said it.”
“You know what medication she was receiving.”
“Pain medicine does not invent names.”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t know what Elena had gotten herself involved in.”
Marco stepped closer.
“Then explain it.”
Vittorio glanced toward nurses and security.
“Not here.”
“Here is fine.”
“Marco.”
“Explain Jonah Ellison.”
Vittorio’s eyes shifted.
That was enough.
Marco’s voice dropped.
“You knew him.”
“I knew of him.”
“How?”
“He reviewed financial records for one of our companies.”
“Which company?”
Vittorio hesitated.
“Castellano Maritime.”
Marco felt anger rising.
“Elena asked me about him six months ago.”
“I wasn’t aware.”
“You just said he reviewed our records.”
“I don’t track every accountant.”
Marco leaned closer.
“But you remember his widow.”
Vittorio looked at Mara.
Something cold settled between them.
Then he sighed.
“Jonah was asking questions he wasn’t paid to ask.”
Mara’s face went pale.
“What questions?”
Vittorio ignored her.
Marco did not.
“Answer her.”
“Financial questions.”
“About?”
“Old accounts.”
“Which accounts?”
Vittorio’s patience broke.
“Your father’s accounts.”
Marco went still.
“My father has been dead twelve years.”
“Exactly.”
“What was Jonah looking for?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
Vittorio’s expression changed.
“You should be careful accusing the only man who stood beside you when everyone else wanted your father’s empire carved into pieces.”
Marco’s voice became quiet.
“You should be careful reminding me how much I trusted you.”
For several seconds, neither man moved.
Mara could feel the history between them without understanding all of it.
Vittorio eventually looked toward Emma.
“This is not a conversation for children.”
Mara stepped forward.
“My husband died in a fire while investigating your family.”
Her voice shook despite her effort to control it.
“If you know why, you will tell me.”
Vittorio studied her.
Then something like pity entered his face.
“Mrs. Ellison.”
“Don’t.”
“Jonah was a good accountant.”
“He was also reckless.”
Mara’s breathing changed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means some doors should remain closed.”
Marco seized Vittorio by the front of his jacket.
Security men immediately tensed.
Mara stepped backward with Emma.
Marco’s voice was almost a whisper.
“Did you kill him?”
Vittorio did not struggle.
“No.”
“Did you order the fire?”
“No.”
“Did you know it would happen?”
A pause.
Too long.
Marco tightened his grip.
“Answer me.”
“I knew Jonah was in trouble.”
Mara made a broken sound.
Marco released Vittorio only because Mara was standing there.
“You knew.”
“I warned Elena.”
“About what?”
“That Jonah had found records people were willing to kill for.”
“Which people?”
Vittorio straightened his jacket.
“Your father made enemies.”
“My father is dead.”
“His secrets aren’t.”
Marco looked toward Mara.
“Blue Ledger.”
Vittorio’s face changed.
This time he could not hide it.
Marco saw everything.
“You know what it is.”
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“Anyone would react when you repeat nonsense like a code word.”
Marco stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Vittorio.”
“I said I don’t know.”
Marco stared at him.
Then Vittorio did something unexpected.
He turned toward Mara.
“If Jonah left you anything, destroy it.”
Mara’s heart hammered.
“Why?”
“Because Elena refused to.”
Marco’s anger sharpened.
“What did Elena have?”
Vittorio looked at his nephew.
“Enough to get herself killed.”
The hallway became silent.
Marco’s voice changed.
“You just said that as if you know she was killed.”
Vittorio realized his mistake.
Grief and fury collided in Marco’s face.
Before he could speak, alarms sounded from the neonatal unit.
Marco spun.
A nurse rushed through the doors.
“Dr. Shah!”
Marco was moving before anyone called his name.
Mara followed.
Through the glass, three nurses surrounded Leo’s incubator.
The monitor beside him was flashing.
Marco slammed his palm against the locked access door.
“What happened?”
Dr. Shah appeared.
“His heart rate dropped.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Marco’s face drained.
Mara stood beside him holding Emma.
Leo looked impossibly still beneath the lights.
Dr. Shah hurried inside.
Seconds stretched into centuries.
Marco whispered Elena’s name once.
Mara heard it.
Then the monitor stabilized.
A nurse lifted her thumb through the glass.
Marco sagged against the wall.
Mara closed her eyes.
Dr. Shah came out several minutes later.
“He’s stable again.”
“What caused it?”
“We’re investigating.”
Marco’s expression hardened.
“Investigating what?”
The doctor hesitated.
“There was something unusual in his IV line.”
Every person in the hallway went still.
“What?”
“We don’t know whether it was medication residue or contamination.”
Marco’s voice dropped.
“Who touched him?”
“Mr. Castellano—”
“Who touched my nephew?”
“We have access logs.”
“Get them.”
Dr. Shah looked toward security.
“We already locked down the unit.”
Marco turned toward Vittorio.
His uncle was standing twenty feet away.
For the first time, Vittorio looked genuinely shaken.
Marco noticed.
So did Mara.
A hospital administrator arrived carrying a tablet.
“We pulled the electronic entry log.”
Marco held out his hand.
The administrator did not give him the tablet.
“One temporary staff credential entered the neonatal medication room sixteen minutes before Leo’s heart-rate event.”
“Whose?”
“A nurse named Rachel Weller.”
Dr. Shah frowned.
“We don’t have a Rachel Weller scheduled today.”
The administrator’s face went pale.
“Then we have another problem.”
“What?”
“The credential was created yesterday.”
Marco’s blood ran cold.
“By whom?”
The administrator looked at the screen.
“According to the system, authorization came from Elena Castellano.”
Marco stared at him.
“Elena was unconscious yesterday.”
“I understand.”
“Then someone used her identity.”
“Yes.”
Mara looked toward Leo.
Someone had accessed his medical area.
Someone had known enough about hospital systems to create a false credential.
Someone had done it after Elena became unable to protect herself.
Marco turned toward Vittorio.
But his uncle was no longer standing in the hallway.
Vittorio had disappeared.
Marco’s phone rang.
Nico.
“I found the storage facility backup footage.”
Marco immediately answered.
“Who opened Elena’s unit?”
Nico sounded shaken.
“Boss.”
“Tell me.”
“It wasn’t Vittorio.”
Marco looked toward the empty hallway.
“Who was it?”
Nico hesitated.
“It was Elena.”
Marco stopped breathing.
“That is impossible.”
“I know.”
“She was in labor.”
“I know.”
“She was inside this hospital.”
“I know.”
Marco’s voice became dangerous.
“Then what exactly are you telling me?”
“The woman on the footage has Elena’s access code.”
“She has Elena’s coat.”
“She even drives Elena’s car.”
“But it isn’t Elena.”
Marco’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Who is it?”
“We’re enhancing the image.”
Another pause.
“Boss, there is something you need to see.”
Marco lowered the phone.
Mara stared at him.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward her.
A grainy security image showed a woman leaving Elena’s storage unit carrying a blue leather binder.
The woman’s face was partially visible.
Mara’s knees almost gave way.
Because she recognized her.
She had seen that face framed in photographs throughout Jonah’s office.
May you like
It belonged to Jonah’s older sister.
The same woman who had supposedly died nine years earlier.
