Chapter 4 - The Threat
I read the note twice before my hands started shaking.
The photograph had been taken the day Elena returned to the hospital. She was standing near the side entrance, looking over her shoulder as if someone had called her name.
She looked frightened even then.
Now I knew why.
I immediately called hospital security.
Within minutes, the NICU doors were locked down. Visitors were checked twice. No one entered without identification. The social worker moved Elena to a private family room on another floor until police could speak with her.
Sebastian arrived forty minutes later.
He took one look at my face and knew something was wrong.
“What happened?”
I handed him the envelope.
He didn’t react at first.
That was somehow worse.
He studied the photograph, then read the message beneath it.
His face went completely still.
“Who brought this?”
“A courier. He left before security could stop him.”
“Did anyone see him?”
“Not clearly.”
Sebastian folded the photograph once. Then again.
“Where is Elena?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Mr. Moretti, I can’t give you that information.”
His eyes lifted to mine.
For one terrifying second, I understood why people feared him.
Not because he raised his voice.
Because he didn’t have to.
Then his expression softened.
“You’re right,” he said. “You can’t.”
He handed the envelope back.
“Keep her safe.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means someone thinks Elena knows something about her father.”
“Does she?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer was honest.
And it was not comforting.
The police arrived an hour later. Detective Marcus Hale led the interview. He had been investigating organized crime in the city for years, though he never said Sebastian’s name directly.
He sat across from Elena in the family room while I remained nearby.
“Elena,” he said, “did your father ever leave behind documents? A safe deposit box? A phone? Anything that might have information about his business connections?”
She shook her head.
“I was two when he disappeared.”
“Did your mother ever mention anything?”
“She said not to ask questions.”
“Why?”
“Because asking questions got people killed.”
Detective Hale looked toward Sebastian, who stood outside the room behind the glass.
Elena noticed.
“He’s not the one who scared her,” she said.
Hale’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“My mother was afraid of someone named Varga.”
Sebastian’s head snapped up.
Even through the glass, I saw it.
A man named Varga.
The name meant nothing to me.
But it meant something to Sebastian.
Later, in the hallway, Detective Hale confronted him.
“Victor Varga?” Hale asked.
Sebastian said nothing.
“Your old associate?”
“Not mine.”
“Your rival, then?”
“Call him what you want.”
“He was connected to Anthony Russo.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
“Anthony wanted out.”
“And Varga didn’t allow that?”
Sebastian looked through the glass at Elena.
“No.”
The detective stepped closer. “Then why is Varga interested in his daughter now?”
Sebastian’s answer was almost a whisper.
“Because Anthony hid something before he disappeared.”
The detective stared at him.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No,” Sebastian said. “But it’s true.”
The situation worsened by evening.
Someone had tried to access Elena’s old apartment building.
Then someone called the hospital asking for her by name.
Then security found a man in a maintenance uniform near the NICU service elevator with a fake badge.
He ran before they could catch him.
That was when Sebastian made a decision.
“I’m moving her,” he told Detective Hale.
Hale folded his arms. “You don’t get to make that call.”
“I’m not taking her anywhere without permission.”
“Then what are you suggesting?”
“The Luca House.”
Dana, the social worker, looked up from her files.
“The maternal housing center?”
“Yes.”
“It’s secure,” she said. “Private location. Staffed around the clock.”
“And funded by you,” Hale added.
“Funded by a foundation,” Sebastian corrected.
Elena looked uncertain.
“I don’t want to be part of whatever this is,” she said.
“You won’t be,” Sebastian said.
“What if they come after me because of you?”
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Pain.
“They may already be coming after you because of your father,” he said. “But if you go there, no one will touch you. Not Varga. Not anyone.”
“How can you promise that?”
Sebastian looked directly at her.
“Because I failed to protect one child when I was young. I will not fail another family if I can stop it.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“You don’t even know me.”
“I knew your father.”
“He worked for criminals.”
“Yes.”
“So did you.”
Sebastian didn’t flinch.
“Yes.”
“Then why should I trust you?”
He looked down at Baby Miller sleeping in the incubator.
“You shouldn’t,” he said quietly. “Not because of my name. Not because of anything I say. Trust what I do next.”
That night, Elena agreed to go to the Luca House.
But as she was being escorted through the secure exit, her phone rang.
She stared at the screen.
Unknown number.
“Don’t answer,” Detective Hale said.
But Elena did.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then her face drained of color.
“What?” I asked.
She lowered the phone slowly.
“It was a woman,” she whispered.
“What did she say?”
Elena looked toward Sebastian.
May you like
“She said my mother is alive.”
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