Chapter 9 - Union Station
Elena stepped onto the platform and whispered, “I came alone.”
Victor watched from thirty yards away behind a concrete pillar.
A brass locker key hung from Elena’s fingers.
Number 214.
It matched the number printed inside Elias’s stolen baseball case.
Of course Elena had not come alone.
She simply needed Dominic to believe she had.
Union Station at two in the morning was not empty.
It was worse.
Sparse.
A few travelers.
Cleaning crews.
Security guards.
Too much open space.
Too many sight lines.
Victor hated it.
Matteo occupied the west stairs.
Daniel watched the tracks.
Sofia remained at the mansion with Hart.
Victor had argued for Elena to stay there too.
That argument had lasted forty-seven seconds.
He lost.
Not because Elena was louder.
Because she said one sentence.
“If Elisa spent six years waiting for me, I’m not making her wait one more night.”
Victor had no answer.
So now Elena stood beneath the departure board wearing a dark coat over borrowed clothes.
No maid uniform.
No apron.
For the first time, Victor saw her outside the role in which he had known her.
She looked younger.
And somehow stronger.
A man in a gray hat approached.
Not Dominic.
He handed Elena an envelope.
Walked away.
Victor spoke through the tiny earpiece hidden beneath her hair.
“What is it?”
Elena opened the envelope.
A locker number.
She held up the brass key.
“Same.”
“Go.”
She crossed the main hall.
Victor shadowed.
Locker 214 sat in an old baggage corridor.
Elena inserted the key.
Turned.
Inside lay the baseball.
And a phone.
It rang.
Elena answered.
Dominic’s voice.
“You brought Russo.”
Elena went still.
Victor cursed silently.
“He doesn’t listen.”
Dominic laughed.
“Men like Victor rarely do.”
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“You have the baseball.”
“The baseball is sentimental.”
Elena frowned.
“Open it.”
She looked at Victor’s direction.
He gave one slight nod.
Elena twisted the stitched seam.
Nothing.
She squeezed.
A panel popped.
Inside rested a tiny brass cylinder.
Not microfilm.
Physical key.
“Where does it go?” she asked.
Dominic laughed.
“That’s the sixty-million-dollar question.”
“You took Elisa for money?”
“No.”
Elena stiffened.
“Then where is she?”
“She came to me.”
Victor’s expression sharpened.
Daniel’s voice came over comms.
“That’s a lie.”
Dominic continued.
“Your sister wants Bellandi destroyed.”
“So do you.”
“Correct.”
“Then why threaten Sofia?”
“Leverage.”
“You almost killed her.”
“No. She almost killed one of my men.”
Victor believed that.
“Elisa,” Elena said. “Put her on.”
Silence.
Then a woman’s voice.
“Ellie.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Victor felt her pain from across the corridor.
“Elisa.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“Why won’t you see me?”
A pause.
“Because every time someone loves you, they choose you.”
Elena flinched.
Victor stared.
“Elisa—”
“Mom chose you to carry the evidence.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Elias chose you to escape.”
“He chose both of us.”
“No.”
Elisa’s voice cracked.
“He died because Father thought he helped you.”
Elena looked down.
“That wasn’t my fault.”
“I know.”
The two words were worse than accusation.
Victor understood then.
Elisa did not hate Elena.
She hated the version of herself that had been left behind.
The child who watched everyone protect someone else first.
Elena whispered, “Come home.”
Elisa laughed weakly.
“I don’t have one.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Where?”
Elena’s eyes lifted.
For a second, they found Victor.
“My home is wherever I can finally stop running.”
Victor’s chest tightened.
Elisa went silent.
Dominic returned to the line.
“Touching.”
Victor wanted him dead.
“Bring the key to track sixteen.”
Elena looked toward the sign.
Daniel’s voice came through.
“No. Too exposed.”
Victor said quietly, “We go.”
Daniel snapped, “That’s what he wants.”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
“Because he wants the key more than he wants Elena dead.”
“Maybe.”
Victor’s tone hardened.
“He hasn’t killed her yet. That tells me enough.”
Elena walked toward track sixteen.
Victor moved parallel.
The platform stretched beside a stationary train.
No passengers.
Maintenance lights glowed inside.
Dominic stood near the third car.
Alone.
Apparently.
Victor knew better.
“Elena.”
Dominic smiled.
He wore no hat.
No disguise.
Expensive coat.
Clean hands.
Men like Dominic preferred others to bleed.
“Where’s Elisa?”
“Near.”
“You promised.”
“I implied.”
Elena’s face hardened.
Victor almost smiled.
There she was.
Not Bellandi’s frightened daughter.
Not exhausted maid.
Elena.
Her own person.
She held up the brass cylinder.
“Why does this matter?”
Dominic’s eyes fixed on it.
“Antonio created a trust through three banks.”
“And?”
“The key opens a deposit box holding bearer instruments.”
“Sixty million.”
“Closer to seventy-three now.”
Elena stared.
“Interest.”
Dominic smiled.
“Money improves while people deteriorate.”
“Why not steal it years ago?”
“Because I needed both the key and the authorization phrase.”
Elena frowned.
“What phrase?”
Dominic smiled wider.
“You know it.”
“No.”
“Margaret taught you.”
Elena looked confused.
Victor thought back.
First thing you stole.
Baseball.
Childhood.
Maybe phrase was something from then.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Give me the key.”
“Bring Elisa.”
A sound came from the train.
Door opened.
A woman stepped down.
Dark hair.
Thin.
Scar near her temple.
Elena stopped breathing.
“Elisa.”
The woman looked at her.
Older.
Harder.
But unmistakably Bellandi.
Elena’s sister.
They stared at each other across six years.
Then Elena crossed the distance.
Dominic raised a hand.
A gun appeared from behind a train pillar.
Victor stepped out.
“Lower it.”
Dominic’s expression shifted.
“Russo.”
Three of Victor’s men emerged.
Then two more men appeared behind Dominic.
Standoff.
Elisa did not move.
Elena stopped halfway between them.
“Elisa.”
Her sister’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Elisa looked at Dominic.
Victor saw it.
Too late.
“Get down!”
Elisa grabbed Elena and pulled her behind a luggage cart.
Gunfire exploded.
Victor fired twice.
Dominic disappeared behind the train.
Daniel moved from the far stairwell.
Matteo returned fire.
Glass shattered.
People screamed.
Elena covered Elisa’s head.
Victor ran toward them.
Then heard a train door slam.
Dominic was boarding.
Daniel shouted, “He has the key!”
Victor looked at Elena.
Her hand was empty.
Dominic had taken it during the chaos.
The train began moving.
Victor ran.
Caught the outer rail.
Pulled himself onto the rear step.
Matteo shouted his name.
The train accelerated.
Victor climbed inside.
Empty car.
Dominic stood at the far door.
Holding the brass key.
And smiling.
Then he pressed a gun against someone Victor had not known was on the train.
Carlo Bellandi.
Bound to a seat.
May you like
Bleeding.
Dominic looked at Victor and said, “Now we can finally discuss who really killed Margaret.”
