Chapter 6 - LOCKER 317
The key did not belong to a room.
It belonged to a locker at Union Station.
Locker 317 had been rented thirteen years earlier under a false name.
Vincent wanted Emma to stay at the estate.
Emma refused.
“It was my mother's.”
“It may be trapped.”
“Then don't open it.”
Vincent stared at her.
Emma crossed her arms.
Tony coughed.
Vincent looked at him.
“Are you sick?”
“Terribly, boss.”
They went together.
Inside locker 317 was a red coat.
A cassette tape.
A birth certificate.
And a letter.
Emma saw her name.
EMMA CLAIRE BENNETT.
Her knees weakened.
Isabella caught her.
Vincent opened the letter only after Emma nodded.
Claire had written it days before disappearing.
If you are reading this, they found me.
Emma, I am sorry.
I wanted you.
Remember that before anyone tells you differently.
I left you because men were hunting a book I stole from Anthony Romano.
But Anthony did not ask me to steal it.
He asked me to save it.
Vincent stopped reading.
Tony whispered, “Anthony knew.”
The letter continued.
The ledger proves a network called the Harbor Circle arranged murders, adoptions, judicial favors, and disappearances for wealthy clients.
They use children's homes.
They move children when families ask questions.
They erase names.
Emma's hands shook.
St. Catherine's.
Claire had hidden her daughter inside the very network she was investigating because one honest nun still worked there.
Sister Margaret.
But Margaret died when Emma was four.
After that, Mr. Cole took control.
Emma stared at the birth certificate.
Father: Daniel Bennett.
Tony stepped backward.
Vincent saw him.
“What?”
Tony shook his head.
“Tony.”
“Daniel Bennett wasn't her father.”
Emma looked up.
“How do you know?”
Tony's eyes filled with something Emma had never expected to see.
Shame.
“Because Claire told me.”
“Then who was?”
Tony looked at Vincent.
Vincent slowly understood.
“No.”
Tony nodded.
Emma's stomach dropped.
Vincent's father, Anthony Romano, had not simply employed Claire.
He had protected her.
Loved her.
And according to Tony, months before his death, Anthony had privately admitted that Claire's baby was his daughter.
Emma stared at Vincent.
Vincent stared back.
Thirteen years old.
A runaway.
A child nobody wanted.
And possibly Vincent Romano's half-sister.
May you like
Emma laughed.
Then she cried so hard she could not stand.
