Chapter 6 - THE MAN IN THE BLACK SEDAN
Tessa stared through the glass.
The man inside the sedan looked older than the father she remembered.
His hair was almost white.
A scar ran from his temple to his jaw.
But his eyes were the same.
Warm brown.
Exactly like Lily's.
“Dad?” Lily whispered.
Evelyn grabbed both daughters by their wrists.
“Get away from the window.”
Tessa pulled free.
“Is that him?”
Evelyn's face was white.
“I don't know.”
“You just told us he was murdered.”
“I saw his body.”
“Then who is that?”
The man in the car lifted one hand.
He held a photograph against the window.
A family photograph.
Evelyn, Tessa, Lily, and their father at Coney Island.
Tessa remembered the day.
She had been fourteen.
Lily had eaten three cotton candies and gotten sick on the subway.
Her father had laughed so hard he cried.
Only four copies of that photograph existed.
One had burned in their old apartment.
One was buried in Evelyn's supposed grave.
One belonged to Tessa.
And the fourth had been in her father's wallet.
The man lowered the photograph.
Then the sedan drove away.
Tessa turned toward Evelyn.
“Tell me everything.”
Her mother looked exhausted.
“I thought he was dead.”
“Thought?”
“I saw him lying on the warehouse floor. There was blood everywhere. Victor told me he'd been killed.”
“Victor was lying.”
“Yes.”
“About what else?”
Evelyn had no answer.
Tessa took the brass key from her mother's trembling hand.
“I'm going to find out.”
She left the library before either woman could stop her.
Outside, Daniel was waiting beside a parked SUV.
Tessa stopped.
“Roman sent you?”
“Yes.”
“I told him to stay away.”
“He did.”
Daniel nodded toward the opposite sidewalk.
“He also told me not to interfere unless you asked.”
Tessa looked around.
“Where is he?”
“Not here.”
She hated that she felt disappointed.
“Can you take me to Grand Central?”
Daniel opened the passenger door.
“Yes.”
The storage locker contained a faded blue suitcase.
Inside were bank statements, photographs, handwritten notes, and an old cassette recorder.
At the bottom lay a sealed envelope.
On the front, in her father's handwriting, were four words.
For Tessa, when ready.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Inside was a letter dated eleven years earlier.
My beautiful girl,
If you're reading this, something has gone terribly wrong.
Your mother and I discovered people stealing homes from families who had nowhere else to go. We tried to stop them.
There is one man you must never trust.
Tessa's eyes moved to the next line.
His name is not Victor Sloane.
She stopped breathing.
His name is Thomas Bellamy.
Roman's father.
But beneath that warning was another sentence.
And if his son Roman ever finds you, tell him I kept my promise.
Tessa stared at the words.
May you like
What promise?
And why had her father trusted the son of the man who destroyed their family?
