Chapter 4 - Sophia’s LieThe person inside the Bennett Community Center survived.
Barely.
Her name was Denise Walker, sixty-two, the center’s longtime director and one of Marcus Bennett’s closest friends.
Anna arrived at Northwestern Memorial Hospital shortly after sunrise.
Vincent followed despite her objections.
Denise had suffered smoke inhalation and burns to one arm.
She was conscious.
When Anna entered the room, Denise began crying.
“I thought you were dead.”
Anna held her hand.
“So did everyone.”
“No.” Denise shook her head. “Your father didn’t.”
Anna stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
Denise looked toward Vincent.
Her expression changed.
“Why is he here?”
Vincent answered quietly.
“Because somebody tried to kill Anna three years ago, and I intend to find out who.”
Denise laughed bitterly.
“You had your chance to protect her.”
Anna felt Vincent absorb the blow.
He deserved it.
Denise turned back to Anna.
“Marcus came to me before he died. He said something was wrong inside Moretti Holdings.”
“Carlo?”
“He never named anyone.”
“What did he give you?”
Denise looked toward the hospital door.
“A safety deposit receipt.”
Anna leaned closer.
“Where?”
“First Lakeshore Bank.”
Vincent asked, “What box?”
Denise’s expression became guarded.
“It requires two signatures.”
“Whose?”
“Anna’s.”
She paused.
“And Sophia Carter’s.”
Anna stared.
Vincent turned sharply.
“Sophia?”
Denise nodded.
“Marcus said Sophia would understand when the time came.”
Anna felt an old wound opening.
Sophia had been connected to her father?
Vincent took out his phone.
“I’ll bring her.”
“No,” Anna said.
“You want the box opened.”
“I want answers before we involve another person who was conveniently aboard that plane.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“You think Sophia was involved?”
“I think she was the woman you saved.”
He flinched.
Anna hated that part of herself still noticed.
An hour later Sophia arrived anyway.
She wore dark glasses and no makeup.
When she saw Denise, she stopped.
“You survived.”
Denise looked unsurprised.
“So did you.”
Anna crossed her arms.
“You knew my father?”
Sophia removed her glasses.
“Yes.”
Vincent stared at her.
“For how long?”
“Years.”
“You never told me.”
“I wasn’t supposed to.”
Anna’s voice sharpened.
“Stop speaking in riddles.”
Sophia sat slowly.
“My father, Raymond Carter, worked with Marcus and Antonio Moretti before the feud.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“The Carter family hated my father.”
“That came later.”
Sophia looked at Anna.
“Our fathers discovered Carlo was moving money through redevelopment companies. Antonio wanted to confront him. Raymond wanted evidence first.”
“And Marcus?”
“He kept the books.”
Anna whispered, “The ledgers.”
Sophia nodded.
“After Antonio was murdered, my father believed Carlo was responsible. That’s why he pulled me away from Vincent when we were young.”
Vincent looked stunned.
“You told me your father separated us because he hated the Morettis.”
“He did hate them.”
“Because of Carlo?”
“Because he thought your family would eventually kill me.”
Vincent turned away.
The past was rearranging itself around him.
Anna asked, “Why were you on the plane three years ago?”
Sophia hesitated.
Vincent noticed.
“Sophia.”
She looked at him.
“I asked to be.”
Anna laughed once, without humor.
“Of course.”
“It wasn’t about Vincent.”
“What was it about?”
Sophia opened her purse and removed a small gold pendant.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
“Your father contacted me two weeks before his death.”
Anna stopped breathing.
“He said he had evidence. He wanted me to deliver it to a federal prosecutor my father trusted.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Marcus died before he gave me the encryption key.”
Anna’s anger rose.
“You had this for almost four years?”
“I didn’t know what was on it.”
“You knew enough to hide it.”
Sophia’s voice broke.
“I knew enough to be afraid.”
Vincent stared at her.
“And the flight?”
“I was leaving Chicago permanently. Marcus had once told me that if something happened to him, I should speak to Anna. I thought the flight would give me the chance.”
Anna’s eyes burned.
“You never spoke to me.”
Sophia looked ashamed.
“Because you already hated me.”
“I didn’t hate you.”
“You thought I wanted your husband.”
Anna looked toward Vincent.
“Didn’t you?”
Sophia didn’t answer immediately.
That silence told the truth.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“But wanting him and plotting against you are not the same thing.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“You grabbed my arm during the evacuation.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“I was terrified.”
“You begged me to take you.”
“Yes.”
“And I did.”
“Yes.”
Anna looked away.
There was no conspiracy in that moment.
That almost hurt more.
Vincent had chosen Sophia because some part of him had wanted to.
Not because he had been manipulated.
Sophia continued.
“When we reached the runway, I realized Anna wasn’t behind us. I told you to keep moving because fuel was pouring under the aircraft.”
Vincent whispered, “I remember.”
“I have hated myself for surviving ever since.”
Anna’s voice went cold.
“Survivor’s guilt doesn’t make us sisters.”
“I know.”
Denise interrupted.
“The bank box.”
Everyone turned.
“Open it before whoever burned the center reaches it.”
They drove to First Lakeshore Bank under private security.
The box required Anna’s identification, Sophia’s signature and a phrase Marcus had given Sophia years ago.
“What phrase?” Anna asked.
Sophia swallowed.
“Never trust the story told by the winner.”
The vault officer opened the box.
Inside was a single envelope.
Anna tore it open.
A photograph fell onto the table.
Carlo Moretti stood beside an aircraft maintenance supervisor.
The date stamp was the day before the crash.
Behind the photograph was a handwritten list.
Four names.
Marcus Bennett.
Anna Moretti.
Sophia Carter.
Vincent Moretti.
Anna looked at Vincent.
“You were on the list.”
Sophia whispered, “We all were.”
Vincent turned the paper over.
One final sentence was written on the back.
ONLY ONE OF THEM WAS SUPPOSED TO WALK AWAY.
Anna stared at Sophia.
Sophia stared back.
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And suddenly both women understood the cruelest possibility.
The person Carlo had intended to survive the crash might have been Vincent.
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