Chapter 6 - vincent’s promise
Lena called Vincent the following afternoon.
Not the emergency number on the black card.
She contacted his restaurant office and left a message.
Vincent returned the call within four minutes.
“Are you safe?” he asked.
The question came before hello.
“I need to speak with you.”
“Tell me where.”
“No bodyguards.”
There was a pause.
“Agreed.”
“And no one follows me afterward.”
Another pause.
“Agreed.”
They met inside a small church near Washington Square Park. Lena chose it because the building had several exits and because Eric had no reason to search for her there.
Vincent sat alone in the final pew.
He stood when she entered but did not approach.
Lena wore a loose coat to hide the support bandage around her arm. Vincent noticed the way she held it anyway.
“Who did that?”
“I didn’t come here so you could hurt anyone.”
His face remained controlled.
“Who did that?”
“Eric grabbed me. I fell against a cabinet.”
Vincent looked toward the altar.
For several seconds, Lena could see the effort it took for him to remain still.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“I need to know whether Eric knew who I was before we met.”
Vincent’s eyes returned to her.
“Why?”
“He asked about my family from the beginning. He found your card. Now he’s trying to access my mother’s trust.”
Vincent reached into his coat slowly and removed his phone.
Lena tensed.
“I said no one gets hurt.”
“I heard you.”
He placed the phone on the pew.
“I can have his background examined without touching him.”
“Have you already done it?”
“No.”
She did not believe him.
Vincent saw that.
“Your mother’s last request was that I never control you through fear. Investigating your husband without permission would have broken that promise.”
“You watched me for years.”
“I confirmed that you were alive. I did not read your messages, enter your home or interfere with your relationships.”
“Was Eric connected to you?”
“Not that I know.”
Lena sat several feet away.
“People say you’re a criminal.”
“People say many accurate things.”
She expected denial.
His honesty unsettled her more.
“Have you killed people?”
Vincent looked at the candles near the altar.
“I have made decisions that cannot be made clean again.”
Lena felt cold.
“Then why should I trust you?”
“You should not.”
He turned toward her.
“You should verify every promise I make. You should keep your own lawyer. You should refuse my money if you believe it carries a price. Trust is not something I can request after being absent for twenty-eight years.”
“My mother said I should judge you by what you do when I tell you no.”
Vincent’s expression softened.
“She always understood the most important test.”
Lena studied him.
“If I tell you not to harm Eric, will you obey me?”
“Yes.”
“Even if he hurt me?”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Even if you think he deserves it?”
“Yes.”
She believed that answer.
Not because Vincent lacked anger, but because he had chosen restraint in front of her.
“I want you to investigate him,” Lena said. “Legally.”
“I know a detective who has spent years trying to put me in prison.”
Lena blinked.
“You trust her?”
“No. That is why she is useful.”
Vincent explained that Detective Mara Quinn led a financial crimes unit investigating fraud, coercive control and organized corruption. She would not protect Vincent, Eric or anyone else.
“If the evidence leads back to me,” Vincent said, “she will follow it.”
“Why would you involve someone who wants to arrest you?”
“Because you asked for legal protection, not family revenge.”
Lena looked down at her bandaged arm.
“Eric will know if I leave now.”
“Then do not return.”
“I need evidence from the apartment.”
“No evidence is worth your life.”
“He has forged documents. He’s creating a story that I’m unstable. If I disappear suddenly, he’ll use it.”
Vincent’s voice became firmer.
“Lena, you do not need to win an argument before you leave danger.”
“I know.”
But she did not fully know it yet.
Vincent slid the phone toward her.
“Detective Quinn can meet us here in twenty minutes.”
Lena shook her head.
“I have to think.”
“You have been thinking inside a locked room built by someone else.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to make the decision.”
Vincent immediately leaned back.
“You are right.”
The speed of his apology surprised her.
He took a new black card from his wallet and placed it between them.
“This number reaches me directly. Day or night.”
“I already have one.”
“The old number is monitored by my office.”
Lena picked up the new card.
“What happens if I call?”
“I answer.”
“And then?”
“You tell me what you want.”
“What if I can’t?”
“Then I will ask one question.”
“What question?”
May you like
Vincent held her gaze.
“Who is there?”
