Chapter 2 - The Woman on the Phone)
Nora Vance took control of the sidewalk within seconds.
She did not shout.
She did not threaten anyone.
She simply gave instructions, and people obeyed.
"Clear the entrance."
Two members of her security team moved customers back.
"Call the medical team."
A man near the SUV lifted his phone.
"Get the cafe cameras copied before anyone touches the system."
Owen's face tightened.
"You can't come into my cafe and seize anything."
Nora looked at him.
"We aren't seizing anything."
"Then get off the property."
"We're preserving evidence."
Owen laughed nervously.
"Evidence of what?"
Nora stepped closer.
"That's what we're going to find out."
An ambulance appeared at the far end of the street.
Mia remained beside Elias.
His breathing had steadied slightly.
Nora knelt opposite her.
"What did he drink?"
"I don't know."
"Did you give him the water?"
"Only a sip."
"Anything else?"
"No."
Nora touched Elias's neck, checking his pulse.
"Elias."
His eyes opened.
"You took your medication this morning?"
He nodded.
"Coffee?"
"Bellrose."
Owen immediately said, "He didn't buy anything here."
Mia looked at him.
"You knew he was here?"
Owen realized his mistake.
"I saw him outside."
"You said you didn't recognize him."
"I never said that."
Mia remembered perfectly.
When Elias first collapsed, Owen had shouted, "Get away from him. We don't know who he is."
Now Owen was changing the story.
Nora noticed too.
"Interesting."
Paramedics arrived.
As they lifted Elias onto a stretcher, his hand caught Mia's sleeve.
"Come."
She blinked.
"What?"
"Come with us."
Owen laughed.
"She's working."
Nora looked at Mia.
"You don't work here anymore."
Mia's stomach dropped.
Owen folded his arms.
"Correct. She abandoned her shift."
For months Mia had imagined quitting Bellrose.
The reality felt different.
Rent was due in nine days.
Her mother's medication was expensive.
Mia felt panic rising.
Elias saw it.
His voice was barely audible.
"I asked you to help me. You did. You won't lose anything because of it."
Owen scoffed.
"That's how you do business, Vance? Buy everyone around you?"
Elias looked at him.
"No."
His eyes hardened.
"I remember people who don't leave me on the pavement."
The paramedics moved him toward the ambulance.
Nora handed Mia a card.
"Harbor General. Come if you're willing."
"Why me?"
"Because you heard what Elias said before anyone arrived. You saw Owen's reaction. And right now, you're the only witness we know wasn't already involved."
Mia felt the word involved settle uncomfortably in her stomach.
"Involved in what?"
Nora looked toward Owen.
"An attempt to make sure my brother never spoke to anyone again."
Owen laughed.
"This is insane."
Nora ignored him.
Mia looked through the cafe window.
Customers were still recording.
Tessa stood near the counter, pale and frightened.
Then Tessa subtly pointed toward Owen's office.
Mia understood.
Something was inside.
Something Tessa wanted her to know about.
Owen followed Mia's gaze.
His expression sharpened.
Nora noticed.
"Go to the hospital," she told Mia quietly. "Let my team deal with the rest."
Mia hesitated.
Then she heard her father's voice in memory.
Some doors stay closed because someone is afraid of what you'll find.
She looked at Nora.
"I'll come."
At Harbor General Hospital, doctors took Elias behind secured doors.
Mia sat in a private waiting room with Nora.
For several minutes neither woman spoke.
Finally Mia asked, "Who are you really?"
"Nora Vance."
"I know your name."
Nora almost smiled.
"You want to know what we do."
"Everyone in Harbor City thinks your brother is some kind of gangster."
"Everyone in Harbor City enjoys easy stories."
"So they're wrong?"
Nora considered the question.
"Not completely."
Mia waited.
"Our father ran protection rackets, illegal gambling, smuggling, and several legitimate businesses. Elias grew up inside that world."
Mia's stomach tightened.
"But?"
"But when our father died, Elias dismantled most of it. Some operations he sold. Some he shut down. Some people he handed to federal investigators."
"Why does everyone still fear him?"
"Because fear lasts longer than facts."
"And because he likes it?"
Nora's mouth twitched.
"Sometimes."
Mia looked down at the card in her hand.
"Was he at Harbor East Warehouse eleven years ago?"
Nora stopped moving.
That was answer enough.
"You know about the fire."
"Yes."
"My father died there."
"I know."
Mia looked up sharply.
"You know who I am?"
Nora leaned back.
"Elias knew before he entered Bellrose."
"Why?"
"Because he went there to meet you."
Mia felt the room tilt.
"He didn't even speak to me."
"He never got the chance."
"Why would Elias Vance want to meet a waitress?"
Nora's expression softened.
"Because three days ago, my brother received a package."
"What kind of package?"
"An old medical bag."
Mia's heart began pounding.
Her father had carried a dark green medical bag everywhere.
Even after leaving full time emergency work.
Nora continued.
"Inside was a burned notebook, a key, and a photograph."
Mia whispered, "Dock 14."
Nora's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know that?"
Mia told her about the photograph in Owen's office.
For the first time, Nora looked genuinely shocked.
Then the door opened.
A doctor entered.
"Elias is stable."
Mia exhaled.
Nora stood.
The doctor continued.
"We found traces of a fast acting sedative in his bloodstream. Based on the concentration, he likely ingested it within forty minutes before collapsing."
Nora's face hardened.
"His coffee."
The doctor nodded.
"Possibly."
Mia remembered the morning.
Owen had personally carried a takeaway cup out the service entrance around noon.
At the time she thought nothing of it.
Now she remembered something else.
The name written on the cup.
E.V.
Mia stood.
"I saw Owen prepare his coffee."
Nora turned.
"You're sure?"
"I didn't know it was Elias's. But Owen made it himself."
Nora reached for her phone.
Before she could call anyone, Mia's phone vibrated.
A message from Tessa.
MIA DO NOT COME BACK.
A second message appeared.
OWEN IS BURNING SOMETHING IN THE ALLEY.
Then a third.
I FOUND A SECOND PHOTO.
Mia typed quickly.
SEND IT.
The image arrived.
Mia opened it.
Six men.
The same warehouse.
The same date.
Owen.
Thomas Dawson.
Two men Mia did not recognize.
A younger Elias Vance.
And standing at the far edge of the photograph was a man now familiar to every resident of Harbor City.
Mayor Jonathan Price.
Mia stared at the screen.
Nora came beside her.
All softness disappeared from her face.
"Now we know why someone wanted Elias silent."
Mia looked at the photograph again.
Her father had not simply died in a warehouse fire.
May you like
He had died carrying a secret powerful men had spent eleven years protecting.
And somewhere inside Bellrose Cafe, Owen Calder was trying to destroy the last pieces of it.
