Chapter 3 - The Ghost in Boston
Midnight descended upon the Connecticut estate like a shroud of black velvet. Inside the secure command room behind the library, Leo and Clare pored over digitized hospital logs, financial transfers, and security archives from five years prior.
Clare proved to be surprisingly resourceful. Her time at St. Jude's had taught her how to notice the small details—the discrepancies in shift logs, the names scratched out with heavy black marker, and the peculiar pattern of anonymous donations that kept the hospice's underground wing funded.
"Look here," Clare said, pointing a trembling finger at a scanned PDF on Leo's encrypted laptop. "This is the intake manifest for November 14th. Patient 412. The name listed is Elena Moretti—my mother's maiden name. But look at the signature authorizing her transfer from a private medical transport in New York."
Leo leaned in, his breath hitching. The signature at the bottom of the intake form was blurred, but the initials were unmistakable: F.V.
Franco Vance. His uncle. His consigliere. The man who had raised him after his father's death. The man who supposedly wept beside him at the funeral.
"Franco," Leo hissed, slamming his fist onto the desk so hard the monitor jumped. "The old bastard. He staged her death to seize absolute control of the syndicate's overseas accounts while I was distracted by grief. He locked her away in a hospice in Boston, thinking she had lost her mind from the early stages of dementia, and told everyone she was buried in Milan."
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"If he finds out I told you..." Clare swallowed hard, fear gripping her chest. "He'll kill us both. You know he will."
"Franco only kills when he thinks he’s invisible," Leo said, his eyes flashing with a cold, terrifying resolve. He stood up and pulled a heavy black 9mm pistol from a hidden wall safe, checking the magazine with a practiced click. "He thinks I'm a boy playing boss. Tonight, we find out where my mother is actually being kept. Because St. Jude's was just a way station. If Franco moved her before I started asking questions, she could be anywhere in the Northeast."
