Chapter 56 Chapter 56
Hailey’s POV
After Benita had left to give us privacy, promising to wait in the guest house, I turned to face my mother fully, my heart already racing with anticipation and dread.
We sat in the small sitting area of the guest house, far enough from the main penthouse that hopefully no one could overhear us.
“Tell me about Dad,” I said, cutting straight to the point. “I read an article about Elena’s death. It mentioned someone named Cooper as the last customer who came into her jewelry shop before she closed up that night. That was Dad, wasn’t it?”
My mother’s face went pale, and she closed her eyes briefly, as if gathering strength for what she was about to say.
“Yes,” she finally admitted. “That was your father.”
“But why?” I pressed. “What was he doing at Elena Alejandro’s shop? How did he even know her?”
Barbara took a deep breath, her hands twisting together in her lap. “Hailey, there’s so much you don’t know about your father. So much I kept from you to protect you.”
“Then tell me now,” I said. “No more secrets. No more protection. I need to know the truth.”
She nodded slowly. “Your father wasn’t just an accountant, Hailey. Not the kind you’re imagining, working at some regular firm doing taxes.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was an accountant for a big mafia family,” she said, and the words hung in the air like a bomb about to explode. “The Morellis.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “What?”
“The Morellis,” she repeated.
My mind was reeling, trying to process this information. “The Morellis? The same family that’s been trying to kill me? That sent people to shoot at me at school?”
“Yes,” my mother confirmed, tears beginning to stream down her face. “The same family.”
“But why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded, my voice rising. “Why would you keep this from me when they’re literally trying to murder me?”
“Because I didn’t know the connection until recently,” she said desperately. “I didn’t know you were involved with Damien Alejandro until I saw that video. I didn’t know about the pregnancy, about any of this. And when I found out, when I started digging into who Damien really was and realized his organization, the Crimson Syndicate, has been sworn rivals with the Morellis for decades…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “I knew I had to get you out immediately.”
“Tell me everything,” I said, my voice shaking. “About Dad. About the Morellis. About Elena. All of it.”
Barbara wiped her eyes and took another deep breath. “Your father started working for the Morellis about twenty-five years ago, long before you were born. They recruited him because he was brilliant with numbers, could make money disappear and reappear in ways that the IRS could never trace.”
“He was laundering money,” I said, the reality of it sinking in.
“Yes,” she admitted. “Among other things. And for years, we were swimming in money, Hailey. We had a beautiful house, expensive cars, vacations to places you can’t even imagine. Your father made more in a month than most people make in a year.”
“Then what happened?” I asked, though I had a feeling I knew where this was going.
“He started noticing things,” Barbara said. “Shady things happening behind the scenes. Money that didn’t add up. Expenses that seemed suspicious. And he started digging, started keeping his own records separate from what the Morellis knew about.”
“What record?”
“Everything,” she said. “Evidence of money laundering on a massive scale. Property theft, where the Morellis would force people to sell their businesses and homes for pennies on the dollar. Drug money being funneled through legitimate businesses. Murder-for-hire payments disguised as consulting fees. Your father documented all of it.”
My mouth went dry. “He was going to turn them in.”
“That was his plan,” Barbara confirmed. “He had enough evidence to bring down the entire Morelli organization. Enough to send dozens of people to prison for life. He kept saying he was going to go to the police, that he was going to do the right thing.”
“But he didn’t,” I said quietly.
“He kept delaying,” she said, fresh tears spilling over. “He was scared, and rightfully so. He knew what the Morellis did to traitors. But he also couldn’t live with himself knowing what they were doing, the people they were hurting.”
“What happened?” I asked, though part of me didn’t want to know.
Barbara’s face crumpled, and she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hold back sobs.
“One night,” she finally managed to say, “there was a break-in at our house. We’d been extra careful, had security systems, kept the evidence hidden. But somehow they found out.”
“The Morellis?” I breathed.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “They sent people to our house. Not to steal anything, but to send a message.”
Her hand moved unconsciously to her side, and I suddenly understood.
“The scar,” I whispered. “The one you always said was from a car accident.”
“It wasn’t a car accident,” Barbara said, her voice breaking completely. “They stabbed me, Hailey. Right there in our living room while your father watched. They stabbed me multiple times, and I was losing blood so fast, so much blood…”
I felt tears streaming down my own face now, horror washing over me.
“Your father begged them to stop,” she continued. “Promised he’d destroy all the evidence, promised he’d never speak about what he knew. And they left me there, bleeding out on our floor,”
“Oh my God,” I whispered.