Aunt Elena's Secrets

Aunt Elena's Secrets
Elena POV

The footsteps in the hospital hallway belonged to me.
Two hours earlier, I'd escaped from my hospital bed by pulling out every tube and wire the doctors had connected to me. My body screamed with pain, but I had to warn Robert.
He was walking into a trap.
"Robert!" I whispered as loud as I could.
He spun around, gun drawn. When he saw me leaning against the wall in a stolen nurse's uniform, his eyes went wide.
"Elena? You're supposed to be unconscious!"
"No time." I grabbed his arm. "Don't go to that meeting. It's not Victoria who sent that text."
"Then who?"
"The person who's been playing us all from the beginning."
Marcus came running up behind Robert. "Elena? How are you even standing?"
"Painkillers and stubbornness." I pulled them both into an empty patient room. "Listen to me. Everything we thought we knew is wrong."
"What do you mean?"
I sat down hard on the hospital bed. My legs could barely hold me up.
"Three days ago, the Castellanos grabbed me outside my apartment. But they didn't want information about Iris's location."
"Then what did they want?"
"They wanted to know about the night Victoria Kane supposedly died."
Robert went pale. "What about it?"
"They wanted to know if she really died. Or if someone helped her fake her death."
"That's impossible. I saw her body—"
"No, Robert. You saw a body. But was it really Victoria?"
The room went silent except for the sound of machines beeping in the hallway.
"Explain," Robert said quietly.
I took a deep breath. This secret had been eating me alive for twenty years.
"The night Victoria died, she called me. She was scared, crying, begging me to help her disappear."
"Why would she want to disappear?"
"Because she'd found out about the deal the crime families made about her children. And she'd found out something worse."
"What?"
"That someone in the FBI was helping the criminals. Someone high up. Someone with access to everything."
Marcus and Robert looked at each other.
"Who?" Marcus asked.
"She never told me. But she said if she didn't disappear that night, her babies would be used as weapons for the rest of their lives."
"So you helped her fake her death."
"I helped her find a body that looked like her. A woman who'd died in a car crash that same night. We switched the dental records, the DNA, everything."
Robert sank into a chair. "So Victoria has been alive this whole time."
"Yes. But here's the thing – she's been hiding from the same person who's been using all of us."
"What person?"
"The person who sent you that text message. The person who's been controlling the Castellanos, the Torrinos, even parts of the FBI."
"That's impossible."
"Is it? Think about it, Robert. How did the Castellanos always know where to find federal witnesses? How did they always stay one step ahead of every investigation?"
"Because someone was feeding them information," Marcus said slowly.
"Someone who had access to everything. Someone who could make people disappear from federal protection. Someone who could fake death certificates and change official records."
Robert's face went white. "Someone inside the FBI."
"Not just inside the FBI. Someone who runs the FBI."
The words hung in the air like poison.
"That's impossible," Robert repeated, but his voice was shaking.
"Is it? Who assigned you to the organized crime task force twenty years ago? Who made sure you were the one investigating Victoria's death? Who's been pushing you to go after the Torrinos instead of looking at other crime families?"
"Elena, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying someone has been using you as a puppet for twenty years. Someone who wanted Victoria out of the way so they could control the criminal underworld themselves."
Marcus grabbed my shoulder. "Who? Give us a name."
"I can't. Because I don't know. But whoever it is, they've been playing a long game. They got rid of Victoria, separated her children, and put you in charge of hunting criminals they didn't want you to catch."
"But Victoria is back now. She has Iris and Ian."
"Does she? Or is someone using her just like they've been using you?"
Before Robert could answer, his phone rang.
He looked at the screen. "It's from Kane Manor."
"Don't answer it."
"I have to. It might be Iris."
He answered the call. "Kane here."
Victoria's voice came through the speaker, but something was wrong with it. It sounded scared.
"Robert? Thank God. You have to help us."
"Victoria? Where's Iris?"
"She's safe. For now. But Robert, we're trapped. The person who's been controlling everything – they're here. At the manor."
"What person?"
"I can't say their name over the phone. But Robert, they have Ian. They're going to kill him if I don't do exactly what they say."
"What do they want?"
"They want me to kill Iris on live television. To send a message to every criminal family in America that no one can escape their control."
My heart stopped. "Robert, hang up. It's a trap."
"Elena, shut up," he hissed.
Victoria was still talking. "Robert, you have to come here. Alone. No FBI backup, no weapons, nothing. Just come save our children."
"How do I know this isn't another lie?"
"Because I'm about to prove it to you."
The phone went quiet for a moment. Then Iris's voice came through, shaking with fear.
"Dad? Dad, are you there?"
"Iris! Sweetheart, are you okay?"
"I'm scared, Dad. There's someone here, someone I've never seen before. They're wearing a mask, and they keep saying they've been waiting twenty years for this moment."
"What moment?"
"To finally meet the famous Robert Kane face to face."
A new voice came through the phone. Cold, electronic, obviously changed by some kind of device.
"Hello, Robert. We meet at last."
"Who is this?"
"I'm the person who's been pulling your strings for twenty years. The person who killed your wife the first time. The person who's about to kill your children unless you do exactly what I say."
"What do you want?"
"I want you to come home, Robert. Come to Kane Manor. Come alone. Come unarmed. And come ready to finally learn the truth about who you really work for."
The line went dead.
Robert stared at his phone with shaking hands.
"Robert," I said quietly, "you can't go there."
"I have to. They have my children."
"They'll kill you the moment you walk through the door."
"Maybe. But if I don't go, they'll definitely kill Iris and Ian."
Marcus grabbed Robert's arm. "There has to be another way."
"Like what?"
"Like calling in every federal agent in Chicago. Like storming that place."
"And getting my kids killed in the crossfire?"
I struggled to my feet. "Robert, listen to me. Whoever this person is, they've been planning this for twenty years. They want you to come alone because that's how they win."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"I suggest we give them what they want. But not the way they expect."
"What do you mean?"
I walked to the window and looked out at the dark city. Chicago looked like a battlefield with no power and emergency lights flashing everywhere.
"I mean we make them think Robert is coming alone. But really, we'll all be there."
"Elena, you can barely stand up."
"I've been underestimating myself for twenty years. Time to stop."
"This is crazy."
"Crazy is letting some puppet master destroy our family. Crazy is playing by their rules for another day."
I turned back to Robert and Marcus. "Here's what we're going to do."
But before I could explain my plan, the hospital lights went out again.
Emergency generators kicked in, bathing everything in red light.
And through the red darkness, I heard something that made my blood freeze.
Slow clapping.
Someone was in the room with us.
Someone who'd been listening to everything we said.
"Bravo, Elena," a familiar voice said from the shadows. "Twenty years of keeping secrets, and you finally decide to tell the truth."
A figure stepped into the red light.
It was someone I knew.
Someone I trusted.
Someone who'd been part of our lives since Iris was born.
Marcus raised his gun. "Don't move."
The figure laughed. "Oh, Marcus. Sweet, loyal Marcus. You really don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
"That you've been working for me this entire time."
Marcus's face went white. "That's impossible."
"Is it? Who recruited you to the FBI? Who made sure you were assigned to Robert's team? Who's been feeding you information about every case for the last ten years?"
Marcus's gun hand started shaking.
"Every criminal you've ever caught, every case you've ever solved – I made it possible. I've been using you just like I've been using Robert."
"No."
"Yes. And now, it's time for the final act."
The figure raised their own gun.
"Elena Kane, you've caused me a lot of trouble over the years. Time to fix that mistake."
But as they pulled the trigger, Marcus did something none of us expected.
He threw himself in front of me, taking the bullet meant for my heart.
As Marcus fell to the floor, bleeding, the figure smiled coldly.
"How touching. But pointless."
They pointed the gun at me again.
"This time, I won't miss."
But before they could shoot, Robert tackled them from behind.
They crashed into the hospital equipment, machines sparking and alarms screaming.
In the chaos, I grabbed Marcus's gun.
"Robert, get away from them!"
Robert rolled clear just as I fired.
The bullet hit the figure in the shoulder, spinning them around.
Their mask fell off.
And I found myself staring into the face of someone I'd trusted for twenty years.
Someone who'd been at every family dinner, every birthday party, every important moment in Iris's life.
Someone who knew everything about our family because we'd told them everything.
"Hello, Elena," they said, smiling despite the blood running down their arm.
"You," I whispered.
"Surprised?"
"But why?"
"Because someone had to be in control. Someone had to make the hard choices. Someone had to protect this family from itself."
"By destroying it?"
"By saving it. You'll understand someday."
They raised their gun toward Robert.
"Or not."