Aunt Cat Was Not a Stranger
Chapter 05 - Aunt Cat Was Not a Stranger
By the time I reached Elena’s apartment, police were already there.
Two uniforms.
One detective.
Elena standing barefoot in the hall with her hands shaking.
She saw me.
For one second, anger crossed her face.
Then fear swallowed it.
“She knows the woman.”
The detective looked up.
“What?”
Elena held out her phone.
A photo from the school camera.
The dark-haired woman signing Sophie out.
I recognized the resemblance to my father before I recognized anything else.
Jaw.
Eyes.
The shape of the nose.
Family has a way of announcing itself even when paper refuses.
Elena whispered:
“Her name is Cat Ferraro.”
I looked at her.
“You know her.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Hospital.”
My stomach tightened.
“What hospital?”
“Queens General.”
Caterina had volunteered with a patient-assistance nonprofit.
At least that was how Elena knew her.
She helped patients appeal insurance denials.
Found transportation.
Sat with people during infusions.
No glamour.
No Moretti surname.
“She helped me get my medication covered last year,” Elena said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She stared.
“Because until three days ago you did not know I existed.”
Fair.
“Why is she authorized to pick up Sophie?”
Elena looked ashamed.
“Last month I had a kidney biopsy.”
“You never said.”
“You had not collapsed yet.”
Right.
“Sophie needed an emergency contact.”
“Cat.”
“Yes.”
“You gave her the school password.”
“Yes.”
“So this isn’t kidnapping.”
“I don’t know.”
Good.
Not assuming.
The detective called Cat’s number.
Straight to voicemail.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown.
I answered.
“Adrian.”
Caterina.
“Where is Sophie?”
“Safe.”
Elena grabbed my arm.
“Speaker.”
I turned it on.
“Where is my daughter?” Elena asked.
A pause.
“Ms. Russo.”
Not Mommy.
Not Elena with false intimacy.
Good.
“She’s with me.”
“Why?”
“Two men were outside the school.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know their names.”
I did.
She described them.
One had a crescent scar under his ear.
Renato’s former driver, Emilio Vescari.
Alive.
The other:
Anton Keene.
Private investigator.
Worked for Moretti shell companies years ago.
“Why not call police?” I asked.
“I did.”
The detective checked.
A call had come in.
Suspicious men near school.
Units arrived after Cat left.
“Why take Sophie?”
“Because one of them showed the receptionist a custody packet.”
My chest went cold.
“What packet?”
“Emergency guardianship petition.”
“Filed?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“Prepared.”
Elena whispered:
“By who?”
Caterina’s answer:
“Renato.”
There.
My supposedly dead uncle had gone from watching to acting.
“Where are you?”
Caterina hesitated.
Elena said:
“If you want me to trust you, stop deciding what I can know.”
Silence.
Then:
“St. Brigid’s community center. Basement office. Police are here.”
Good.
Not a hideout.
Not a warehouse.
A church basement with fluorescent lights and a vending machine that stole my dollar.
Sophie sat at a plastic table drawing.
Yellow dress changed to jeans.
She looked up.
“Mommy.”
Elena crossed the room.
Sophie ran into her arms.
I stayed back.
That was harder than moving.
After Elena held her for a long time, Sophie looked at me.
“The park man.”
“Hi.”
She studied my face.
Then my eyes.
I wondered whether she knew.
Not yet.
Good.
Caterina stood by the wall.
Thirty.
Maybe thirty-one.
Dark hair.
My father’s chin.
My mother would have hated that I noticed.
“Adrian.”
“You know me.”
“Everyone does.”
“Not the answer.”
She nodded.
“I’ve known who you were since I was seventeen.”
“Did my father tell you?”
“No.”
“My mother.”
“Lucia.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come forward?”
Caterina laughed softly.
“For what?”
The question stopped me.
“A family?”
“I had one.”
“Money?”
“I had enough.”
“Name?”
“I liked Ferraro.”
Good.
“So why the trust amendment?”
Her face changed.
“You found that.”
“Yes.”
“Salvatore wanted to make himself feel better.”
“Did you accept?”
“No.”
Silence.
“You refused millions.”
“I refused voting shares.”
Different.
“I accepted a smaller education trust.”
Fair.
“Why?”
“College is expensive.”
I almost smiled.
Then she looked at Sophie.
“Renato wants both of us.”
“Why?”
“Voting control.”
Here it was.
The Moretti Foundation was not sentimental.
Thirty-one percent of a legitimate holding company meant board power.
The missing amendment would have split my father’s stake.
Half to Caterina.
Half in trust for Sophie.
If valid, my current controlling block was smaller than anyone believed.
Renato could not inherit.
But he could manipulate.
“If he gets Sophie under a friendly guardianship,” Caterina said, “he can petition to appoint a trustee he controls.”
Elena’s face hardened.
“Over my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“He wants me to accept my shares and vote with him.”
“Will you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Caterina looked at me.
“Because I spent my childhood watching Moretti men turn blood into a business contract.”
That sounded familiar.
Sophie tugged Elena’s sleeve.
“Can I have crackers?”
Everyone stopped discussing millions.
Elena found crackers.
Correct priority.
I sat across from Caterina.
“How did Renato survive?”
She sighed.
“He never died.”
“Helpful.”
“He staged the boat accident after Salvatore discovered he had been siphoning money from a family real-estate fund.”
Marco went still.
He had arrived behind me.
“You knew,” I said.
His face changed.
There.
“Some.”
“Say it correctly.”
Marco looked at Caterina.
Then me.
“I helped Renato leave the country.”
Silence.
Elena whispered:
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
That was appropriate.
“Why?” I asked.
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“Your father ordered me to.”
“What?”
“He didn’t want Renato prosecuted.”
“Family scandal.”
“Yes.”
“So he staged death.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Portugal first.”
“You knew he was alive all three years.”
“No.”
“Try again.”
“I knew he survived the accident.”
“Better.”
“I lost contact after six months.”
“Did you know he contacted Sloan?”
“No.”
Caterina believed him.
I could tell.
That annoyed me.
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because I’m the one who told Sloan.”
I stared.
She had contacted Renato first.
Not the other way around.
“Why?”
“To find out what he wanted.”
“That is not what you told us.”
“No.”
“Why lie?”
“Because I did not know whether Marco still worked for him.”
Marco laughed once.
Without humor.
“Fair.”
Everyone in my family had a reason to distrust everyone.
Most reasons were deserved.
Then Detective Morales came in carrying the emergency guardianship packet Cat had photographed.
The petition alleged:
Elena medically unfit.
Chronic illness.
Frequent hospitalization.
Financial instability.
No co-parent.
Child endangered by unsupervised transit.
Some facts.
Weaponized.
Then I saw petitioner.
RENATO MORETTI, PATERNAL GREAT-UNCLE.
He had named me as Sophie’s biological father.
The petition claimed I was legally unfit due to organized-crime leadership.
Probably true enough to be argued.
He was not trying to hide Sophie from me.
May you like
He was trying to use my own life to prove I should never be allowed near her.
And the worst part was that seven years ago Elena had run for almost exactly the same reason.
