Chapter 5 - THE MAN LEO CALLED UNCLE
Leo did not speak during the drive back.
Gemma sat beside him this time.
Not because she trusted him.
Because she had questions.
“What did Vincent want from you?”
“Control.”
“That’s vague.”
“My father died when I was nineteen.”
“How?”
“Heart attack.”
“Actual heart attack?”
Leo looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Sorry.”
“Reasonable question.”
He watched Chicago pass outside the window.
“Vincent became the man who taught me how to survive.”
“And the criminal stuff?”
“He taught me that too.”
“You loved him.”
“Yes.”
“Still do?”
Leo took longer to answer.
“Yes.”
Gemma looked away.
That was the answer of an adult.
Not a hero.
Not a simple man.
People could love someone terrible.
Anna had probably loved Leo while believing he killed Danny.
Maybe love was less useful than Gemma had always imagined.
Back at the apartment, Anna cried when Gemma handed her Michael’s bracelet.
She touched the scratched silver plate.
“He bought this.”
“You knew?”
“He showed me before you were born.”
“Why didn’t I have it?”
“I thought it disappeared with him.”
Gemma sat beside her.
“He didn’t leave.”
“No.”
“He tried to help those women.”
“Yes.”
“You knew that?”
“Danny told me later.”
Gemma turned.
“Before he disappeared?”
Anna nodded.
“What else did he tell you?”
“That Michael loved you.”
Gemma’s face tightened.
“You let me think he didn’t.”
Anna bowed her head.
“That was wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought if you believed your father abandoned you, you would never look for the DeLucas.”
Gemma stood.
“You made him smaller so the danger would feel smaller.”
Anna began crying.
“Yes.”
That answer hurt more than denial.
Gemma walked into the kitchen.
Leo followed but stopped at the doorway.
“Don’t.”
She wiped her face.
“I’m not going to give you advice.”
“Good.”
“I’m just making sure you don’t leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Vincent knows we went to Rizzi.”
Gemma stared.
“How?”
“Rizzi called him.”
Her anger returned instantly.
“What?”
“After we left.”
“Why?”
“Fear.”
“Everybody in this story is scared.”
“Yes.”
“And somehow I’m the one paying rent in a moldy apartment because of it.”
Leo had no answer.
Good.
Gemma continued.
“My mother lost twenty-one years. Michael lost his name. Danny vanished. You lost us.”
Her voice cracked slightly on the last word.
She hated that.
Leo noticed.
Did not exploit it.
“What are you going to do about Vincent?”
“Confront him.”
“With guns?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect nothing from you.”
He removed his ring.
For the first time since Gemma had seen him, his hand was bare.
He placed the emerald ring on the counter.
“Vincent gave me this back the morning after Anna disappeared.”
Anna came from the living room.
“What?”
Leo turned.
“I woke up. You were gone. Your apartment was empty.”
He looked at the ring.
“Vincent came over. Said you left this with him.”
Anna shook her head.
“No.”
“He told me you had chosen Danny.”
“Danny?”
“He said your brother had convinced you I was dangerous.”
“He had.”
“But Vincent said you never wanted to see me again.”
Anna stared at the ring.
“And you believed him.”
“For years.”
Gemma asked, “Why did you keep wearing it?”
Leo looked at her.
“Because not believing him hurt worse.”
That sentence stayed with her.
Sometimes people accepted lies because the truth required hope.
Leo continued.
“After six years, I started investigating.”
Anna looked surprised.
“You looked for me?”
“Everywhere.”
“You never found us.”
“You changed names constantly. Cash jobs. No credit. No license.”
“That was the idea.”
“I found Danny instead.”
Anna gripped the counter.
“When?”
“Thirteen years ago.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Gemma’s head snapped toward him.
“You knew Uncle Danny was alive?”
“For eleven minutes.”
“What does that mean?”
“He came to see me.”
Leo’s voice tightened.
“He looked sick.”
“From what?”
“Cancer.”
Anna began crying.
“He was thirty-five.”
“I know.”
“What did he say?”
“He apologized.”
“For what?”
“For believing Vincent.”
Gemma frowned.
“He believed Vincent too?”
Leo nodded.
“Vincent convinced Danny that I knew about Michael. That I had ordered him brought to the warehouse.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Did Danny believe you?”
“Eventually.”
“What happened?”
“He gave me an address.”
Anna stopped breathing.
“What address?”
“A post-office box.”
“For me?”
Leo nodded.
“He said he had been sending you money anonymously.”
Anna covered her mouth.
Every few months during Gemma’s childhood, cash had appeared.
A grocery envelope.
A money order.
An unsigned birthday card.
Anna had always said it came from an old friend.
It had been Danny.
Leo continued.
“He made me promise not to look for you.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed Vincent would find you if I did.”
Gemma leaned against the counter.
“Did you keep the promise?”
“For nine years.”
“And then?”
“Danny died.”
Anna closed her eyes.
Leo’s voice softened.
“He died believing you were safe.”
No melodramatic return.
No secret uncle waiting around a corner.
Just another person whose life had ended before truth caught up.
Gemma hated how final that felt.
“What did he leave you?”
Leo looked toward the coat.
“One thing.”
He reached inside his jacket.
Not for a weapon.
For an old photograph.
Danny, Anna and toddler Gemma stood outside a small apartment.
On the back:
IF SHE EVER COMES BACK, TELL HER I KEPT HER SAFE THE ONLY WAY I KNEW HOW.
Anna pressed the photograph against her chest.
Then Gemma noticed something in the background.
A car.
Black.
Behind the windshield, barely visible, sat Vincent.
Watching.
She pointed.
“Was he there?”
Leo took the photograph.
His face changed.
The picture had been taken after Anna fled.
Vincent had known where they were.
Maybe from the beginning.
Anna whispered, “He found us.”
Gemma looked at Leo.
“He knew where we lived, and he never told you.”
Leo’s voice became very quiet.
“Yes.”
That was the moment the last piece of loyalty broke.
Not because Vincent had lied once.
Because he had watched a woman and child struggle for years while letting Leo believe they had vanished completely.
Leo picked up his ring.
But he did not put it back on.
“We’re going to see him Sunday.”
Gemma stared.
“That’s tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Anna shook her head immediately.
“No.”
Leo looked at her.
“I’m done asking ghosts for permission.”
Then Gemma said, “I’m coming.”
Anna grabbed her hand.
“Absolutely not.”
Gemma looked at her mother.
“He built my whole life out of somebody else’s fear.”
She closed her fingers around Michael’s bracelet.
May you like
“I want to hear him explain why.”
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