The Road Nobody Mentioned
Chapter 06 - The Road Nobody Mentioned
The official accident report said Elena lost control of her vehicle on a rain-soaked service road outside Newark. She'd been driving to a meeting. The road was poorly lit; another driver had reported debris along the shoulder.
Adrian had accepted the explanation because grief left him unable to imagine anything worse. Now Teresa claimed Elena had driven out to meet a former employee named Samuel Price.
“Why?” Adrian asked.
“I don't know,” Teresa said. “She and Vincent had been arguing about payments from the freight company.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you were barely functioning.”
“That wasn't your decision to make.”
His mother began crying. Adrian felt his anger soften, but he did not retract the words.
Miriam obtained the accident file through proper channels and began checking Elena's appointments and communications. Nothing yet established a crime. But there was a reason for renewed inquiry: Elena had been assembling financial records about a company subsidiary that handled port logistics.
Meanwhile, Lucia met Dr. Naomi Pierce, a child psychologist experienced in early childhood trauma. Adrian sat nearby and answered questions about his daughter's routines. He was startled by how often his answer was “I'm not sure.”
Dr. Pierce did not pressure Lucia to repeat her claims. Instead, she offered crayons and a picture book and helped Adrian learn ways to respond without leading the child's account.
That evening, he took Lucia to a public park without security hovering beside the swings. A bodyguard watched discreetly from a distance. Lucia asked whether Hannah could come.
“Maybe another day,” Adrian said.
“Is she in trouble because I cried?”
“No, honey.”
“Uncle Vince says people lose jobs when I make a scene.”
Adrian crouched to her height. “Adults are responsible for their own choices. You're allowed to cry.”
Lucia looked doubtful. Then she put her small hand in his.
At that very moment, Hannah received a message from her former manager. He had reconsidered her dismissal, but only if she signed a statement claiming she had misunderstood Vincent's behavior.
She forwarded the message to her attorney and replied that her account had not changed.
May you like
Then a stranger called her apartment.
“My name is Samuel Price,” he said. “If you care about Lucia, ask Adrian Moretti to check what his wife left in the music room.”
