Broken Angel

Traces of the lost daughter?

Massimo arrived at the office and immediately started getting ahead of his files, he had a busy day ahead, full of appointments and meetings. 

"Sir, your friend detective Taylor is on the line, he says he has something important to discuss with you and could not reach your mobile," his P.A told him.

"Pass the call to me" he orders and picks up the phone. 

"Massimo finally, I have been trying to reach you since last night"

"Sorry man, my battery was dead and I got carried away." - John was only one of the two people, Massimo would apologize and give an explanation to, he was not the kind of man who said sorry to people, he never felt remorse if he had to punish someone, they surely deserved it.  "Please tell me you have good news for me, or any news"- for months their investigations were in a dead-end. They could not find anything more than what his mother and her investigators had searched for years.

"I do and you would not believe what I have found. This is not something I can tell you on the phone, we have to meet" - John said on the other side of the phone.

"We'll meet over lunch today at one of my restaurants, I'll send you the address. Met me at 12 pm sharp." -Massimo said with determination, he was eager to know what John had learned. 

"I'll be there" - the detective said and cut the call short. 

John Taylor was Massimo's best friend, he met him in the worst time in his life when his father kicked him out of the house and he was just a rebellious angry teenager, that did not have any purpose or support in life. John also used to live in the streets, he was an orphan. They became friends, help each other out during that time, and even had quite of adventures together. Their friendship was still strong, even now that Massimo was a busy businessman and John a detective in the police force. 

When his mother told him about her tragic story and her desperate attempt to find his daughter, he took an oath to find her. The first thing he did was speaking with John, as he was the best at his job. If anyone could find her, it was detective Taylor, he was strong-willed, determined, highly intelligent, and had a talent for solving mysteries. He had also access to policy files and his resources and informers on the streets, hell the streets were once he's home, he knew everyone on the underground. Massimo's name was enough to open any gate on the high society and the government, but in this case, he also needed to investigate the dark and brutal world of human trafficking. Even though he really hoped that his mother's daughter would have had a better destiny, he could not exclude any possibility. John was also reliable, he knows that he would never betray his trust or faith in him. 

....................................................................

They meet at the restaurant, in one of the private areas when they could talk privately. John was punctual as always and was caring a file with him.

"You won't believe what I have found" - he said and Massimo could tell that he was also shocked by his discovery, He did not even greet him, he immediately started talking about the case before even taking a seat. 

"What is it? Did you find her?"

"No I haven't found her yet, but I know who we are looking for"

"You know her identity?" - Massimo becomes excited, if they knew their name then finding her location would be just a matter of time. 

"It's Lana. Lana is the lost daughter of your mother. Oh God, I still can't believe this" - he said placing his hands over his head, still in shock by his own words. 

"Wait, what? Lana?... The same girl that ...?"

"Yes, Lana. Lana the girl I grew up with, Lana my soul sister, Lana who saved our life, Lana the innocent soul that had suffered so much, Lana that I have been searching for years now." - he said in one breath. 

"But how is it possible? How did you ...?" - Massimo was surprised and in shock as well.

John did not let him finish his sentence, handing over the file he was caring away. 

"Lana was not lost as your mother blamed herself, nor was she abandoned like Lana thought she was for years. She was kidnapped by none less the Hunter the devil himself.."

Massimo blood went cold. "Did that bastard sold her?"

"No, he did not. He kidnapped Lana when her father went to jail. That poor man was innocent, but he admitted being guilty only to save his daughter's life. To secure his freedom, he kept Lana close, never revealing her identity. She lived on the street for a few years and then he took him in, adopting her as his own daughter. That evil b***h real daughter of him made her life even more miserable, she was happier on the streets than on that bloody mansion."

Massimo shocked his head in disbelief, she had been so close, yet so far. 

"How did you learned this? My mother had investigated for years ..."

"Well that bastard had strong ties at the police and closed the case quickly announcing her death, I guess your mother did not have the money or the connection back then to investigate on her own. He left her on the street, alongside other orphan homeless children. She was too young, to remember her mother's name or her own address,  she only remembered her name, the short version of it at least. "Lana" - John took a deep breath. 

"Massimo she was the sweetest girl you can imagine, she was so caring, so innocent. She was always hungry but she always shared her food with me, she took care of me as much as she could, when I was sick and she was just a kid herself. I protected her, I made her my sister... " suddenly John started crying. Massimo stood frozen, he only had seen John cry once, for Lana and now yet again he was crying for her. He was one of the strongest people he had ever met, and yet here he was shedding tears for this girl, whom he considered as his sister. 

John quickly composed himself and wiped his tears. "Sorry for that. Hunter took Lana in because her father requested proof for his daughter well being. To secure that her father would keep his mouth shut, he made sure Lana was at his sight all the time. Mister Brown died in the prison cell, taking his secret to the grave. He only told about it one person, his cellmate, which they shared the same cell for 15 years." John took a pause before continuing. 

"Since we were always reaching an only dead-end at our investigation, I started overlooking everything. We had nothing to lose so I started searching more about her father and found the only person he trusted, his friend. He is out of the prison and at first, he refused to talk to me, as he had sworn he would also take this secret to the grave, to protect Lana. I insisted for weeks, but only when I told him what Hunter may be a threat to her life he started speaking. He insists that Mr. Brown is innocent and his daughter was kidnapped. He showed me a picture of the young Lana and of course, I knew her right away. I investigated further the civil recordings and his story match, Hunter registered Lana as his daughter using her same birth data. I also made a DNA test with Lana's blood I have on the lab, with your mother sample and it was a 100% match. She is her daughter, you have all that information on the file"- John finished taking a long breath. 

Massimo looked at him in shock. All this was too much for him to take in and never in his wildest scenario he had imagined something like this to have happened to his mother's daughter.