Chapter 11 - The Price of Loving Maggie Sullivan
“Vincent!”
He stopped.
Maggie ran.
“Marco called.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
“What did he say?”
“Don't open it.”
Naturally, they opened it anyway.
Carefully.
The greenhouse was empty.
Except for one chair.
And a laptop.
Vincent approached.
Video began automatically.
Elias appeared.
Recorded before his arrest.
“If you're seeing this, Marco finally discovered the truth.”
The camera shifted.
Someone sat beside Elias.
Vincent’s mother.
Elena.
Maggie stared.
Elena looked terrified.
Elias continued.
“Twenty years ago Elena Moretti gave Anthony the ledger.”
Vincent whispered, “Mom?”
“She helped him escape,” Anthony said.
The recording continued.
“And she killed her husband.”
Vincent went still.
Maggie looked at him.
No reaction.
That frightened her.
The video ended.
Vincent called Elena.
No answer.
They drove to her house.
Empty.
A note waited.
Vincent,
I should have told you twenty years ago.
I killed your father.
Not because of money.
Because he ordered Anthony’s death and told me you would be next if you helped him.
I chose my sons.
I would choose you again.
I’m sorry.
—Mom
Vincent sat down.
Maggie knelt beside him.
“He abused her,” Anthony said quietly.
Vincent looked up.
Anthony nodded.
“For years.”
Vincent knew some of it.
Not all.
His father had built an empire on fear.
Apparently he had brought that fear home.
“Where is she?” Vincent asked.
Anthony didn't know.
Marco did.
That was why he disappeared.
He had taken Elena somewhere safe.
The question became safe from whom?
Elias was in custody.
Unless Elias wasn't the highest person in the old organization.
Luca discovered the answer.
Judge Samuel Vance.
A respected federal judge.
Friend of the Moretti family for thirty years.
His name appeared repeatedly in fragments of records connected to Vincent’s father.
He had protected the organization.
Elias served him.
And Vance wanted the ledger destroyed before Anthony could surrender it.
That evening, Maggie made a decision.
“Give it to the government.”
Anthony shook his head.
“There are innocent people connected to those names.”
“Then use an attorney. Protect them. But this never ends while everyone wants that book.”
Vincent agreed.
Anthony finally did too.
“I hid it somewhere nobody in our world would search.”
“Where?” Maggie asked.
Anthony smiled.
“St. Catherine’s.”
The nursing home.
The place Maggie had sent Vincent with thirty-six roses.
Inside the chapel was a memorial cabinet.
Anthony had hidden the ledger there years earlier.
They arrived after dark.
The cabinet was open.
Empty.
Anthony stared.
“No.”
Someone had beaten them to it.
A nurse approached.
“A gentleman collected the book this afternoon.”
“What gentleman?”
“He said Mr. Moretti sent him.”
“Description?”
She gave one.
Maggie recognized it first.
Daniel.
The mysterious young man.
They checked security footage.
Daniel walked out carrying the ledger.
But he wasn't alone.
Marco walked beside him.
Vincent’s face hardened.
Then the footage showed Marco stumble.
Daniel caught him.
Blood spread across Marco’s shirt.
He hadn't been helping Daniel.
He had been forced.
A final camera captured Daniel loading Marco into a vehicle.
The license plate led to one place.
Sullivan’s Flowers.
Maggie stared at the screen.
Her phone vibrated.
A photograph arrived.
Marco was tied to a chair inside her shop.
Behind him stood Judge Vance.
He held the ledger.
Another message appeared.
BRING VINCENT.
May you like
Maggie read the final line.
AND COME READY TO WATCH HIM DIE.
