Chapter 4 - Someone Inside Lombardi
“Gabriel.”
Dante said the name before Harper could ask.
The photograph showed Gabriel Russo behind Evelyn.
But Gabriel was supposedly still downstairs under guard.
Dante stormed from the room.
Harper followed.
The chair was empty.
One guard lay unconscious.
The other was gone.
Marco swore.
“How?”
Dante looked at the security monitor.
“Inside help.”
Harper’s mind moved faster than her fear.
“Check the photograph.”
“What?”
“Metadata.”
She transferred it.
The image had been taken forty minutes earlier.
Before Gabriel disappeared.
“He was already with my mother while we had him here.”
Dante stared.
“Then the photograph is fake.”
“Or the man we had wasn’t Gabriel.”
Silence.
Marco understood first.
Harper pulled gala photographs from social media.
Gabriel Russo appeared in several.
She compared his ear shape.
Then jawline.
The man at Dante’s house had subtle differences.
“Impostor.”
Dante’s expression became dangerous.
Someone had entered his home wearing another man’s identity.
Harper enlarged the photograph of Evelyn.
“This Gabriel is real.”
“How can you tell?”
“Scar beneath his left ear. It’s in the gala photos.”
Dante called his security team.
No answer from the east wing.
They moved together.
A service door stood open.
Outside, tire tracks disappeared toward the lower road.
Dante turned to Marco.
“Find them.”
Harper grabbed her coat.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“My mother is there.”
“And that’s why you’re not thinking clearly.”
Harper stepped close enough that only Dante could hear.
“I found twelve million dollars your entire organization missed. I found a forged signature in thirty seconds. I identified an impostor in under a minute. You need me.”
Dante stared at her.
Then handed her a bulletproof vest.
“I hate that you’re right.”
They drove to Pier Seventeen.
The abandoned warehouse appeared empty.
Harper recognized its number from Salvatore’s forged transfer.
Dante’s father had unknowingly “sold” this building after his death.
They entered.
Dust.
Shipping containers.
Old machinery.
No Evelyn.
No Gabriel.
Then Harper saw a light beneath an office door.
Inside was a laptop.
One spreadsheet was open.
Twelve million dollars.
But the destination was not Elaine Pendleton’s trust.
It was a temporary holding account.
“Money’s still here,” Harper said.
Dante looked over her shoulder.
“Then Arthur wasn’t stealing it for himself.”
“No.”
“Who was?”
Harper traced the final routing instruction.
A scheduled transfer would execute at midnight.
Destination:
LOMBARDI CHARITABLE FOUNDATION.
Harper frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
Dante understood.
“It makes perfect sense.”
“How?”
“Tomorrow federal auditors review the foundation.”
Harper felt the trap close.
Someone was moving stolen money into Dante’s charity immediately before a government audit.
The evidence would make Dante appear responsible.
Her mother’s old note echoed in her mind.
Someone is building a paper trail to make your son look responsible.
“This started with your father.”
“And ends with me.”
A sound came from behind them.
Harper turned.
Evelyn stood in the doorway.
“Mom?”
Evelyn’s face crumpled.
“Harper.”
Harper crossed the room.
Then stopped.
Dante had raised his gun.
“Move away from her.”
Harper stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Look at her hands.”
Evelyn held a remote trigger.
“Mom?”
Tears filled Evelyn’s eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
A red timer illuminated behind them.
02:00.
Harper’s blood went cold.
Evelyn whispered, “They made me.”
Dante grabbed Harper.
“Run.”
They raced through the warehouse.
Marco shouted from outside.
01:12.
Evelyn followed.
“Harper!”
Harper turned.
Her mother had stopped.
“Come on!”
“I can’t.”
“Mom!”
Evelyn looked toward the upper office.
“Because he’s still inside.”
“Who?”
Evelyn cried harder.
“Your father.”
Harper froze.
“My father is dead.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No, sweetheart.”
The timer hit forty seconds.
May you like
A shadow appeared behind the upstairs glass.
Then a man Harper had buried nineteen years ago stepped into the light.
