Chapter 4 - The Dead Man in My Basement
My father stepped through the wall.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
I couldn't breathe.
Edward Bennett looked at me.
“Nora.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
Then hugged him.
Harder.
Seven years of grief broke loose.
I hit his chest.
Cried.
Demanded answers.
He let me.
Vincent lowered his gun.
“You have approximately thirty seconds before I start asking my own questions.”
Dad looked at him.
“You grew up.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“You stayed dead.”
Dad explained.
Roman Vale had discovered the restitution fund.
He wanted the money.
More importantly, he wanted the Costello empire.
Dad's staged death protected me.
Adrian's disappearance protected Vincent.
But their plan had failed.
Roman built his own network.
Half the gunmen in the alley belonged to Adrian.
The other half belonged to Roman.
Adrian had been trying to capture Vincent before Roman could kill him.
“That would've been useful information,” Vincent said.
Dad agreed.
I didn't.
Nothing about abandoning me for seven years felt justified.
“You watched me bury an empty coffin.”
Dad's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“You watched me lose the bakery twice and refinance it.”
“Yes.”
“You could've helped.”
“No.”
I stepped back.
He looked devastated.
“If Roman knew I contacted you, you would've become leverage.”
“I became leverage anyway.”
That silenced him.
Vincent looked away.
Dad gave us the missing piece.
Roman planned to seize the forty-eight million dollars.
But the money couldn't be moved without two biometric authorizations.
One belonged to Vincent.
The other belonged to me.
“Why me?”
“Because your mother was Sofia Costello.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
He knew the name.
I didn't.
Sofia had been Vincent's aunt.
Adrian and I shared a mother.
Vincent was my cousin, not my brother.
Dad had raised me after Sofia died.
Adrian had stayed with the Costellos.
The revelation left me numb.
But Roman was coming.
We had no time for family therapy.
Dad proposed bait.
The ledger.
We would announce a transfer.
Roman would surface.
Vincent hated using me.
I insisted.
“This started behind my bakery.”
“It started before you were born.”
“Then maybe it's time somebody ended it.”
We arranged the meeting at an abandoned Costello warehouse.
Adrian appeared first.
Alive.
Dark-haired.
Scar across his cheek.
He looked at me for a long time.
Then said:
“You have Mom's eyes.”
I cried before I could stop myself.
He hugged me.
Awkwardly.
Like a man who had imagined the moment but never practiced it.
Vincent watched.
The brothers faced each other next.
Years of anger hung between them.
Adrian apologized.
Vincent punched him.
Then hugged him.
Apparently that was a Costello tradition.
We waited for Roman.
Midnight came.
Nothing.
12:15.
Nothing.
Then Dad's phone rang.
Roman.
“You always were predictable, Edward.”
Dad looked around.
Roman could see us.
“Where are you?”
“Not there.”
A video arrived.
Marcus was tied to a chair.
Roman stood behind him.
My stomach dropped.
Marcus had disappeared two hours earlier.
Roman smiled into the camera.
“Bring Nora.”
Vincent said no immediately.
Roman heard him.
“Then Marcus dies.”
Marcus shouted:
“Don't!”
Roman struck him.
The feed ended.
Coordinates arrived.
An old church.
Dad stared at them.
“No.”
“What?”
He looked terrified.
“That church is where Sofia died.”
We drove there.
Vincent wanted me in the armored car.
I refused.
The church doors stood open.
Inside, candles burned.
Marcus sat near the altar.
Alone.
Untied.
Vincent raised his weapon.
“Marcus?”
Marcus slowly stood.
He looked ashamed.
Then men emerged from behind the pews.
Dozens.
Roman wasn't among them.
Marcus looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
The church doors slammed behind us.
May you like
Then Marcus said the words that changed everything.
“My brother isn't Roman.”
