Chapter 4 - The Secret Under the Shoebox
Dominic ran.
He did not remember leaving the garage.
He remembered only the photograph.
Elena.
Lily.
The safe room.
Someone had taken the picture from inside.
Marco called building security as they climbed the stairwell.
No response.
“Internal communications are down,” he said.
Dominic kept moving.
Richard followed, breathing hard.
Claire stumbled between them, one hand pressed against her bleeding shoulder.
“How could anyone get inside that room?” Richard asked.
Dominic knew the answer.
“Someone with master emergency access.”
“Who has that?”
“Three people.”
“Names.”
“Me. Marco.”
Richard looked at Claire.
She shook her head.
“Not me.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“The third is my legal counsel.”
Richard stopped for half a step.
“Samuel Price?”
Dominic said nothing.
Samuel Price had served the Moretti family for twenty-two years.
He had negotiated Dominic’s transition from family criminal assets into legal holdings.
He had drafted the corporate structures that protected Moretti Holdings.
He had attended Dominic’s father’s funeral.
Carlo’s funeral.
Every important Moretti meeting for two decades.
If Samuel was involved—
Dominic rejected the thought.
Not because it was impossible.
Because it was too possible.
They reached the executive floor.
The hallway was empty.
Dominic moved toward the library.
The hidden safe-room door stood open.
His stomach dropped.
“Elena!”
No answer.
He entered.
The shoebox was gone.
So were Elena and Lily.
Mr. Buttons lay on the floor.
Dominic picked up the rabbit.
A tiny red spot stained one ear.
Blood.
Marco inspected it.
“Not much.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
Richard looked around.
“There are no signs of a struggle.”
Dominic checked the secondary exit.
Open.
The room had another door leading to an old private stairwell.
Only executive security knew about it.
Marco found a small object on the floor.
A hearing-aid battery.
Richard frowned.
“Whose is that?”
Dominic knew.
Samuel Price wore a hearing aid in his left ear.
Marco looked at him.
“Could be coincidence.”
Dominic pocketed it.
“Not today.”
Claire leaned against the wall.
“The box.”
Dominic turned.
“You said the box itself mattered.”
She nodded weakly.
“The bottom panel.”
“What’s inside?”
“I never saw it. Elena’s husband put something there.”
Elena’s husband.
Dominic frowned.
“She’s married?”
“Widowed.”
He remembered then.
Employee records.
Elena Carter’s husband, Daniel, had died four years earlier in an automobile accident.
Claire sank into a chair.
“Daniel worked for Moretti Freight.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“In what capacity?”
“Internal audit.”
Richard went pale.
“You’re kidding.”
Claire shook her head.
“He found the first payments to Carlo.”
Dominic stared.
“Four years ago?”
“Yes.”
“The scheme has been running that long?”
“Longer.”
“And Daniel died.”
Claire looked at him.
“The police called it an accident.”
Nobody said anything.
Dominic felt something cold settle inside him.
Elena had been investigating the same network that her husband had investigated before his death.
Did she know?
He doubted it.
If she had known, she would have said so.
Dominic pulled out his phone.
“Track Elena’s device.”
Marco shook his head.
“Already trying.”
Richard examined the safe-room keypad.
“If Samuel took them, where would he go?”
Dominic thought of Moretti Plaza’s architecture.
The building had been designed twenty years earlier by his father.
Private corridors.
Service tunnels.
Old panic routes from another era.
“There’s an underground exit.”
Marco stared at him.
“I thought that was sealed.”
“It was supposed to be.”
They headed downstairs.
Claire insisted on coming.
Dominic refused.
She grabbed his arm.
“If Samuel is working with Carlo, you need me.”
“You need a hospital.”
“My sister needs me more.”
He looked at her.
Then at Marco.
“Bandage her.”
Two minutes later they were moving again.
The underground passage began behind the archival storage room on B2.
Dominic opened a hidden steel door.
Cold air flowed through.
The tunnel smelled of dust.
They followed it beneath the block.
Halfway through, they heard voices.
Elena.
“Don’t touch her.”
Dominic stopped.
Marco raised a hand.
They moved quietly.
Ahead, the tunnel opened into an old loading chamber.
Elena stood with Lily behind her.
Samuel Price faced them.
He held a pistol.
Two unfamiliar men stood near the exit.
The shoebox sat on a crate.
Dominic watched from the shadows.
Samuel looked older than usual.
Tired.
“This does not need to become ugly,” he told Elena.
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“I prevented Dominic from making a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Believing you.”
Elena laughed.
“Then why do you need the box?”
Samuel’s face tightened.
“Because your husband stole something that never belonged to him.”
Elena froze.
“My husband?”
Samuel opened the shoebox.
He removed the letters.
Then the paper lining.
Underneath was a thin wooden panel.
He pried it loose.
Inside lay a small black notebook.
Elena stared.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Samuel held it up.
“Daniel did.”
Dominic’s heart thudded.
The notebook appeared ancient.
Worn leather.
Samuel opened it.
Handwritten entries filled the pages.
Dates.
Payments.
Names.
Dominic recognized some immediately.
Judges.
Police officials.
Contractors.
Union leaders.
Politicians.
The old Moretti network.
But newer names appeared too.
People Dominic believed had nothing to do with the family’s criminal history.
Samuel turned pages quickly.
“Where is the key?”
Elena shook her head.
“What key?”
“Daniel encrypted the digital records.”
“I don’t know.”
Samuel raised the gun.
Lily stepped forward.
“My dad gave me a key.”
Everyone looked at her.
Elena turned sharply.
“What?”
Lily reached beneath her cardigan.
A small brass key hung from a string around her neck.
“He told me it opened a treasure.”
Elena stared.
“He gave you that before the accident?”
Lily nodded.
Samuel’s eyes sharpened.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Lily,” Elena whispered.
The child backed away.
Samuel moved toward her.
Dominic stepped from the tunnel.
“Take another step and you die.”
Samuel froze.
The two men spun.
Marco emerged behind Dominic with his weapon raised.
Richard and Claire followed.
Samuel looked at Dominic.
Something almost like relief appeared on his face.
“You always did arrive dramatically.”
Dominic’s gaze remained fixed on the gun.
“Let them go.”
Samuel smiled sadly.
“You still think this is about Carlo.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Isn’t it?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
Samuel looked toward Richard.
Then Claire.
Then Elena.
“Carlo is a parasite.”
Samuel tapped the notebook.
“But this is bigger than Carlo.”
Dominic took one slow step.
“How big?”
Samuel’s expression changed.
“Your father built a second organization before he died.”
Dominic stopped.
Samuel continued.
“Carlo inherited only the criminal side.”
“What did my father build?”
“A network inside your legitimate companies.”
Dominic stared.
Samuel smiled faintly.
“Your clean empire was never clean.”
Elena looked at Dominic.
He did not look back.
Samuel held out his hand toward Lily.
“The key.”
She clutched it.
Dominic said, “Lily, don’t.”
Samuel raised the pistol toward Elena.
“Give me the key, sweetheart.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
She reached for the string.
Then the loading chamber lights came on.
Bright.
Sudden.
Everyone turned.
A figure stood at the far entrance.
An old man in a charcoal coat.
Gray hair.
Cane.
Carlo Moretti.
Alive.
May you like
He smiled at Dominic.
“Samuel,” Carlo said, “you were never supposed to tell him about his father.”
