Chapter 7 - The Secret Caroline Buried
Meline ran toward the edge.
Lorenzo caught her.
"Don't."
She looked down anyway.
Victor had landed on a lower maintenance platform.
Alive.
Police surrounded him minutes later.
But Meline barely cared.
She turned toward Caroline.
"You told him?"
Caroline cried silently.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Victor had you."
The rooftop became silent.
Meline stopped.
"What?"
"You were eleven. Gabriel was preparing to leave Boston with us. Victor discovered it."
Caroline wiped her face.
"He took you from school."
Meline remembered.
One afternoon.
A strange car.
Samuel telling her she'd fallen asleep at a friend's house.
She had always assumed the memory was a dream.
"Victor called me," Caroline continued. "He said Gabriel or you."
Meline couldn't speak.
"So I gave him Gabriel's location."
"And Dad knew?"
"Gabriel knew."
"What?"
"He heard Victor on the phone. He knew what I had done."
Caroline's voice broke.
"He could have run."
"Why didn't he?"
"Because Victor would have killed you."
Meline covered her mouth.
Gabriel had chosen.
Not crime.
Not revenge.
Her.
Her biological father had walked knowingly toward death because his eleven-year-old daughter was being held somewhere frightened and alone.
Caroline approached.
"I've hated myself every day."
Meline stepped backward.
"I need time."
Caroline nodded.
"I know."
Lorenzo took Meline home.
Not to her apartment.
To his house.
She objected until she saw the security.
Then objected less.
At dawn, she found him in the kitchen making coffee.
"You cook?"
"No."
"Then what are you doing?"
"Attempting coffee."
"That's not cooking."
"Excellent. Then yes."
She smiled.
It felt strange after everything.
Lorenzo handed her a cup.
She tasted it.
"This is terrible."
He looked offended.
"I run several successful businesses."
"Apparently none involving coffee."
He took her cup.
"Give it back."
"No. I refuse to poison my future wife."
She stared.
"Lorenzo."
"Too soon?"
"Wildly."
He smiled.
Then became serious.
"How are you?"
"I don't know."
"Acceptable answer."
She sat beside him.
"Did you forgive Antonio?"
"No."
"Will you?"
"I don't know."
She nodded.
"Also acceptable."
He looked at her.
"We don't have to forgive people immediately just because we understand why they hurt us."
Meline absorbed that.
"That's surprisingly healthy for a mafia boss."
"I contain multitudes."
She laughed.
Then he reached into his pocket.
The ring box.
Meline groaned.
"No."
"I'm not proposing."
"You are literally holding the ring."
"I'm returning it."
She frowned.
He placed the box in her palm.
"I shouldn't have asked you like that."
Her chest tightened.
"I wanted an answer before I'd earned your trust."
"Lorenzo—"
"When this is finished, if you still want me in your life, I'll ask again."
"And if I say no?"
"I'll continue buying badly fitting suits."
She laughed.
"They fit perfectly."
"Then I'll gain weight."
"Don't threaten me."
He smiled.
For the first time, the ring felt less like pressure.
She closed the box.
"I'll keep it."
His eyebrows rose.
"Don't get excited."
"Impossible."
Victor survived his fall.
Federal prosecutors charged him with conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, extortion, and a list of crimes long enough to fill pages.
Grant cooperated after her arrest.
Nora's brother was rescued.
Beth returned home.
But one problem remained.
Someone had removed one file from Gabriel's archive before authorities secured it.
The file concerned Gabriel's final investigation.
Antonio recognized the code.
Project Bell.
"What is it?" Lorenzo asked.
Antonio looked grim.
"A list of every person Victor placed inside rival organizations."
"Spies?"
"More than that."
Meline looked at him.
"Where's the file?"
Antonio shook his head.
"Victor doesn't have it."
"How do you know?"
"Because if he did, half this city would already be burning."
Then Samuel called.
His voice was urgent.
"Meline, get away from the house."
She stood.
"What?"
"Now."
Lorenzo was already moving.
Samuel continued.
"The missing file wasn't stolen tonight."
"When?"
"Eighteen years ago."
Meline's heart pounded.
"By who?"
Samuel hesitated.
Then said:
"Someone Gabriel trusted."
A sound came from the hallway.
Lorenzo drew his weapon.
Meline looked toward the doorway.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Then a familiar female voice called from the other side.
"Meline?"
Meline went cold.
It was Nora.
But Nora was supposed to be under federal protection.
The handle began turning.
Lorenzo moved in front of Meline.
The door opened.
May you like
Nora stood there holding Gabriel's missing file.
And behind her stood the last person Meline expected to see.
