Chapter 10 - The Recording They Tried to Erase
Enzo stood behind Norah.
Gun raised.
Pointed directly at Vincent.
Vincent looked at his oldest friend.
Norah stopped breathing.
“Enzo?”
Enzo fired.
The bullet passed Vincent’s shoulder.
Dr. Vale dropped.
Chaos erupted.
Vincent’s men opened fire.
Marco disappeared through a side door.
Enzo pulled Norah behind the stone altar.
“I was aiming at Vale.”
“I noticed!”
Vincent joined them.
“You could have warned me.”
“You would have moved.”
Despite everything, Norah nearly laughed.
Vale survived.
Barely.
And faced with the possibility that Russo would abandon him, he talked.
He admitted administering small doses of poison through Vincent’s medication for nearly a year.
The espresso poisoning had been an accident in timing.
Teresa’s sedative mixed with Vale’s toxin.
The combination nearly killed Vincent.
“Russo ordered it?” Vincent asked.
Vale shook his head.
“Marco.”
Vincent stared.
Marco wasn’t Russo’s subordinate.
He was using Russo too.
Norah realized the conspiracy had layers.
Marco wanted Vincent dead.
Russo wanted Vincent weakened.
Teresa wanted evidence.
Adrian wanted revenge.
Vale wanted money.
And Caleb had stumbled between all of them.
The camera archive could prove it.
But Caleb had surrendered the backup.
Norah refused to accept that it was gone.
“Digital files leave copies.”
They searched the estate server.
Nothing.
Then Norah remembered the kitchen camera.
Maintenance backup.
The system created temporary fragments before deletion.
A technician recovered seventeen seconds.
Seventeen seconds changed everything.
The recording showed Marco standing in the kitchen with Vale.
Marco said clearly:
“When Rossi dies, Russo gets blamed. Then we take both organizations.”
Vincent watched it twice.
Norah watched his face.
This was no longer suspicion.
It was evidence.
They copied the file.
Five drives.
Three remote servers.
One attorney outside New York.
Vincent had spent his life solving betrayal with bullets.
Norah chose something more dangerous.
Proof.
They sent pieces of the evidence to Marco’s allies.
Then Russo’s allies.
The coalition began collapsing overnight.
Men who trusted Marco discovered he planned to sacrifice them.
Men who trusted Russo learned Marco intended to frame him.
By morning, their enemies were fighting each other.
Vincent looked at Norah.
“You destroyed an alliance with seventeen seconds of video.”
“I told you cameras were useful.”
He smiled.
Then kissed her.
It happened without warning.
Brief.
Careful.
Vincent pulled back immediately.
“I shouldn’t have done that.”
Norah’s heart hammered.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t say stop.”
He stared at her.
The second kiss was different.
Then Norah’s phone rang.
Caleb.
She answered.
Static.
Breathing.
Then her brother whispered:
“Norah, Marco knows where the original recording is.”
“Where?”
Caleb began to answer.
A gunshot sounded.
May you like
The line went dead.
And a location suddenly appeared on Norah’s screen.
