Chapter 4 - The Brother Who Came Back From the Dead
Adrian stared at the message.
COME ALONE OR EVELYN DIES.
Below it was an address in Brooklyn.
Carlo looked over his shoulder.
"That's a trap."
Adrian turned.
"Daniel just told me not to trust you."
"Then don't."
"You expect me to ignore that?"
"No."
Carlo's expression hardened.
"I expect you to survive long enough to figure out who sent it."
Adrian looked at the video again.
Daniel's injuries looked real.
But something bothered him.
Daniel had always been deliberate.
Every word meant something.
Do not trust Carlo.
Too obvious.
Too clean.
Daniel would know Adrian might be standing beside Carlo.
Maybe it wasn't a warning.
Maybe it was instruction.
Or code.
Adrian replayed the clip.
"Marco."
"Yeah?"
"Audio."
Marco listened.
"What about it?"
"Background."
They replayed it.
A faint mechanical rhythm.
Metal.
Air brakes.
Then a horn.
Marco frowned.
"Train yard?"
Adrian nodded.
But the address was nowhere near train tracks.
"Video wasn't recorded where they want me to go."
Carlo gave a thin smile.
"Daniel taught you something after all."
Adrian ignored him.
"Lily stays with Marco and Dominic."
"No," Lily said.
Everyone turned.
Adrian crouched.
"You can't come."
"They have Mommy."
"I know."
"And Daddy."
"Maybe."
"I have to go."
"No."
She folded her arms.
Six years old.
Terrified.
Still stubborn.
Exactly like Daniel.
Adrian almost laughed.
Instead, he said, "Your job is harder."
"What?"
"Stay safe."
"I don't like that job."
"Neither do I."
She looked at him.
"Will you bring Mom back?"
Adrian had made many promises in his life.
Most involved money.
Revenge.
Protection.
He had learned not to promise outcomes he couldn't control.
But Lily was six.
So he said, "Yes."
"And Daddy?"
Adrian hesitated.
"Yes."
He hoped he wasn't lying.
They moved to a secure underground garage owned by one of Adrian's legitimate companies.
Marco prepared a second vehicle.
Carlo stood near a concrete pillar.
Adrian approached him.
"Tell me everything."
"Not enough time."
"Make time."
Carlo sighed.
"Salvatore didn't die in 2004."
"How?"
"The body in the car wasn't his."
"Whose was it?"
"A man who worked for him."
Adrian felt disgust rise.
"He staged it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"He was under federal investigation. He wanted freedom."
"So he abandoned us."
Carlo said nothing.
"My mother spent ten years mourning him."
"I know."
"You knew."
Carlo's eyes lowered.
"I found out later."
"When?"
"Six years ago."
Adrian laughed once.
Cold.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No. I expect you to verify it."
"Daniel knew before you?"
"Yes."
"And my father tried to kill him."
"Yes."
"Why didn't Daniel tell me?"
"Because Salvatore threatened you."
Adrian stopped.
"What?"
"He told Daniel that if you learned the truth, you would die."
"Daniel believed him?"
"Your father had men inside your organization. Police. Courts. Banks. Daniel didn't know who was clean."
Adrian looked toward Marco.
Marco met his eyes.
A terrible question passed silently between them.
How many?
Who?
Carlo continued.
"Daniel disappeared. Evelyn helped him."
"And Lily?"
"Born while they were hiding."
"Why come back now?"
"Because Salvatore found them."
Adrian clenched his jaw.
"And Victor Vale?"
Carlo laughed bitterly.
"Vale isn't hunting Lily because of Daniel."
"Then why?"
"Because Vale wants the evidence too."
"Why?"
"To destroy Salvatore."
Adrian stared.
"So Vale is the enemy of my enemy."
"Sometimes."
"That doesn't make him my friend."
"No."
Carlo looked toward the garage entrance.
"It makes this complicated."
Adrian's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Victor Vale spoke.
"Moretti."
"Vale."
"I assume you've discovered our little family problem."
Adrian's blood chilled.
"You knew about my father."
"For years."
"And said nothing."
"Would you have believed me?"
"No."
"Exactly."
Adrian walked away from Lily.
"What do you want?"
"Salvatore."
"Why?"
"He murdered my son."
Adrian stopped.
Vale's son, Michael, had died eight years earlier.
Everyone believed he died in a car accident.
"Your father ordered the crash," Vale said.
"Proof?"
"Daniel has it."
"And Evelyn?"
"Also has it."
"So you took her."
"I didn't."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Pike works for you."
"Worked."
"Past tense?"
"Pike disappeared yesterday."
Adrian looked toward Marco.
This changed things.
"The men in the Mercedes?"
"Not mine."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
Vale's tone was tired.
"But you'll believe this. Lorenzo Pike's body was found thirty minutes ago in a parking garage. Two shots. Professional."
Adrian said nothing.
Vale continued.
"Someone wanted you to believe I was hunting Lily."
"Who?"
"Your father."
Adrian's stomach tightened.
"So the call from Pike—"
"Recorded or coerced."
Adrian looked at the photograph of Daniel.
"Where is Salvatore?"
"If I knew, we'd be having a different conversation."
"What about Daniel?"
"Alive as of this morning."
"You saw him?"
"No. One of my people did."
"Where?"
"Red Hook."
Train yards.
Adrian looked at the location from the anonymous message.
Brooklyn.
But the supplied address was farther north.
A decoy.
Vale said, "If you want Daniel, go south."
"Why help me?"
"Because Daniel has the only complete copy of the ledger."
"And you want it."
"I want the page with my son's name."
Adrian's voice hardened.
"If you come near Lily—"
"I don't hurt children."
"Neither did Pike once."
"He wasn't mine anymore."
The call ended.
Adrian returned to Marco.
"Change destination. Red Hook rail yard."
Carlo's expression tightened.
"Vale?"
"Yes."
"Trusting him now?"
"No."
"Then why—"
"Because the audio matches."
They split into two vehicles.
Marco took Lily with Dominic to a secure location.
Adrian took Carlo and two men to Red Hook.
Before Lily left, she grabbed his hand.
"Don't forget."
"What?"
"My mom's sandwich."
Adrian looked at the wrapped half sandwich still inside her coat pocket.
Despite everything, she had kept it.
"I won't."
She released him.
Red Hook was quiet.
Too quiet.
Old warehouses.
Rusting tracks.
Stacks of shipping containers.
Adrian entered through the west gate.
A train horn sounded in the distance.
Same pitch as the video.
Carlo heard it too.
"This is it."
They found blood beside a container.
Fresh.
Adrian followed the trail.
Inside the container was a chair.
Rope.
A broken camera.
No Daniel.
No Evelyn.
Then Adrian saw writing scratched into the metal wall.
Not words.
Numbers.
23-5-19-20.
Marco would have recognized it.
Daniel used simple number codes when they were kids.
A=1.
B=2.
23=W.
5=E.
19=S.
20=T.
WEST.
Adrian turned.
"West side."
They moved.
A gunshot cracked.
One of Adrian's men dropped.
Carlo pulled him behind cover.
Shots hit the container.
Adrian returned fire.
Silence.
Then footsteps.
A man ran between railcars.
Adrian chased him.
The man climbed a fence.
Adrian grabbed his coat.
They crashed to the ground.
Adrian rolled him over.
Young.
Maybe twenty-five.
Terrified.
"Who sent you?"
The man spat blood.
"I don't know."
Adrian pressed his forearm to the man's throat.
"Wrong answer."
"I swear."
"Who paid you?"
"Cash."
"Who gave it?"
"A woman."
"What woman?"
"Blonde. Maybe forty."
"Name."
"Didn't give one."
"Where?"
"Hotel."
"Which hotel?"
"Royalton."
Adrian froze.
His mother lived at the Royalton residence.
No.
Impossible.
He released the man.
Carlo appeared.
"What?"
Adrian stood.
"Nothing."
But Carlo saw his face.
"Who?"
Adrian looked toward the city.
"My mother."
They drove directly to the Royalton.
Adrian's mother, Sofia Moretti, had been out of organized crime for twenty years.
She lived quietly.
Rarely attended family events.
She had mourned Salvatore harder than anyone.
Or so Adrian believed.
Her penthouse door was unlocked.
Adrian entered.
"Mom?"
No answer.
Living room empty.
Kitchen empty.
Then he heard music.
Old Italian jazz.
His father's favorite.
Coming from the study.
Adrian approached.
The door was slightly open.
Carlo stayed behind him.
Adrian pushed it.
Sofia sat beside the fireplace.
Seventy years old.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
A glass of wine in her hand.
Across from her sat a man Adrian had buried twenty-two years earlier.
May you like
Salvatore Moretti looked up.
"Hello, son."
