Chapter 11 - The Traitor Inside the Moretti Family
Antonio had built Halcyon.
Thomas had discovered it.
That was the final truth.
Antonio claimed the fund was designed to prevent wars between criminal families.
Then money corrupted the system.
Evelyn exploited it.
Salerno weaponized it.
And Antonio protected it.
Even from his own son.
Luca stared at his father.
“You staged your death because you weren’t hiding from Evelyn.”
Antonio said nothing.
“You were hiding from me.”
“Yes.”
Hazel understood.
Luca had intended to dismantle the organization.
Antonio could not allow it.
“You used all of us,” Hazel said.
Antonio looked tired.
“I maintained order.”
“You murdered people.”
“I prevented worse.”
“That’s what everyone says when they want their crimes to sound necessary.”
Antonio’s eyes hardened.
“You sound like Thomas.”
“Thank you.”
Daniel secretly moved toward Luca.
Antonio noticed.
Gunfire exploded.
Daniel was hit.
Luca attacked his father.
Hazel grabbed the fallen weapon.
For the first time, Antonio looked afraid.
“Put it down.”
“No.”
“You won’t shoot.”
“I hope I don’t have to.”
That mattered.
Hazel did not want to become them.
Police sirens approached.
Luca had alerted federal investigators before arriving.
Antonio realized the empire was finished.
He looked at his son.
“You would destroy everything I built for her?”
Luca shook his head.
“No.”
He took Hazel’s hand.
“I’m destroying it because it should have ended years ago.”
Antonio was arrested.
Daniel survived.
But Evelyn and Salerno remained missing.
The Halcyon files began reaching federal prosecutors.
Dozens of arrests followed.
Hazel believed the worst was over.
Then her mother disappeared.
Her apartment showed no struggle.
Only a wedding invitation sat on the kitchen table.
Hazel opened it.
The names printed inside were:
HAZEL BROOKS
and
LUCA MORETTI.
The date was tomorrow.
The location was the church where Hazel’s parents had married.
Across the bottom, Evelyn had written:
May you like
WEAR WHITE.
OR YOUR MOTHER WEARS BLACK.
