Chapter 5 - The Traitor at Moretti's Table
Vera dropped the phone.
"Lucy!"
She ran toward the alley.
Empty.
Dante caught up.
"Where was she?"
"Right there!"
A black vehicle disappeared around the far corner.
Gabriel swore.
Dante immediately called his security network.
Vera grabbed his arm.
"Marcus has her."
"I know."
"Do something."
"I am."
"Then why are we standing here?"
Dante looked directly at her.
"Because running after a car we can't see gets you taken too."
Vera wanted to scream.
Instead she remembered her father.
Calm makes them careless.
She picked up her phone.
Marcus had sent an address.
And a photograph.
Lucy sat in a chair.
Her hands were bound.
She looked frightened but unharmed.
Beneath the image:
BRING THE LOCKET AND THE BANK KEY.
Vera read it twice.
"What bank key?"
Dante looked at the wooden bird.
"The notes may be the combination, but Marcus thinks there's a physical key."
"Good."
Vera looked up.
"Then he doesn't understand the clue."
Dante's eyes sharpened.
"Exactly."
The address belonged to an abandoned shipping terminal along the river.
Dante knew it.
So had his father.
They had three hours.
Gabriel arranged vehicles.
Dante arranged men he trusted personally.
Vera refused to remain behind.
Nobody tried very hard to stop her.
On the drive, Dante sat across from her.
"There's something you need to understand."
"What?"
"If we walk into that terminal, Marcus will try to separate us."
"I don't care what he tries."
"You should."
"My sister is there."
"And that's exactly why you're dangerous to yourself."
Vera looked away.
Dante leaned forward.
"Vera."
She met his gaze.
"We get Lucy first. Evidence second. Revenge never."
"I didn't say revenge."
"You didn't have to."
She stared at him.
"Your uncle murdered your father."
"Yes."
"And you're telling me you don't want revenge?"
Dante's expression became distant.
"I spent ten years wanting it before I knew who deserved it."
"And now?"
"Now I want truth that survives after I'm gone."
That silenced her.
He continued.
"If Marcus disappears tonight, people call it Moretti family violence. If he stands in court while Daniel Dunn's ledger is opened in front of federal investigators, everything he built dies with his reputation."
Vera looked at him differently.
"You really believe he'll reach court?"
"If possible."
"And if not?"
Dante said nothing.
The terminal appeared ahead.
Rusting cranes.
Empty warehouses.
River beyond.
Marcus waited inside Warehouse Nine.
Vera and Dante entered together.
Gabriel remained outside with the team.
Lucy sat near the center.
Silas stood beside her.
Marcus waited behind a steel table.
"Touching," Marcus said. "The children cleaning up their fathers' mistakes."
Vera's eyes stayed on Lucy.
"You okay?"
Lucy nodded.
Silas placed a hand on her shoulder.
Vera's voice dropped.
"Move your hand."
Silas smiled.
Dante tossed the locket onto the table.
"Let her go."
Marcus picked it up.
"Where's the key?"
"There isn't one."
Marcus looked at Vera.
"Don't waste my time."
"The clue is a combination."
"To what?"
Vera smiled.
"Let Lucy go."
Marcus's face hardened.
Dante intervened.
"She gives you the bank location after Lucy crosses the room."
Silas whispered to Marcus.
Marcus considered.
Then cut Lucy's restraints.
Lucy stood.
She walked slowly.
Halfway across the warehouse, Silas said:
"Stop."
Lucy froze.
Silas raised a handgun.
"Tell us first."
Vera's heart hammered.
Dante remained calm.
"First Republic Trust."
Marcus looked pleased.
"Account?"
"Elise Holloway."
Vera's mother's maiden name.
Marcus nodded toward Silas.
Lucy continued.
She reached Vera.
They embraced.
Vera whispered:
"The notes are the combination."
Lucy understood.
Marcus opened the locket.
He found nothing useful.
"Where is the box key?"
"There isn't one," Vera repeated.
Marcus looked at Silas.
"Get the car."
Silas moved toward an exit.
Dante smiled.
Marcus noticed.
"What?"
"You really think a bank is going to open a twelve-year-old deposit box at five in the morning because you ask nicely?"
Marcus's expression darkened.
"No."
Dante continued.
"You're going to wait until business hours. Which means we have time."
"For what?"
"To see whether Gabriel did what I asked."
The warehouse lights flashed.
Outside, engines roared.
Marcus spun toward the doors.
Dante's men entered from three sides.
Silas grabbed Lucy.
Vera moved faster than anyone expected.
She slammed the housekeeping-issued metal flashlight she'd kept in her coat against Silas's wrist.
The gun fell.
Dante kicked it away.
Within seconds, Silas was pinned.
Marcus ran toward a rear exit.
Gabriel intercepted him.
For the first time, Marcus looked frightened.
"You."
Gabriel stared at him.
"For Antonio."
Marcus reached for his coat.
Dante shouted.
"Don't!"
Gabriel caught Marcus's wrist and forced him against the wall.
Dante approached slowly.
Marcus laughed bitterly.
"You think winning one warehouse changes anything?"
"No."
Dante looked at Vera.
"The ledger does."
Police sirens approached.
Marcus smiled.
"You called them?"
"Federal task force," Dante replied.
Marcus's smile vanished.
Silas stared.
"How?"
Dante held up the recorder Lucy had planted.
"Your conversation was persuasive."
Agents entered.
Marcus and Silas were arrested.
It should have felt finished.
It didn't.
Because the ledger still had to be found.
At nine that morning, accompanied by attorneys and federal investigators, Vera entered First Republic Trust.
The institution had changed names twice since Daniel opened the box, but records remained.
Elise Holloway.
Box 719.
Vera stood in the secure viewing room with Lucy.
Dante waited outside.
"This is ours," Vera told him.
He nodded.
"I understand."
The sisters entered alone.
The box was brought to them.
Vera entered the six-number combination derived from Daniel's lullaby.
Click.
The lid opened.
Inside lay a leather ledger.
A stack of photographs.
Three cassette tapes.
And a sealed envelope.
Vera touched it.
Her name was written across the front.
VALERIA.
Her father's handwriting.
Her hands began shaking.
Lucy squeezed them.
"Open it."
Vera did.
My Vera,
If you are reading this, then I failed to keep you away from the truth.
She stopped.
Tears blurred the words.
Lucy read beside her.
Daniel explained everything.
Marcus Moretti and Silas Vale had built a network siphoning money through shell companies, bribing officials and blackmailing partners.
Antonio Moretti discovered discrepancies.
Daniel documented them.
They planned to expose Marcus.
Daniel feared he wouldn't live long enough.
So he created copies.
The ledger in the bank was one.
Another had been given to someone outside both families.
Vera frowned.
"Another copy?"
Lucy continued reading.
Daniel named the person.
Gabriel Kane.
Vera's stomach dropped.
Gabriel already had a copy.
Why had he spent the entire night pretending they needed hers?
Lucy whispered:
"That doesn't make sense."
They hurried from the vault.
Dante was waiting.
Vera handed him the letter.
He read the final paragraph.
His face changed.
"Where's Gabriel?"
One of Dante's men looked around.
"He left ten minutes ago."
"Why?"
"Said he needed air."
Dante called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Vera looked at the ledger.
"If Gabriel had a copy all along, why didn't he expose Marcus?"
Dante stared at Daniel's letter.
Then he noticed something.
A line written beneath Gabriel's name.
If Gabriel ever denies having this, don't trust him.
Dante looked toward the bank entrance.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Gabriel's voice.
"Dante."
"Where are you?"
"I'm sorry."
Dante went still.
"Sorry for what?"
Gabriel exhaled.
"I gave Marcus Daniel's first ledger twelve years ago."
Vera felt the blood leave her face.
Gabriel continued.
"And there is something about the night of the fire neither of you knows."
The call disconnected.
A second later, Vera received a photograph.
Gabriel stood inside her childhood home.
Not after the fire.
Before it.
May you like
Beside him was Daniel Dunn.
And Gabriel was holding the can of gasoline.
