Chapter 6 - Midnight at the Warehouse
The instructions led them to an abandoned freight warehouse near the Chicago River.
Damian wanted Lena nowhere near it.
Lena refused.
Elena sided with her.
Damian stared at both women.
“I've had a sister for less than twenty-four hours and she's already ignoring me.”
Lena looked at Elena.
“Family trait?”
“Apparently.”
The humor lasted three seconds.
Then Damian became serious.
“We do this my way.”
His way involved police.
Not corrupt officers from the ledger.
A federal contact Damian had quietly worked with for two years.
That surprised Lena.
“You've been helping federal investigators?”
“Occasionally.”
“You really aren't good at the mafia-boss stereotype.”
“I'll try harder.”
Damian had been attempting to move the legitimate Moretti businesses away from the criminal network he'd inherited.
Marcus had resisted.
Now Damian understood why.
Marcus needed the old organization alive because it protected him.
The plan was simple.
Thomas would carry a copy of the ledger.
The original went to federal agents.
Damian and Lena would enter.
Elena remained with law enforcement.
Lena objected.
Elena touched her face.
“I lost twenty-five years because I tried to protect you by disappearing.”
Her eyes filled.
“I'm not repeating that mistake by taking your choices away now.”
Lena hugged her.
For the first time.
Elena froze.
Then held her daughter.
It wasn't magical.
It didn't erase anything.
It was better than magic.
It was real.
Inside the warehouse, Evelyn sat beneath a hanging industrial light.
Robert stood beside her.
Marcus waited near a table.
Damian and Lena entered.
Marcus smiled.
“Antonio's children.”
Damian placed the copied ledger down.
“Release her.”
Marcus looked at Lena.
“You have his eyes.”
Lena hated him instantly.
“You married Robert to my mother.”
Marcus laughed.
“I introduced them.”
Robert's expression changed.
Apparently even he disliked hearing himself described as a tool.
Marcus continued.
“Evelyn was stubborn. Robert was useful.”
Lena looked at Robert.
“All those years?”
Robert shrugged.
“Started as a job.”
“And then?”
“I stayed.”
“You hit me.”
Robert's smile disappeared.
“You interfered.”
Damian moved.
Lena caught his arm.
“No.”
Damian stopped.
Lena faced Robert.
For years she'd been afraid of him.
Standing here, she realized something.
Robert wasn't powerful.
He was merely violent.
There was a difference.
“I'm not afraid of you anymore.”
Robert laughed.
“You should be.”
“No.”
She looked at Evelyn.
“Neither is she.”
Evelyn raised her head.
For the first time in years, she looked at her husband without fear.
Marcus became impatient.
“The ledger.”
Damian slid it across the table.
Marcus opened it.
His face darkened.
“This is a copy.”
“The original is somewhere you'll never reach.”
Marcus drew a gun.
Everything changed.
Damian's security team was outside.
Federal agents waited for a signal.
Marcus pointed the weapon at Lena.
“Then tell me where.”
Damian stepped in front of her.
Marcus laughed.
“Antonio would do exactly that.”
“Maybe he got one thing right.”
Robert suddenly grabbed Evelyn.
Lena moved.
Marcus shouted.
“Stop!”
Lena stopped.
Robert pulled Evelyn toward a side door.
Then Evelyn did something nobody expected.
She slammed her heel onto Robert's foot.
He cursed.
She drove her elbow backward.
Robert released her.
Lena ran.
Robert caught Lena's sleeve.
Fabric tore.
Her bruised arm became exposed.
For a fraction of a second, Lena saw the same man who had terrified her in the apartment.
The same eyes.
The same raised hand.
But this time she didn't freeze.
She stepped backward.
Robert lunged.
Damian intercepted him.
They crashed against the table.
Marcus swung the gun toward Damian.
Lena shouted.
The warehouse doors exploded open.
“Federal agents!”
Marcus turned.
Too late.
Weapons surrounded him.
“Drop it!”
For several seconds nobody breathed.
Then Marcus lowered the gun.
Robert tried running.
He made it twelve feet.
Agents tackled him.
Lena reached Evelyn.
“Mom.”
Evelyn held her.
“I'm okay.”
“You're okay?”
“I think I broke his toe.”
Lena laughed through tears.
“You're unbelievable.”
Damian approached.
Blood marked his lip.
Lena touched it.
“You're hurt.”
“This?”
He looked at Robert being handcuffed.
“Worth it.”
Marcus stared at Damian.
“You think this ends because you hand me to federal agents?”
Damian looked at him.
“No.”
Marcus smiled.
“Antonio tried to destroy that ledger once.”
“You're lying.”
“Ask Elena why.”
Damian's expression shifted.
Marcus continued.
“Ask her what Antonio discovered about the last page.”
Agents pulled him away.
But the words remained.
Later, outside, Elena saw Damian's face.
“What did he say?”
Damian told her.
Elena went silent.
Lena noticed.
“You know.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“What was on the last page?”
Elena looked toward the original ledger in an evidence bag.
“A name.”
“Whose?”
“Someone Antonio protected.”
Damian waited.
Elena whispered, “Your mother.”
Damian's face emptied.
Lena frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Elena shook her head.
“Not here.”
The federal prosecutor approached.
“We've got another problem.”
Damian turned.
“What?”
“The ledger we received is missing the final page.”
Elena stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“We cataloged it thirty minutes ago.”
Damian looked at Thomas.
Thomas looked equally stunned.
The prosecutor continued.
“One of your security men delivered the case.”
“Which man?”
“He identified himself as Thomas Moretti.”
Everyone turned.
Thomas was standing twenty feet away.
His face changed.
Then he reached slowly inside his coat.
Damian's men raised their weapons.
“Thomas!”
Thomas stopped.
His phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Then at Damian.
“I think you need to hear this.”
Damian answered on speaker.
A woman's voice spoke.
Old.
Weak.
Impossible.
“Damian?”
Damian went white.
Lena had never seen him frightened.
Until now.
The voice continued.
May you like
“It's your mother.”
And according to every Moretti record, she had been dead for fourteen years.
