Chapter 2 - Daniel’s Last Secret
For three seconds, nobody spoke.
Vincent held the phone against his ear.
Sophia stood so close she could hear static.
Then a man's voice said, “You should have protected them better.”
Sophia stopped breathing.
It wasn't Daniel.
Vincent’s eyes hardened.
“Who is this?”
A laugh.
“You've forgotten my voice?”
The call disconnected.
Vincent lowered the phone.
“Who was it?”
He didn't answer.
Sophia grabbed his sleeve.
“Vincent.”
“Take Mia upstairs.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“No more secrets.”
His security men watched from a distance.
Vincent dismissed them with a glance.
Then he crouched in front of Mia.
“Did the man who gave you the badge touch you?”
“No.”
“What did he look like?”
“Old.”
“How old?”
Mia shrugged.
“Like Mama.”
Sophia stared at her.
“Thank you.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“Hair?”
“Gray.”
“Anything else?”
Mia thought seriously.
“He had a funny finger.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“What kind of funny?”
Mia curled her left index finger inward.
“Like this.”
Vincent stood abruptly.
“You know him,” Sophia said.
“I know who she means.”
“Who?”
“Elias Voss.”
The name meant nothing to Sophia.
Vincent ordered Marco to take Mia and Rosa upstairs.
Sophia resisted until Vincent promised Mia would remain surrounded by security.
Then they returned to the study.
“Elias Voss ran operations for my father,” Vincent said.
“What operations?”
“The kind newspapers associate with my name.”
“So the mafia stories are true.”
“Some.”
Sophia folded her arms.
“That's comforting.”
“My father built an organization around legitimate businesses and illegal leverage. When I inherited it, I dismantled most of the criminal side.”
“Most?”
“I’m not asking you to approve of me.”
“Good.”
“Elias did not approve either. He believed I was destroying what my father built.”
“And Daniel?”
“Daniel discovered Elias had been stealing from both sides of the organization.”
Vincent opened a wall safe.
Inside were documents, cash and a small recorder.
He placed the recorder on the desk.
“Daniel gave me this three days before he died.”
Sophia stared at it.
“You've had his voice for two years?”
“One recording.”
“And you never gave it to me?”
“It could have gotten you killed.”
She pressed play.
Daniel’s voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, Vinny, something went wrong.”
Sophia covered her mouth.
Vinny.
Daniel had called him Vinny.
Suddenly Mia’s nickname felt different.
Daniel continued.
“I copied enough to prove somebody inside Castellano Development is washing money through the Harbor Point project. But the financial ledger isn't the worst part. There are inspection reports. People got hurt because somebody paid inspectors to ignore structural problems.”
Sophia looked at Vincent.
His face was stone.
“I found the original files,” Daniel said. “I'm moving them somewhere nobody will connect to you. If I don't make tomorrow's meeting, don't trust anyone who already knows about Harbor Point.”
Static crackled.
Then Daniel added, “And if Sophia ever gets dragged into this, tell her I'm sorry.”
Sophia broke.
She turned away.
Vincent stopped the recording.
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“Play the rest.”
“Sophia—”
“Play it.”
He did.
Daniel’s voice returned.
“Tell Mia her dad loved her. And tell Sophia...”
A pause.
“She was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
The recording ended.
Sophia cried silently.
Vincent gave her the dignity of looking away.
Eventually she whispered, “Where did he hide the files?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why do they think I have them?”
“Daniel may have left you something without telling you what it was.”
Sophia thought about their old apartment.
Boxes.
Daniel’s tools.
Clothes she couldn't bear to discard.
Then she remembered.
“The storage unit.”
Vincent turned.
“What?”
“After Daniel died, I couldn't afford our apartment. I put his work things in storage.”
“Where?”
“South Mercer.”
Vincent grabbed his jacket.
“We're going.”
“You're not.”
She glared.
“They're my husband's things.”
“Which makes the unit dangerous.”
“Then I guess you'll need someone terrifying with me.”
For once, Vincent had no immediate response.
Twenty minutes later, three black SUVs left the estate.
Sophia sat beside Vincent.
“Why did the caller's voice affect you?”
“It didn't.”
“You recognized him.”
Vincent watched the road.
“Elias has a son. Adrian.”
“And?”
“Adrian and I grew up together.”
“You were friends?”
“Brothers, practically.”
“What happened?”
“My father died. I took control. Adrian wanted the old organization expanded. I refused.”
“And Daniel discovered his father stealing.”
Vincent nodded.
“Adrian disappeared six months after Daniel died.”
“You think he called?”
“Yes.”
At the storage facility, Vincent’s men cleared the building.
Unit 317 remained locked.
Sophia opened it.
Dust covered everything.
Daniel’s toolbox sat exactly where she remembered.
She knelt.
Vincent stopped her.
“Let me.”
“You think the toolbox is going to explode?”
“I don't know.”
That answer persuaded her.
He inspected it.
Safe.
Sophia opened it.
Wrenches.
Tape measures.
Gloves.
A photograph of Mia.
Nothing else.
They searched for forty minutes.
Then Sophia noticed Daniel’s old hard hat.
Something rattled inside.
She pulled away the inner padding.
A brass key fell into her palm.
A number was engraved on it.
Vincent stared.
“Bank deposit box?”
“Maybe.”
Sophia found something else beneath the padding.
A folded note.
Her name was written outside.
She opened it.
Soph, if anything happens to me, don't trust the accident report. Take 814 to Union Federal. Ask for Mr. Bell. Do not tell anyone—not even Vincent—until you see what's inside.
Sophia slowly raised her eyes.
Vincent had read it too.
“He didn't trust you.”
“He was being careful.”
“He specifically wrote your name.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
Then the storage facility lights went out.
Marco’s voice came over Vincent’s radio.
“Movement. West corridor.”
Vincent grabbed Sophia and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Then another.
Vincent shielded Sophia with his body.
“Stay down.”
Emergency lights flashed red.
Footsteps approached.
Marco shouted.
A struggle followed.
Then silence.
Vincent drew a handgun.
Sophia stared at it.
He moved toward the doorway.
A phone began ringing inside Daniel’s toolbox.
Sophia froze.
“That wasn't there before.”
Vincent turned.
The phone continued ringing.
Sophia lifted it.
One message filled the screen.
SOPHIA, IF VINCENT IS WITH YOU, DON'T SHOW HIM WHAT'S IN BOX 814.
Then another message appeared.
May you like
HE KNOWS WHO KILLED DANIEL.
And behind them, someone slowly pulled the storage-unit door shut.
