Chapter 4 - The Dead Man on the Screen
Thomas Moretti had been dead for eleven years.
Vincent had identified the body.
Or believed he had.
A highway accident.
Burned vehicle.
Damaged face.
Carlo had handled everything.
Now Thomas stood on a monitor looking older, thinner, and very much alive.
"Hello, son."
Vincent's hands curled into fists.
Rose stepped beside him.
"Don't answer emotionally."
Vincent looked at her.
"You knew?"
"I knew he survived. I didn't know where he was."
"Thirteen years and that's your first explanation?"
"We don't have time."
Onscreen Thomas placed a hand on Lily's chair.
The child flinched.
Vincent stepped toward the monitor.
"Take your hand off her."
Thomas smiled.
"There's my boy."
"Let them go."
"Bring Rose."
Rose stiffened.
Thomas continued.
"Bring my daughter to Pier Nine at midnight."
"No."
"Then the maid and child disappear."
Elena looked toward the camera.
"Don't do it."
Thomas struck her.
Not hard enough to knock her down.
Hard enough to send Vincent toward the screen before Marco caught his shoulder.
Thomas laughed.
"Still predictable."
Vincent stared at his father.
"What do you want?"
"The archive."
"I don't have it."
"Rose does."
Rose shook her head.
Thomas saw.
"Sweetheart."
Rose stepped closer to the camera.
"You lost the right to call me that."
"I gave you everything."
"You tried to kill me."
"Because you tried to destroy our family."
"You built a blackmail empire."
"I built protection."
Thomas looked at Vincent.
"Your sister never understood power."
Vincent's voice was flat.
"And you never understood loyalty."
Thomas's smile disappeared.
"Midnight."
The feed ended.
Silence.
Vincent turned toward Rose.
"Start talking."
She did.
Thirteen years earlier, Rose had discovered her father's archive.
Thomas had stored evidence on everyone who might threaten him.
Crimes.
Affairs.
Bribery.
Murder.
Political corruption.
Enough secrets to control half the city.
Rose intended to turn it over to federal investigators.
Thomas learned.
He ordered Adrian Cole to take her to the east warehouse and stage her death.
Cole disobeyed one part.
He let Rose escape.
"Why?" Vincent asked.
"Because I had evidence against him too."
Vincent gave a humorless laugh.
"Of course."
"I disappeared."
"And left me."
Rose flinched.
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"I contacted you twice."
"When?"
"Letters."
"I never got them."
Rose looked toward Carlo's empty chair on the screen feed.
"Then someone intercepted them."
Vincent thought of his uncle.
"No."
"Vincent—"
"Carlo helped you."
"He helped later."
"Then who?"
Rose shook her head.
"I don't know."
She explained Elena.
Elena's husband had once worked as an accountant for Thomas.
He discovered irregular transfers connected to the archive.
Three years later he died in what police called a robbery.
Rose believed Thomas ordered it.
Elena wanted answers.
Together, they began searching.
"Why involve Lily?"
"I didn't intend to."
"You built biometric encryption around her identity."
"A guardian trust."
"Same result."
Rose's face tightened.
"I made a mistake."
"She's four."
"I know."
"She's sitting in a chair beside the man who tried to murder you because of that mistake."
"I know!"
Her voice echoed through the factory.
For the first time, Vincent saw not the mysterious sister who had returned from the dead, but the nineteen-year-old who had run terrified from their father.
He lowered his voice.
"Can Thomas open the archive without Lily?"
"No."
"Can you?"
Rose hesitated.
"Partially."
"Why partially?"
"Because I changed the system after Elena had Lily."
"What does Lily actually need to do?"
"Nothing dangerous. Facial verification plus Elena's authorization."
"So both are required."
"Yes."
Vincent understood.
Thomas needed mother and daughter alive.
For now.
"What happens after he opens it?"
Rose looked away.
Vincent already knew.
"They become unnecessary."
"Yes."
He turned to Marco.
"Pier Nine."
"We'll prepare."
Rose grabbed his arm.
"It's a trap."
"Obviously."
"He wants me."
"Then he'll think he's getting you."
"No."
Vincent looked at her.
"No?"
"You don't get to disappear for thirteen years, walk back into my life, and start giving orders."
Rose's expression softened.
"You sound like Dad."
"Don't."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
She stared at him.
Vincent continued.
"You stay here."
"I'm coming."
"No."
"Those files are mine."
"Lily isn't."
That stopped her.
Neither spoke.
Marco cleared his throat.
"We have six hours."
Vincent spent three of them preparing.
No police.
Thomas had contacts everywhere.
Instead Vincent called people outside the family's traditional structure.
A retired federal investigator.
Two former military contractors.
Rebecca Shaw.
And one surprising person.
Isabella's father, Antonio Romano.
Antonio answered on the second ring.
"Vincent."
"Your daughter kidnapped a child."
Silence.
Then, "What?"
Vincent sent him the photograph.
Antonio swore.
"I knew she was meeting someone. I didn't know—"
"She accessed my security system."
"Vincent, if Isabella did this—"
"She did."
Antonio inhaled.
"What do you want?"
"Her location."
"I don't have it."
"Find it."
"Give me an hour."
"You have thirty minutes."
He hung up.
At 10:42, Antonio called back.
"She has a second phone."
"Where?"
"Last ping near the river."
"Pier Nine?"
"Close."
"Send everything."
"Vincent."
"What?"
Antonio sounded older suddenly.
"Bring my daughter home alive."
Vincent looked toward the preparations.
"I'll try."
At 11:20, Rose entered the equipment room wearing a black coat.
Vincent stared.
"I told you to stay."
"I'm not asking."
"You think I won't lock you in a room?"
"I know you won't."
"Why?"
"Because I'm still your older sister."
For the first time in thirteen years, Vincent almost smiled.
"By fourteen months."
"Still counts."
Then her expression became serious.
"I have the archive token."
Vincent's smile vanished.
"What?"
She held up a tiny metal drive.
"If Thomas wants the archive, he needs this too."
"You didn't mention it."
"You didn't ask."
Vincent stared at her.
"You are unbelievably irritating."
"I've missed you too."
They drove to Pier Nine.
The abandoned shipping terminal was dark except for one warehouse.
Vincent's people took positions.
Rose stayed beside him.
Midnight.
The warehouse door opened.
Isabella stepped outside.
She wore black.
No weapon visible.
"Vincent."
"Where's Lily?"
"Inside."
"Elena?"
"Alive."
"Thomas?"
Her eyes shifted.
"He wants Rose."
"I'm here," Rose said.
Isabella stared.
"So the ghost is real."
Rose held up the drive.
"You want this?"
Isabella's expression sharpened.
"Come inside."
Vincent shook his head.
"Bring Lily out first."
"No."
"Then we leave."
Isabella laughed.
"You won't."
Vincent turned.
He actually began walking.
"Wait."
He stopped.
The warehouse door opened again.
Elena appeared.
A man held a gun behind her.
Lily clung to her skirt.
Vincent turned slowly.
Thomas stepped behind them.
His father looked exactly as he had on the video.
Older.
Alive.
Impossible.
"Enough games," Thomas said.
Vincent stared at him across thirty feet of concrete.
"You died."
Thomas smiled.
"Men like me don't die when paperwork says we do."
"Let them go."
"Bring Rose."
Rose walked forward before Vincent could stop her.
"Rose."
"It's okay."
"No, it isn't."
She didn't look back.
Thomas watched his daughter approach.
"My difficult girl."
"You look terrible, Dad."
He laughed.
"Still sharp."
"Still a monster?"
"Still sentimental?"
Rose held the drive up.
"This for Elena and Lily."
Thomas gestured.
The armed man shoved Elena forward.
Vincent moved toward her.
Lily ran.
"Mr. Vincent!"
Vincent caught her.
He lifted her against his chest.
For one second relief overwhelmed everything.
Then Lily whispered into his ear.
"The lady told me something."
"What lady?"
She pointed at Isabella.
Vincent looked.
"What did she say?"
Lily's tiny voice trembled.
"She said your daddy isn't the scary one."
Vincent froze.
"What?"
Lily looked behind him.
At Rose.
"She is."
Vincent slowly turned.
Rose no longer held the drive.
May you like
She held a gun.
And it was pointed directly at Vincent.
