Chapter 5 - Rose's Gun
Vincent didn't move.
Lily clung to his neck.
Rose's hand was steady.
"Put her down," she said.
Vincent studied his sister.
"You won't shoot through a child."
"No."
"Then I'm keeping her."
Rose's jaw tightened.
Thomas laughed.
"Family reunion."
Elena shouted, "Rose, don't!"
Vincent looked at her.
"You knew?"
Elena's face crumpled.
"Not everything."
Rose shifted the gun toward Thomas.
Vincent understood.
She had never been aiming at him.
She was covering both men.
"Everyone stop," Rose said.
Thomas smiled.
"Do it."
Rose's finger tightened.
Vincent said her name.
Not loudly.
Just enough.
"Rose."
She looked at him.
"If you kill him now, we never learn who else is involved."
"I don't care."
"I do."
"He destroyed our lives."
"And if you become him to stop him?"
Rose's expression cracked.
Thomas used the moment.
He reached inside his coat.
Marco fired from somewhere above.
The shot hit the concrete beside Thomas's foot.
Everything exploded into motion.
Vincent dropped behind a steel barrier with Lily.
Elena ran toward them.
Gunshots echoed.
Isabella screamed.
Rose disappeared behind a forklift.
Marco's team breached both doors.
Vincent covered Lily's ears.
"Look at me."
She sobbed.
"Look at me, Lily."
She did.
"You're okay."
Elena reached them and grabbed her daughter.
"Lily!"
"Mommy!"
They collapsed together.
Vincent turned toward the warehouse.
Thomas was gone.
So was Isabella.
Rose had been hit.
Vincent found her behind the forklift holding her shoulder.
"You're bleeding."
"I noticed."
He pulled her toward cover.
"You idiot."
She winced.
"That's comforting."
Thomas escaped through a river tunnel.
Isabella vanished with him.
But Elena and Lily were safe.
For that night, it was enough.
Back at the estate, Dr. Hale treated Rose.
Elena refused to leave Lily.
Vincent moved them both into a secure room beside his own.
At 4 a.m., Elena finally sat across from him.
She looked exhausted.
"I'm sorry."
Vincent leaned back.
"For what?"
"For bringing this to your home."
"They brought it here long before you."
"I lied to you."
"So did everyone."
"I came here because of Rose."
"I know."
Elena looked toward the sleeping Lily.
"She saved me after my husband died."
"Rose?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"She showed me proof his death wasn't random."
"Thomas."
Elena nodded.
"My husband found money moving through shell companies. He wanted to report it."
Vincent rubbed his face.
"Why work here?"
"Because Rose believed part of the archive was still hidden somewhere in the estate."
"Did you find it?"
Elena looked at him.
"Yes."
Vincent sat forward.
"Where?"
She pointed downward.
"The chapel."
The Moretti estate had a private chapel built by Vincent's grandfather.
Almost nobody used it.
Vincent stood.
"Show me."
They went downstairs with Marco.
Behind the altar was a carved wooden panel.
Elena pressed two hidden catches.
A compartment opened.
Inside sat a ledger.
Old.
Leather-bound.
Vincent recognized his father's handwriting.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
Some entries were coded.
Others weren't.
Judges.
Detectives.
Business owners.
And one page labeled M.
"What's M?" Marco asked.
Elena shook her head.
Vincent turned pages.
Then stopped.
CARLO — $250,000.
Date: thirteen years earlier.
Same week Rose disappeared.
Vincent stared.
Marco saw.
"Boss."
"No."
"Could be anything."
Vincent closed the book.
But doubt had already entered.
Carlo claimed he learned the truth later.
The ledger suggested otherwise.
They returned to the study.
Carlo was gone.
His room empty.
His car missing.
Security showed him leaving during the Pier Nine operation.
Vincent called.
No answer.
Then a message arrived.
From Carlo.
I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO.
Vincent read it twice.
Another message followed.
YOUR FATHER IS NOT THE PERSON YOU SHOULD FEAR MOST.
Vincent looked at Rose, pale from blood loss.
Lily's warning echoed.
Your daddy isn't the scary one.
She is.
Rose looked at Vincent.
"What?"
He showed her.
She read Carlo's message.
Her face changed.
"Where did this come from?"
"Carlo."
Rose stood too quickly and nearly fell.
Vincent caught her.
"What aren't you telling me?"
She pulled away.
"Carlo was the one who got me out."
"Then why was Dad paying him?"
"I don't know."
"Rose."
"I don't know!"
Her fear looked genuine.
Vincent stared at the ledger.
M.
Maybe not Moretti.
Maybe a person.
Then Elena stepped into the doorway.
She held Lily's small drawing pad.
"Vincent."
He turned.
"What?"
"She drew this while we were being held."
Elena handed it over.
A child's picture.
Stick figures.
A square building.
A black car.
A woman with long hair.
Beside the woman, Lily had drawn a necklace.
Vincent recognized the symbol.
A serpent wrapped around a crown.
His mother used to wear one.
His mother who had died when Vincent was sixteen.
He looked at Lily.
"Who is this woman?"
Lily whispered:
"Grandma."
Nobody moved.
Vincent felt the room tilt.
"My mother is dead."
Lily shook her head.
"No."
Then she pointed toward the dark window behind him.
"She's outside."
Vincent turned.
A woman stood beyond the glass.
May you like
Watching them.
And around her neck hung the serpent crown.
