Chapter 2 - The Fire Nobody Survived
Khloe held the dead receiver against her ear for several seconds.
"Ask Vincent about the fire."
Those words kept repeating in her mind.
Vincent approached.
"Who called?"
"You know."
His expression hardened.
"What did he say?"
"He mentioned a fire."
The heavyset man beside Vincent stopped moving.
That was enough.
Khloe pointed at him.
"He knows too."
"Khloe—"
"No. Twenty years I've been told my father died in an accident. Tonight I discover you knew him, there was a warehouse, there was no body, and now some stranger knows my name."
Vincent lowered his voice.
"Not here."
"Then where?"
"My car."
Khloe laughed once.
"You ordered a man murdered ten minutes ago."
"And if I'd wanted you dead, whispering Salvatore's name into my ear would've been the last thing you ever did."
The brutal simplicity of the statement silenced her.
Vincent glanced toward the kitchen.
"Whoever took Daniel knows we're here. That means this restaurant isn't safe."
Khloe looked at her manager.
He was pretending not to watch.
She untied her apron.
"I need my bag."
"You have thirty seconds."
Khloe almost told him where he could put his thirty seconds.
Then she remembered the caller.
Your father always said you'd have your mother's eyes.
She hurried downstairs.
Her locker was in a narrow staff room beside the wine cellar.
She grabbed her coat and bag.
When she turned, someone was standing in the doorway.
Marco Bell.
The restaurant's assistant manager.
"You leaving early?"
"Family emergency."
Marco looked at her coat.
"With Moretti?"
Khloe froze.
Marco smiled.
"I wouldn't."
"Move."
"You don't understand what kind of man he is."
"I'm beginning to."
Marco stepped aside.
Then his gaze dropped to the medal around her neck.
His smile disappeared.
"Where did you get that?"
Khloe covered it instinctively.
"My father."
Marco stared.
For one terrifying second, recognition flashed across his face.
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Marco moved away.
"Forget I asked."
Khloe hurried past him.
She found Vincent waiting by the service entrance.
"Who were you talking to?"
"My manager."
"Which one?"
"Marco."
Vincent's expression changed.
"What?"
"Nothing. Come."
They entered the alley.
A black SUV waited.
Khloe stopped.
"You expect me to get into that?"
Vincent opened the rear door.
"I expect you to decide whether you'd rather be beside the man who knew your father or alone while the man who betrayed him knows you're alive."
That worked.
Khloe got in.
Vincent joined her.
The heavyset man sat in front.
"Who is he?" Khloe asked.
"Anthony."
Anthony glanced back.
"Anthony Luca."
"Does he speak English?"
"Better than Vincent."
Vincent ignored him.
The SUV pulled away.
Khloe watched the restaurant disappear.
"Tell me about the fire."
Vincent remained silent long enough that she thought he might refuse.
Then he began.
"Your father worked at the docks."
"I know."
"No. You know what Elena told you."
Khloe looked at him.
"Salvatore worked for my father."
The words hit harder than expected.
"Your father was Mafia."
"My father was many things."
"And mine worked for him?"
"Salvatore kept books. Shipping records. Containers. Money."
Khloe shook her head.
"My father was an accountant."
"That's what I just told you."
"An accountant for criminals."
Vincent looked out the window.
"Yes."
Khloe felt strangely betrayed by a man she barely remembered.
"Why did my mother lie?"
"Because she wanted you to have a different life."
"What happened?"
Vincent rubbed his thumb across an old scar near his wrist.
"There was a man named Carlo Vescari."
Khloe immediately remembered the photograph.
"The scratched-out man."
Vincent nodded.
"Carlo wanted my father's organization. Salvatore discovered he'd been secretly moving money and arranging deals behind my father's back."
"So my father exposed him."
"He planned to."
"Planned?"
"Carlo found out first."
Vincent looked at her.
"One night Salvatore called me. Told me to meet him at Warehouse Seventeen. He had records proving everything."
"And?"
"I arrived early. Salvatore came ten minutes later."
Vincent's voice became quieter.
"Then the doors locked."
Khloe knew what came next before he said it.
"Fire."
"Carlo's men poured gasoline around the building."
"How did you survive?"
"Your father."
Vincent touched the scar again.
"He found a maintenance hatch beneath the loading platform. It was barely wide enough for one person."
Khloe stared at him.
"He made you go."
"He shoved me through it."
"And him?"
"The roof collapsed."
Khloe swallowed.
"You left him."
Vincent didn't defend himself.
"Yes."
"You left my father to burn."
"Yes."
Khloe slapped him.
Anthony turned around sharply.
Vincent raised a hand.
Anthony faced forward again.
Khloe's palm burned.
Vincent's cheek reddened.
He didn't retaliate.
"You deserved that," she whispered.
"I've deserved worse for twenty years."
"Did you search?"
"Until sunrise."
"And?"
"Blood near the river. Salvatore's medal chain. No body."
Khloe touched the medal.
"My mother gave me this."
"Then someone returned it."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
The SUV stopped outside an apartment building.
Khloe recognized it.
Her mother's building.
"No."
Vincent was already opening the door.
"She's part of this."
"You don't bring armed men into my mother's apartment."
"Then I'll go alone."
Elena Grace opened her door after Khloe's third knock.
She was fifty-three now, small and elegant, her dark hair streaked with silver.
Her smile vanished when she saw Vincent.
The grocery bag slipped from her hand.
Oranges rolled across the floor.
"No."
Vincent said nothing.
Elena backed away.
"No, no, no."
"Mom."
Elena grabbed Khloe's shoulders.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Did you say his name?"
Khloe's silence answered.
Elena closed her eyes.
"Twenty years."
"Mom, tell me the truth."
"I kept you safe for twenty years."
"From who?"
Elena looked at Vincent.
"You."
Vincent accepted the accusation.
Khloe stared between them.
"He says Dad saved him."
"He did."
"He says there was no body."
Elena's face tightened.
"Enough."
"Is Dad dead?"
Elena looked at her daughter.
Tears appeared.
"I don't know."
Khloe felt the room tilt.
"You told me he died."
"I told you what you needed to believe."
"What does that even mean?"
Elena walked to the kitchen.
She opened a drawer, removed several dish towels, then lifted the wooden bottom.
Inside was an envelope.
Yellowed.
Sealed.
She handed it to Khloe.
Written across the front was:
FOR KHLOE — IF VINCENT EVER FINDS HER.
Khloe looked up.
"Who wrote this?"
Elena's lips trembled.
"Your father."
Khloe almost dropped it.
"When?"
"Three weeks after the warehouse fire."
Vincent stood so suddenly his chair crashed backward.
"Salvatore survived?"
Elena stared at him.
"He survived the fire."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
Vincent moved closer.
"You received this three weeks afterward and never told me?"
"Salvatore begged me not to."
"Why?"
"Because somebody inside your family betrayed him."
Anthony shifted near the doorway.
Vincent noticed.
"So Salvatore disappeared."
Elena nodded.
"He said if anyone knew he survived, Khloe and I would be killed."
Khloe looked at the envelope.
"Why does it say if Vincent finds me?"
"Because your father believed one day he would."
Khloe tore it open.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
The handwriting was shaky.
My little bird,
If you're reading this, Vincent has found you. Do not fear him for what his name became. Fear the man standing closest to him.
Khloe stopped.
Vincent read over her shoulder.
Anthony went still.
Khloe continued.
The truth was never in the fire. It was in the ledger. Find locker 317 at Grand Central. The key is where Elena promised never to look.
Khloe looked at her mother.
"What does that mean?"
Elena had gone pale.
"I don't know."
Then Khloe noticed her mother's hand.
It had instinctively moved toward the old sewing box on the shelf.
Khloe crossed the room.
"Mom."
"Don't."
She opened it.
Under spools of thread lay a small brass key.
Vincent stared at it.
Then a sound came from the hallway.
The elevator bell.
Anthony reached inside his coat.
Three slow knocks struck Elena's door.
Nobody moved.
A man's voice came through from the other side.
"Elena?"
She covered her mouth.
Khloe had never seen her mother look so terrified.
The man knocked again.
May you like
Then he said the one sentence that made Vincent reach for his gun.
"Salvatore sent me."
