Chapter 11 - The Night They Came for Her
Miriam entered slowly.
Renzo stepped between her and Leora.
Miriam raised her hands.
“I’m not armed.”
“That’s reassuring,” Renzo said.
Conrad stared at her.
“You.”
Miriam ignored him.
“Leora, we need to talk.”
“About my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Did you betray her?”
Miriam’s silence answered.
Years earlier, Miriam had been a young federal prosecutor.
Marisol approached her with evidence against Isabella’s network.
Miriam informed her supervisor.
Her supervisor was Nolan Pierce’s mentor.
The information leaked.
Marisol was killed days later.
Miriam resigned.
She had spent the rest of her career quietly protecting Renzo because she believed Salvatore’s son would eventually become another target.
“You should have told me,” Renzo said.
“Yes.”
“You should have told her.”
“Yes.”
Miriam did not defend herself.
Leora was beginning to understand how much damage could be caused by people who believed silence was protection.
“Who ordered my mother’s death?”
“Isabella approved it.”
Leora closed her eyes.
“But she didn’t initiate it,” Miriam continued.
“Who did?”
“Tarquin’s father.”
Ames.
The family connection returned.
Tarquin was arrested that night.
Not for Marisol’s death.
For obstruction and conspiracy.
Gianna gave prosecutors everything.
Then something unexpected happened.
She came to Leora.
No makeup.
No designer armor.
Just Gianna.
“I need to apologize.”
“You already did.”
“No. I said I was sorry because I was scared.”
Leora waited.
Gianna swallowed.
“I hated you because Dad respected you. I humiliated you because other people laughed when I did. I made you small because it made me feel bigger.”
Leora felt no immediate forgiveness.
That mattered.
She did not owe Gianna instant absolution.
“I believe you’re sorry,” she said.
Gianna cried.
“But?”
“But I need time.”
Gianna nodded.
“That’s fair.”
It was perhaps the first fair thing between them.
That evening, Leora finally agreed to dinner with Renzo.
No ballroom.
No chandeliers.
A tiny Italian restaurant closed to everyone else.
Leora noticed.
“You rented the restaurant?”
“No.”
“Renzo.”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
Halfway through dinner, he asked, “What do you want?”
“Nobody asks accountants questions that broad.”
“I’m asking you.”
Leora considered it.
“A life where I’m not useful because I can fix someone else’s disaster.”
Renzo nodded.
“And?”
“I want to be seen before something explodes.”
His gaze held hers.
“I see you.”
It should have sounded like a line.
It didn’t.
Then the restaurant windows shattered.
Renzo threw himself over her.
Gunfire struck the wall.
Security responded.
Seconds later, silence.
Leora lifted her head.
Renzo was bleeding.
“Renzo.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re shot.”
“Grazed.”
She pressed a napkin against his shoulder.
Outside, the attacker had disappeared.
But he left a phone.
On it was one scheduled message.
Leora opened it.
A photograph showed Elias being transferred between federal facilities.
Another photograph showed the route.
The final image showed a sniper positioned above it.
Beneath the pictures:
MIDNIGHT.
ONE WITNESS LEFT.
Leora checked the time.
11:57.
May you like
Her father’s convoy had already departed.
Then the phone began counting down...
