Chapter 8 - The Uncle Who Wanted a Crown
Raymond Costello welcomed Alfred into his home with open arms.
“My boy.”
Alfred allowed the embrace.
Mina watched from the car through a hidden camera feed.
The plan was simple.
Alfred would pretend he knew nothing.
Raymond would talk.
Lev had already planted recording equipment.
For twenty minutes, uncle and nephew discussed business.
Then Alfred mentioned Mina.
Raymond's hand paused over his whiskey.
Barely noticeable.
But enough.
“She disappeared,” Alfred lied.
“Women do that.”
“She was pregnant.”
Raymond looked up.
There it was.
Knowledge before surprise.
Alfred saw it.
“So you knew.”
Raymond slowly put down his glass.
“Alfred—”
“You knew.”
The older man sighed.
“You were becoming weak.”
“Because I loved someone?”
“Because you forgot what your father taught you.”
“My father taught me family mattered.”
“Your father built an empire.”
“And died alone.”
Raymond's face hardened.
“You think a secretary and a baby make you respectable?”
Alfred stood.
“No. They make me responsible.”
Raymond laughed.
“You can't walk away.”
“Watch me.”
That was not part of the plan.
Mina leaned closer to the monitor.
Raymond did too.
“What did you say?”
Alfred looked directly at his uncle.
“I said I'm walking away.”
Raymond's expression became genuinely frightened.
Because an Alfred Costello who wanted power could be controlled through power.
An Alfred Costello willing to abandon it could not.
Raymond reached toward his jacket.
Lev's men entered immediately.
No shots were fired.
No blood spilled.
For Mina, that mattered.
Raymond and the evidence tying him to Victor were handed to federal authorities through Alfred's attorney.
It wasn't clean.
Nothing about their world was clean.
But it was different.
That evening Alfred returned to the safe house.
Mina stood on the porch.
“You meant it?”
“What?”
“You're walking away.”
He looked toward the horizon.
“I don't know how yet.”
Then he looked at her stomach.
“But I know why.”
Mina wanted to believe him.
Then her phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Mina leaving the clinic weeks earlier.
Below it were six words.
May you like
YOU CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM ME.
Victor Moretti was still free.
