Chapter 5 - Emma Refuses to Hide
Lorenzo wanted Emma to remain in Somerville with Mr. Russo.
Emma refused before he finished the sentence.
“No.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
“You are not walking into a building where Krell may be waiting.”
“And you are?”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s my house.”
“That has been compromised for eighteen months.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Russo coughed.
Adrian suddenly found the papers on the workbench fascinating.
Emma folded her arms.
“Your argument is getting worse.”
Lorenzo lowered his voice.
“You have a bruised wrist because of these men.”
“Exactly.”
“That is not a reason to come.”
“It is the reason.”
“Emma.”
“I spent two years being invisible in your house. That means I know things you don’t.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“Such as?”
“Which stair squeaks outside the third-floor linen closet.”
“That is not useful.”
“Which kitchen entrance has a camera that freezes whenever the freezer compressor turns on.”
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
Emma continued.
“Which guards smoke behind the laundry room after midnight. Which office doors get left unlocked because Mrs. Bell hates carrying keys. Which staff members eat lunch together.”
Adrian looked impressed.
Emma pointed at herself.
“You hired people to watch your house. I actually live inside its routines.”
Lorenzo considered this.
She added, “And if somebody has been hiding things there, you might need someone who knows what normal looks like.”
That ended the argument.
They returned in two vehicles.
Russo stayed with his nephew.
Adrian rode separately.
Lorenzo drove Emma.
For most of the trip, neither spoke.
Finally Emma asked, “What happens if Dane has destroyed everything?”
“He hasn’t.”
“You sound sure.”
“Because if he knew exactly what we found, he would be running.”
“He went back to your house.”
“Which means he believes something there is still worth controlling.”
Emma watched Boston slide past the windows.
“Are you frightened?”
Lorenzo glanced at her.
“Of Dane?”
“Of losing everything.”
He considered the question.
“My father used to say a man who builds his identity around what he owns becomes property of those things.”
“That sounds wise.”
“He ignored his own advice.”
Emma smiled faintly.
“Most people do.”
Lorenzo’s hands remained steady on the wheel.
“I can replace money.”
“What can’t you replace?”
He did not answer.
Emma noticed.
When they reached Beacon Hill, nothing appeared wrong.
The iron gates opened.
A security officer nodded.
The fountain continued running.
A landscaping crew trimmed hedges.
That normality felt sinister now.
Lorenzo parked near the side entrance.
Victor Hale appeared immediately.
“Sir.”
Lorenzo stepped out.
“Victor.”
Hale glanced at Emma.
Something flickered in his face.
Too fast for certainty.
“Miss Carter,” he said.
Emma stared at him.
“Good morning.”
Victor’s eyes dropped involuntarily toward her right sleeve.
Lorenzo saw it.
That single glance told him more than any interrogation could have.
Victor knew about the wrist.
Emma had told only Lorenzo, Russo, and Adrian.
Krell might have told him.
Which made the initials in Russo’s notebook harder to dismiss.
“Where is Mr. Dane?” Lorenzo asked.
“Finance office.”
“And Krell?”
Victor hesitated.
“I thought he left.”
“You saw him?”
“No.”
Lorenzo walked past.
Emma followed.
Victor stepped slightly into her path.
“Miss Carter, perhaps you should return to staff quarters.”
Lorenzo stopped.
Slowly.
Victor immediately moved aside.
“Of course.”
Emma’s heart pounded.
Lorenzo said nothing until they reached the central staircase.
Then he whispered, “You were right.”
“About?”
“He looked at your wrist.”
“I saw.”
They continued.
On the second floor, Lorenzo entered the finance office without knocking.
Michael Dane sat behind a desk.
He was sixty-one.
Silver-haired.
Impeccably dressed.
Thin rimless glasses.
He looked more like a university dean than a man who had allegedly built an extortion network.
“Lorenzo.”
“Michael.”
Dane smiled at Emma.
“Miss Carter.”
Emma did not smile back.
Lorenzo closed the door.
“You visited her apartment this morning.”
For the first time, Dane’s expression slipped.
Only slightly.
“I’m sorry?”
“You were photographed.”
Silence.
Then Dane removed his glasses.
“Well.”
Lorenzo waited.
Dane sighed.
“I suppose we’re past pretending.”
Emma felt cold.
No denial.
No confusion.
He simply surrendered the performance.
“Why?” Lorenzo asked.
Dane looked toward Emma.
“Could we speak privately?”
“No.”
“Lorenzo, this concerns—”
“She stays.”
Dane studied Emma.
“So this is what changed.”
“What?”
“For years, nobody could get close enough to make you question anything.”
Emma frowned.
Dane continued.
“Then a maid drops a cup.”
Lorenzo’s expression hardened.
“Careful.”
Dane smiled thinly.
“There he is.”
“Explain Midnight.”
Dane’s smile disappeared.
“You found the ledgers.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian?”
Lorenzo did not answer.
“Of course.”
Dane leaned back.
“You’ll blame me.”
“You authorized the payments.”
“I administered them.”
“Krell extorted twenty-three businesses.”
“That number is low.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“How many?” she asked.
Dane looked at her.
“Thirty-one.”
Lorenzo’s fists closed.
Dane continued.
“Perhaps thirty-four depending on how you classify temporary arrangements.”
“You say that like quarterly revenue.”
“To me, everything eventually becomes numbers.”
“People were threatened.”
“Yes.”
“My name was used.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dane studied him.
“Because your name has value.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“My father trusted you.”
“Your father understood what you never did.”
“What?”
“Fear is an asset.”
Emma watched Lorenzo’s face change.
Dane continued.
“Your father understood that reputation must be monetized or it decays.”
“So you terrorized bakers?”
“I created predictable revenue.”
“You stole from me to fund it.”
“I invested resources.”
“In your own operation.”
“In the operation you should have built.”
Lorenzo laughed once.
It was a cold sound.
“You actually think you improved my business.”
“I think you inherited an empire and spent ten years trying to make it respectable.”
“Most of it is legitimate.”
“And the remainder?”
Silence.
Dane smiled.
“That is what I thought.”
Emma stepped forward.
“So this was punishment?”
Dane looked at her.
“No.”
“What then?”
“Insurance.”
“For whom?”
“Myself.”
Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed.
Dane tapped the desk.
“You have been withdrawing from certain businesses. Closing arrangements. Selling assets. Cutting people loose.”
“Criminal arrangements,” Lorenzo said.
Emma looked at him.
That was the first time he had acknowledged it so directly.
Dane continued.
“You were dismantling the structure your father built.”
“Yes.”
“Without asking what happens to men whose livelihoods depend on that structure.”
“They could find legal work.”
Dane laughed.
“You really have changed.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Midnight was insurance,” Dane said. “If you dismantled too much, we created something independent enough to survive.”
“We?”
Dane smiled again.
Lorenzo asked, “How many?”
No answer.
“Victor?”
Dane said nothing.
“Krell?”
Nothing.
“Harland?”
At that name, Dane’s eyes shifted.
Tiny movement.
But Emma saw it.
So did Lorenzo.
“The deputy commissioner,” Lorenzo said.
Dane put his glasses back on.
“Be careful.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It is the first useful advice I’ve given you today.”
Lorenzo walked toward the desk.
Dane did not move.
Emma felt the air change.
“Where is Krell?”
“I don’t know.”
“You drove him here.”
“I dropped him near Charles Street.”
“Why were you at Emma’s apartment?”
Dane looked at her.
“To talk.”
“You don’t know me,” Emma said.
“No.”
“So why would I talk to you?”
“To persuade you that keeping your employment was preferable to becoming involved in matters outside your understanding.”
Emma’s face flushed.
Lorenzo’s voice dropped.
“You went there to threaten her.”
“I went there to explain consequences.”
“That is the same thing.”
Dane shrugged.
“Sometimes.”
Lorenzo leaned across the desk.
“If you go near her again—”
Emma touched his arm.
Not to protect Dane.
To stop Lorenzo from saying something he could not take back.
He looked at her hand.
Then at her.
She shook her head once.
Lorenzo stepped backward.
Dane noticed everything.
That made Emma uncomfortable.
“Oh,” Dane said softly.
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
“Don’t.”
Dane smiled.
“This really is interesting.”
Lorenzo walked toward the door.
“You’re suspended from all Moretti companies.”
Dane laughed.
“You cannot suspend me.”
“I just did.”
“I control signatures on twelve subsidiary accounts.”
“Not anymore.”
That was a bluff.
Dane knew it.
Lorenzo knew he knew it.
Still, something in Dane’s face tightened.
Lorenzo opened the door.
“Victor.”
Hale appeared almost immediately.
Too quickly.
He had been listening.
“Escort Mr. Dane from the estate.”
Victor looked at Dane.
Dane looked at Victor.
Neither spoke.
Emma felt the room tilt.
Lorenzo saw the exchange.
“Now.”
Victor stepped inside.
Then his phone vibrated.
He checked it.
Whatever message he saw changed his face.
He looked at Lorenzo.
“Sir, there’s a problem downstairs.”
“What?”
“The security server is offline.”
Lorenzo glanced at Dane.
Dane smiled.
“Computer problem?”
Lorenzo did not answer.
Victor continued.
“And there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The east archive room is open.”
Lorenzo went still.
“That room is always locked.”
“I know.”
They hurried downstairs.
The archive room stood behind a steel fire door near the old wine cellar.
The lock had not been forced.
Someone had used a legitimate key.
Inside, filing cabinets were open.
Folders covered the floor.
A small safe stood empty.
Emma looked around.
“What was here?”
Lorenzo walked to the safe.
“Original property contracts.”
“Important?”
“Yes.”
“Enough to explain all this?”
“No.”
Emma studied the room.
Something smelled wrong.
Not smoke.
Cleaning chemicals.
She knew cleaning chemicals.
“What?”
Everyone looked at her.
Emma pointed at the floor.
“This was cleaned.”
Victor frowned.
“It always gets cleaned.”
“Not like this.”
She crouched.
“Somebody used solvent.”
Lorenzo moved beside her.
“Why?”
“To remove adhesive.”
Emma pointed toward an empty section of wall.
A faint rectangular outline remained beneath a shelf.
Something had been attached there recently.
A box.
A panel.
Or—
“A camera,” Lorenzo said.
Emma looked at him.
“Security?”
“No.”
He pointed toward the wall.
“Our cameras are hardwired.”
Victor’s face changed.
Lorenzo noticed.
“What was there?”
“Sir?”
“You know.”
“No.”
Lorenzo stepped toward him.
Victor backed up.
Dane, still standing near the doorway, laughed quietly.
Everyone turned.
“What?” Lorenzo asked.
Dane shook his head.
“You really have no idea.”
“No idea about what?”
“The archive room was never for storing papers.”
Lorenzo stared.
Dane’s eyes moved toward the wall where the hidden device had been removed.
“It was for recording people.”
Emma’s stomach dropped.
“Recording who?”
Dane looked at Lorenzo.
“You.”
May you like
And in that moment, every locked-door conversation Lorenzo Moretti had held inside his own estate became potential evidence in someone else’s hands.
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