Chapter 4 - The Secret Their Father Took to His Grave
Adrian Rossi had always been the good son.
That was how Leo remembered him.
While Leo learned to shoot, Adrian learned piano.
While Leo negotiated with killers, Adrian studied finance.
Their father, Antonio, wanted one child outside the family business.
Leo made sure Adrian remained that child.
Or so he thought.
At three in the morning, Leo entered his father's old office.
Nobody had used it since Antonio's death.
He opened the safe.
Inside were records dating back decades.
Leo searched until sunrise.
Then he found a folder marked:
A.R. HOLDINGS
Adrian Rossi.
Inside were transfers.
Millions.
Money routed through shell corporations years before Adrian supposedly entered business.
Someone had been building an empire in his name.
Leo found another document.
A handwritten letter from Antonio.
Leo, if something happens to me, protect your brother from Vincent.
Leo froze.
Vincent.
His godfather.
The man who had taught him to drive.
The man who stood beside Antonio's coffin.
The man who helped Leo take control after his father's murder.
Leo reread the sentence.
Protect your brother from Vincent.
His phone rang.
Nico.
“We found Clara.”
Leo stood instantly.
“Where?”
“Old motel near Route Nine.”
“Alive?”
“Yes. But move.”
Leo was already leaving.
Twenty minutes later, he kicked open room 23.
Clara spun around holding a kitchen knife.
Leo stopped.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Her hair was loose.
Dark circles surrounded her eyes.
She looked exhausted.
“You found me.”
“You left directions.”
“I left evidence.”
“Same thing.”
She lowered the knife.
Leo stepped inside.
“You lied to me.”
Clara laughed bitterly.
“So did you.”
“I never told you I was harmless.”
“No.”
Her expression softened slightly.
“You were always surprisingly honest about being dangerous.”
Leo almost smiled.
Then he saw bruises around her wrist.
“Who did that?”
“Men looking for me.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
Leo approached.
Clara backed away.
“Don't.”
“I won't hurt you.”
“That isn't what I'm afraid of.”
“Then what?”
She looked at him.
“That you'll believe the wrong person.”
Leo pulled out the photograph of her and Samuel Hayes.
“Your father.”
Clara's face changed.
“Yes.”
“You came into my house because you thought I killed him.”
“I thought your family did.”
“Did we?”
“Someone did.”
She sat.
“My father discovered a laundering operation inside Rossi businesses. But the money wasn't yours.”
“Adrian?”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
Leo frowned.
“The accounts were in Adrian's name, but he wasn't controlling them.”
“Who was?”
“Vincent.”
Leo became still.
Clara continued.
“Vincent used Adrian's companies without him knowing. My father discovered it.”
“Then Vincent killed him.”
“I thought so.”
“Thought?”
“My father left me a recording.”
She removed a tiny drive from her coat.
Leo stared.
“What's on it?”
“His last conversation.”
“With Vincent?”
“With your father.”
Leo inserted the drive into a laptop.
Samuel Hayes' voice filled the motel room.
“Antonio, Vincent is stealing from you.”
Then Antonio Rossi.
“I know.”
Leo's breath stopped.
Hayes continued.
“He's laundering through Adrian's companies.”
“I know that too.”
“Then why haven't you stopped him?”
A long silence.
Antonio answered:
“Because Vincent isn't stealing for himself.”
“For who?”
The recording distorted.
Then came Antonio's final words.
“For the person who'll destroy both our families if we expose him.”
The recording ended.
Leo stared at Clara.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“My father knew.”
“So did mine.”
Leo paced.
Two fathers.
Both dead.
Both protecting a secret.
Clara watched him.
“Leo, there's more.”
She produced another photograph.
Antonio Rossi.
Samuel Hayes.
Vincent.
And a fourth man.
Leo recognized him.
Judge Raymond Bell.
One of the most powerful judges in the state.
A man who had protected the Rossi organization for twenty years.
Clara pointed to him.
“My father met Bell the night before he died.”
Leo's phone rang.
Adrian.
Leo answered.
“Where are you?”
Adrian sounded terrified.
“Leo, I need you.”
“What happened?”
“Vincent came to my house.”
Leo looked at Clara.
“Why?”
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
Adrian began crying.
Something Leo had not heard since they were boys.
“I found Dad's second ledger.”
Leo's blood went cold.
“What second ledger?”
“The one with the names.”
“What names?”
“Everyone Bell owns.”
A crash sounded.
Adrian gasped.
“Leo—”
Gunfire exploded through the phone.
“Adrian!”
The line went dead.
Leo was already moving.
Clara grabbed his arm.
“It's a trap.”
“He's my brother.”
“That's why it's a trap.”
Leo looked at her.
For six months, Clara had been quiet.
Invisible.
Careful.
Now she stood between him and a door with terror in her eyes.
“Leo,” she whispered, “if you go there angry, they'll kill you.”
He looked down at her hand gripping his arm.
“What do you suggest?”
Clara swallowed.
“For once in your life?”
“What?”
“Don't act like a mafia boss.”
She picked up the burner phone.
“Act like someone who wants his family to survive.”
May you like
And for reasons Leo could not explain, he listened.
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