Chapter 7 - The Groom Came Back for His Bride
Leo arrived at the abandoned exchange building at 11:42 p.m.
Kora was already waiting.
At least that was what he believed.
She stood beneath the enormous bronze clock in the lobby wearing a simple black coat.
No wedding dress.
No veil.
No makeup.
Her hair was tied behind her head.
She looked more like herself than she had at the altar.
Leo entered alone.
Kora knew he was not alone.
Mateo had placed Gino and two trusted Bellini men in adjoining buildings.
Elena monitored cameras.
Samuel waited with medical equipment three blocks away.
Mateo himself had ignored every reasonable medical instruction and taken position on the upper floor.
Kora hated that plan.
She also knew she could not stop him.
Leo smiled.
“Mrs. Dominico.”
“We never signed the final certificate.”
His smile faded.
“You checked.”
“I’m learning.”
“Where’s the key?”
“Where’s Millie?”
Leo looked toward the mezzanine.
A door opened.
Millie appeared between two men.
Her hands were restrained, but she was standing.
Alive.
“Kora!”
“I’m here.”
Leo lifted a hand.
Millie fell silent.
Kora looked at him.
“Let her go.”
“The key.”
“You first.”
Leo laughed.
“You were easier when you wanted people to like you.”
Kora said nothing.
His expression sharpened.
“You spent your whole life being grateful anyone looked past your size.”
That sentence would have wounded her once.
At the engagement dinner, she had heard variations from Leo’s mother.
His cousins.
His friends.
Leo himself, disguised as jokes.
Kora finally understood why.
A woman ashamed of herself was easier to control.
“You really believed that was why I married you?” Leo asked.
Kora looked at him.
“I believed you were capable of love.”
He shrugged.
“That was your mistake.”
A voice came from the darkness above.
“No.”
Leo looked up.
Mateo stood at the mezzanine railing.
Pale.
Injured.
Alive.
“Your mistake,” Mateo said, “was assuming everybody else was as empty as you.”
Leo’s face transformed.
For one second pure shock appeared.
Then rage.
“You.”
Mateo descended slowly.
“You should look happier. I attended your wedding.”
Leo glanced toward his men.
Gino emerged behind them.
Weapons lowered but visible.
Nobody moved.
Kora stepped toward Millie.
Leo blocked her.
“You think this changes anything?”
“Yes.”
“You have no evidence.”
Kora raised the key.
“Then why are you here?”
Leo’s eyes locked on it.
There.
Greed.
Proof without words.
Mateo watched him.
“Your father killed mine.”
Leo smiled.
“Your father killed himself by pretending morality mattered.”
Mateo stopped descending.
Kora looked toward the hidden camera Elena had placed inside the clock.
Everything was recording.
Leo continued.
“He had an empire. Then he decided he wanted to become a saint.”
“You bombed a church.”
“An empty building.”
“There were seventy people inside.”
Leo shrugged.
“Most were irrelevant.”
Kora’s stomach turned.
She had married this man.
Not legally, perhaps.
But she had stood beside him.
Smiled for photographs.
Defended him to friends.
Millie started crying.
Leo glanced back.
That distraction lasted one second.
It was enough.
Kora moved.
She did not attack him.
She pulled Millie sideways and shoved her behind a stone pillar.
Gino moved simultaneously.
Leo’s men realized they were surrounded.
No shots were fired.
Nobody wanted the echo of gunfire bringing police before the real objective was complete.
Leo stepped backward.
Mateo descended the final stair.
“Tell Dominic the vault opens tomorrow.”
Leo stared at him.
“You don’t know how.”
Kora held up the key.
Leo looked at her.
Then understood.
“You know.”
“More than you wanted.”
His jaw tightened.
“Kora, listen to me.”
“No.”
“I can explain.”
“You told your men to leave me inside a burning chapel.”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Mateo laughed.
“Strong defense.”
Leo ignored him.
“My father lied to me too.”
Kora paused.
Leo saw it.
“My father told me you were a nobody with access to an asset.”
The smallest tremor entered his voice.
“I didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
Leo looked at her.
“Why he watched you.”
Kora’s blood turned cold.
“When did you find out?”
Leo said nothing.
“When?”
“Three days before the wedding.”
She understood.
Three days.
Leo knew Dominic was her biological father.
And still stood beside her at the altar.
“I was never going to finish the marriage,” he said quickly.
“You were going to kill me.”
“I was going to fake your death.”
Kora almost laughed.
Apparently fake deaths were a family tradition now.
“To protect you?” she asked.
Leo’s silence told her enough.
“To control me.”
“Those are not always different.”
“To people like you, maybe.”
Leo’s expression hardened.
Then lights flashed outside.
Police.
Too fast.
Gino swore.
“Someone called them.”
Mateo looked at the ceiling.
Anthony.
It had to be.
Leo smiled.
“You thought you were hunting me?”
He moved backward toward a side exit.
“You walked into my trap.”
Police loudspeakers echoed outside.
KORA VOSS, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS VISIBLE.
Kora stared.
Only her name.
Not Leo.
Not Mateo.
Her.
Leo disappeared through the side door.
Gino started after him.
Mateo stopped him.
“Millie first.”
Kora looked at Mateo.
Police surrounded the building.
City Hall controlled the story.
The public believed she was a terrorist.
And somewhere outside Leo was already escaping.
Millie grabbed Kora’s hand.
“What do we do?”
Kora looked at the bronze clock.
Then at the old floor plan Elena had shown her.
“There’s a basement.”
Mateo understood.
“The vault?”
“No.”
Kora smiled slightly.
“My mother told me this building was constructed in 1921.”
Gino frowned.
“So?”
“Prohibition.”
Mateo actually laughed.
“Another tunnel.”
Kora pulled Millie toward the stairs.
“I’m starting to like old Chicago.”
They disappeared beneath the exchange building seconds before police forced open the doors.
But as Leo climbed into a waiting vehicle outside, another man sat in the back seat.
Anthony Rizzo.
Leo slammed the door.
“She knows.”
Anthony’s face darkened.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Anthony looked toward the building.
“And Mateo?”
“Alive.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
That complicated everything.
May you like
Then he opened them.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “we stop hiding.”
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