Chapter 6 - Thirty Men Were Only the Beginning
Lorenzo Moretti had been dead for thirty-eight years.
At least according to the family story.
Dante remembered hearing the name once as a child.
A photograph disappearing from his grandmother's living room.
His father refusing to explain.
Carlo leaving the table.
Then nothing.
Families like the Morettis didn't erase people casually.
They erased them completely.
“Why?” Dante asked through the earpiece.
Vincent answered, “Lorenzo tried to take control before Antonio.”
“Where has he been?”
“Everywhere.”
“Meaning?”
“Europe. Canada. South America. Wherever the money went.”
Dante looked at Cassidy.
“Meridian.”
Vincent said, “He built the council after Antonio pushed him out.”
“And my father thought he was dead?”
“For years.”
Cassidy closed the hard drive case.
“Then why come back now?”
Dante already knew.
“Because Antonio is gone.”
Luca's voice came through the channel.
“And Dante inherited what Lorenzo thinks was his.”
Cassidy looked toward the tunnel exit.
“My mother is with him.”
“Yes,” Dante said.
“Then we're done talking.”
Warehouse 17 sat four blocks from the river.
At midnight, rain hammered the roof.
Inside, Lorenzo Moretti waited beneath industrial lights.
He was seventy-three.
Tall even with age.
Silver hair.
Black coat.
And Dante's eyes.
That was the worst part.
Cassidy saw it immediately.
Not similarity.
Blood.
Evelyn sat nearby, wrists bound.
Alive.
Lorenzo smiled when Dante entered.
“There you are.”
Dante walked alone toward him.
Cassidy remained hidden above the floor on an old catwalk.
Luca and Matteo positioned outside.
Vincent monitored feeds remotely.
No army.
Lorenzo had provided one.
At least forty men filled the warehouse.
Dante looked around.
“Thirty wasn't enough?”
Lorenzo laughed.
“You counted?”
“I was bored.”
“Antonio had your humor.”
Dante's face hardened.
“Don't say his name.”
“He was my brother.”
“You killed him.”
“No.”
Dante stopped.
Lorenzo spread his hands.
“Carlo killed him.”
From the earpiece, Carlo made a broken sound.
Dante ignored it.
“Carlo started the fire?”
“Thomas did.”
“On Carlo's order?”
“Close.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“I gave Carlo information. Told him Antonio planned to kill him.”
Dante stared.
“He believed you.”
“Fear makes excellent truth.”
Above them, Cassidy moved along the catwalk.
One guard.
Two.
Camera.
Exit.
She saw Evelyn.
Their eyes met.
Cassidy pressed one finger to her lips.
Her mother nodded.
Lorenzo continued.
“Antonio was going to expose Meridian.”
“Because you turned it into a murder market.”
“Don't be theatrical.”
“You sell deaths.”
“I sell stability.”
Dante almost laughed.
“That's what cowards call control.”
Lorenzo's smile faded.
Good.
Dante needed him angry.
People made mistakes angry.
“Where is the ledger?” Lorenzo asked.
Dante tapped his coat.
“Here.”
Lorenzo looked toward his men.
Weapons rose.
Dante didn't move.
“Release Evelyn.”
“No.”
“Then no ledger.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“You don't have leverage.”
Dante looked around at forty armed men.
“Neither did you at my diner.”
Something shifted in Lorenzo's face.
Because he understood.
Cassidy cut the first electrical panel.
Half the warehouse went dark.
Men shouted.
Not all lights.
That was intentional.
Confusion worked better when people could see just enough to distrust one another.
Dante moved.
Gunfire erupted.
But this time the Moretti shooters outside didn't storm in.
They activated jammer units.
Closed exits.
Triggered fire alarms in adjacent buildings.
Police response was already coming.
Lorenzo's men were trapped.
Cassidy dropped from the catwalk behind Evelyn.
“Mom.”
“Cassie.”
She cut the ropes.
Evelyn hugged her.
One second.
That was all they had.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Go left. Stay behind the forklift.”
A man appeared.
Cassidy froze.
Gun raised.
Then Matteo stepped from the shadows and struck him from behind.
Cassidy exhaled.
“You're late.”
Matteo looked offended.
“I saved your life.”
“Still late.”
“Go.”
They moved.
Across the floor, Dante fought toward Lorenzo.
Not reckless.
Precise.
He used machinery for cover.
Moved when muzzle flashes revealed positions.
Luca entered from the loading bay.
“Dante!”
A shooter aimed at his brother.
Dante fired first.
The man fell.
Luca reached him.
For one second, brothers stood back-to-back.
“Still think I betrayed you?” Luca asked.
Dante fired twice.
“Ask me tomorrow.”
“Fair.”
Then Cassidy screamed.
“STOP!”
The word cut through everything.
Not because it was loud.
Because of where she stood.
Middle of the warehouse.
One hand raised.
Exactly as she had stood before Dante in the cover image of a moment that seemed impossible now.
Several guns pointed toward her.
Cassidy didn't move.
“Stop shooting!”
Dante turned.
“What are you doing?”
She pointed toward a security monitor.
“Look!”
The feed showed Lorenzo's men.
But one figure was moving behind them.
Vincent.
Dante froze.
“Vincent?”
He wasn't supposed to be there.
Vincent approached Lorenzo.
No gun raised.
No restraint.
Lorenzo smiled.
Then hugged him.
Dante felt the world tilt.
Cassidy whispered, “There.”
Vincent handed Lorenzo something.
A drive.
Dante's face went cold.
Luca stared.
“No.”
Vincent looked toward them.
For the first time, the calm mask disappeared.
“I'm sorry.”
Dante raised his gun.
“Why?”
Vincent didn't move.
“Because I spent eleven years protecting you from the truth.”
“By working with him?”
“I worked for him before I worked for Antonio.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“Vincent was always practical.”
Cassidy looked at Evelyn.
Her mother shook her head.
“He's lying.”
“What?”
“Vincent isn't giving him the ledger.”
Cassidy stared.
“How do you know?”
“Daniel trusted Vincent.”
“Dad said—”
“Your father called him that night because Vincent was the only one trying to get us out.”
Cassidy looked back.
Vincent met her eyes.
Then winked.
One tiny movement.
Dante saw it.
So did Cassidy.
The drive in Lorenzo's hand flashed.
A red indicator.
Remote upload.
Vincent had not betrayed them.
He had just plugged the entire Meridian network into Reese's federal evidence server.
Lorenzo realized one second too late.
He looked at the drive.
“What did you do?”
Vincent smiled.
“Accounting.”
Lorenzo shot him.
Cassidy screamed.
Vincent fell.
Dante fired.
Lorenzo ducked behind machinery.
Everything exploded into movement.
Matteo dragged Vincent into cover.
“Stay with me.”
Blood soaked his shirt.
Vincent laughed weakly.
“Always hated warehouses.”
Dante reached Lorenzo near the loading bay.
No guards remained between them.
Lorenzo held a gun.
Dante did too.
Sirens sounded outside.
Lorenzo smiled.
“You won't shoot me.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm the only man alive who can tell you everything.”
Dante looked at him.
“My whole life, men like you have used secrets as currency.”
“So?”
Dante lowered his weapon slightly.
Lorenzo relaxed.
Mistake.
Dante kicked the gun from his hand.
Lorenzo swung.
Old or not, he was strong.
Dante took the punch.
Then returned one.
Lorenzo crashed against the hood of a car.
He laughed through blood.
“Antonio hit harder.”
Dante stopped.
Lorenzo wanted rage.
He wanted the old rules.
Blood for blood.
Dante stepped back.
“No.”
Lorenzo stared.
“No?”
“I spent eleven years thinking revenge would tell me who my father was.”
Sirens grew louder.
Dante looked toward the approaching lights.
“It won't.”
Lorenzo's expression changed.
Fear.
Not of death.
Prison.
Exposure.
Powerlessness.
Dante smiled.
“You're going to live.”
Lorenzo's face collapsed.
Police entered minutes later.
Reese led them.
Hands went up.
Weapons hit concrete.
Meridian's entire architecture was already downloading onto secure servers.
Judges.
Police.
Politicians.
Contractors.
Murders.
Bribes.
Every secret Daniel Hale had died trying to protect.
Cassidy found her mother outside.
They held each other beneath the rain.
Neither spoke.
Words would come later.
Dante found Vincent in the ambulance.
Alive.
Barely.
“You lied to me,” Dante said.
Vincent smiled weakly.
“Frequently.”
“You're an asshole.”
“Also frequently.”
Dante looked away.
Vincent reached for his wrist.
“Your father knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Lorenzo was alive.”
Dante froze.
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“He wanted one person in the family to grow up without inherited war.”
Dante laughed bitterly.
“Didn't work.”
Vincent's eyes closed.
“No.”
Then opened again.
“But maybe you can end it.”
Across the lot, officers placed Lorenzo in a vehicle.
Cassidy walked toward Dante.
Her mother safe behind her.
For the first time since the diner, Cassidy wasn't running.
Dante looked at her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
She almost smiled.
Then Reese approached holding a phone.
“We have a problem.”
Dante looked at him.
“What now?”
Reese turned the screen.
A scheduled Meridian order.
Timestamped before Lorenzo's arrest.
Target:
Dante Moretti.
Cassidy Hale.
Evelyn Hale.
Luca Moretti.
Vincent Bellini.
Every remaining witness.
Execution time:
6:00 a.m.
Cassidy checked the clock.
5:21.
Lorenzo had prepared for failure.
May you like
And somewhere in Chicago, another team was already moving.
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