Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Antonio replayed Sofia’s sentence.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Marco stood beside him in the Grand Central passageway.
“Antonio…”
Antonio was already dialing.
Rosa answered.
“Everything all right?”
“Where are Elena and Mia?”
“In the breakfast room.”
“And Vincent?”
A pause.
“Father Vincent?”
“Yes.”
“He arrived twenty minutes ago.”
Antonio closed his eyes.
Father Vincent Bellini had baptized Lorenzo.
He had presided over the boy’s funeral.
He had been Antonio’s father’s closest friend.
And according to Sofia’s recording, Vincent had delivered the final order that set the truck in motion.
“Get Elena and Mia into the panic room.”
“Antonio?”
“Now.”
Antonio ran.
Back at the estate, Father Vincent sat across from Mia.
The seventy-year-old priest smiled while she offered him imaginary tea.
Elena watched uneasily.
“You knew Mr. Moretti’s son?”
Vincent’s smile faded.
“I did.”
“Mia somehow ended up with his toy.”
“So I heard.”
His eyes shifted toward the stethoscope.
“Remarkable coincidence.”
Elena noticed the way he said it.
Not surprised.
Calculating.
“You've seen it before?”
Vincent looked at her.
“Many times.”
Rosa appeared.
“Elena, Antonio wants you upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
Vincent rose.
“No need to rush.”
Rosa’s face became hard.
“I said now.”
Elena understood.
She grabbed Mia.
Vincent sighed.
“What a shame.”
The pistol appeared from beneath his coat.
Rosa froze.
Mia stared.
Elena pulled her daughter behind her.
Vincent said, “Give me the toy.”
Elena almost laughed from disbelief.
“You’re holding a gun on a child over a plastic stethoscope?”
“It was never about the toy.”
“What is it about?”
“The things attached to it.”
The door burst open.
Two Moretti guards entered.
Vincent fired.
Chaos erupted.
Elena dropped behind a table with Mia.
Rosa threw a metal serving tray.
It struck Vincent’s wrist.
His gun skidded across the marble.
One guard tackled him.
Ten minutes later, Antonio arrived.
Father Vincent sat restrained in Antonio’s study.
The old priest looked almost amused.
“You always were dramatic.”
“You killed my son.”
“No.”
“You ordered the hit.”
“I gave Damen permission to solve a problem.”
“My four-year-old boy was the result.”
Vincent looked away.
“That was regrettable.”
Antonio’s hands curled.
Elena stood in the doorway.
She had never seen murder in a man’s eyes before.
She saw it now.
Antonio took one step.
Vincent smiled.
“There he is. The real Antonio.”
Antonio stopped.
“The boy you became after your father died. The weapon we built.”
“You think you built me?”
“I helped.”
Vincent leaned forward.
“Your father was weak near the end. He wanted legitimate businesses. He wanted peace. Peace would have destroyed everything our families controlled.”
“So you and Damen tried to kill me?”
“You were becoming like him.”
Antonio laughed without humor.
“My son died because you were afraid I might become a better man?”
Vincent said nothing.
Antonio drew his pistol.
Elena whispered, “Antonio.”
He did not turn.
Vincent smiled again.
“Do it.”
Antonio lifted the weapon.
“Then Mia gets to spend the rest of her life remembering the man who protected her as the man who executed an old priest in his study.”
Antonio’s arm remained raised.
Seconds passed.
Then he lowered the gun.
Vincent’s smile vanished.
Antonio called his security chief.
“Turn him over to federal agents with copies of Daniel’s evidence.”
Vincent stared.
“You cannot expose those files without exposing yourself.”
“I know.”
“You’ll destroy the Moretti family.”
Antonio looked toward Elena and Mia.
“No.”
He holstered the gun.
“I might finally save it.”
That afternoon, Sofia called again.
She was coming to New York.
Antonio had not seen her in four years.
When she entered the estate the next morning, the entire house seemed to remember her.
She stopped beneath the staircase.
Antonio stood ten feet away.
Neither moved.
Sofia was forty now.
There were lines around her eyes that had not existed before Lorenzo died.
“You opened his room,” she said.
“Yes.”
“How was it?”
Antonio swallowed.
“Exactly the same.”
“That’s the problem.”
They talked for three hours.
About Lorenzo.
About grief.
About blame.
About the night everything broke.
Elena remained away from them.
This was not her pain to interrupt.
Before Sofia left, she asked to see Mia.
The little girl approached cautiously.
Sofia saw the stethoscope.
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
“That was his.”
Mia held it out.
“You want it?”
Sofia knelt.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Why?”
“Because maybe it found the person who needed it.”
Mia considered this.
Then nodded.
Sofia hugged her.
As she stood, Sofia looked at Elena.
“Daniel saved my life once.”
Elena stared.
“What?”
“He found me in a parking garage after Damen’s men followed me. He got me out.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“He never told me.”
“He wanted to protect you.”
“Everyone keeps protecting people with lies.”
Sofia nodded sadly.
“Yes.”
Then she handed Elena an envelope.
“Daniel asked me to give you this if the truth ever came out.”
Elena’s hands shook.
Inside was a letter from her husband.
At the bottom was a final warning.
If Antonio survives the truth, tell him to look at the man who replaced Damen before trusting him.
Elena raised her eyes.
“Who replaced Damen?”
Antonio turned toward the doorway.
Marco was gone.
May you like
So was the flash drive.
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