Chapter 7 - Carlo's Grave

Carlo Moretti was buried in a family mausoleum above Biscayne Bay.

Luca had not visited in seven years.

Elena knew because she had once asked him to take her.

He said the dead did not need visitors.

Now, at six in the morning, he stood before his father's name with a crowbar in his hand.

Dominic remained under guard outside the cemetery.

Camille had refused to arrest him yet.

“Too many holes,” she said.

Luca called that cowardice.

Elena called it patience.

They opened the niche beneath Carlo's plaque, where Luca's mother, Sofia, had been interred nine years later.

Inside, beneath the urn, was a sealed metal tube.

Luca stared at it.

“My mother knew?”

Dominic's voice came from behind the gate.

“She knew there was something. Not what.”

Luca opened the tube.

A key fell into his palm.

It was almost identical to Arturo's.

There was also a folded note.

Luca read it once.

Then handed it to Elena.

Son,

If you have this, then either I failed or the truth finally became more dangerous than the lie.

Do not avenge me.

Finish what I could not.

Protect the people, not the name.

C.

Luca looked away.

Elena gave him a moment.

Then her phone rang.

Mateo.

She answered.

“Tell me something good.”

“I can't.”

Her stomach tightened.

“What happened?”

“Thomas Reed is missing.”

Camille stepped closer.

“He was under protection.”

“He went to the restroom at Atlantic Crown. Security footage shows him leaving through a service corridor with a man in a maintenance uniform.”

“Taken?”

Mateo hesitated.

“He walked willingly.”

Elena closed her eyes.

“Vanessa is missing, and now her father disappears.”

“There is more.”

“What?”

“Thomas accessed box 317 three hours before we arrived yesterday.”

Elena stared at the water beyond the cemetery.

“He knew what was inside.”

“Yes.”

Luca heard.

“He lied.”

Mateo continued.

“And he removed something.”

“The red file?”

“No. The vault log lists a sealed envelope.”

“Addressed to whom?”

“No recipient.”

Camille said, “Send me the footage.”

Elena ended the call.

Luca slammed the crowbar against the marble wall.

“Everyone lies.”

Elena looked at him.

“Now you know how I felt.”

The anger drained from his face.

“I do.”

It was the first apology he had managed without using the word.

They returned to the safe house, where Dominic sat at the dining table with two guards.

Luca dropped Carlo's key in front of him.

“You knew.”

Dominic nodded.

“You let me think Bellini killed him.”

“I believed Bellini's network ordered it.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“No.”

Camille entered behind them.

“Thomas Reed walked out voluntarily.”

Dominic frowned.

“That is bad.”

“You know him?”

“I knew Evelyn better.”

“What kind of man is Thomas?”

Dominic considered.

“A survivor.”

Elena sat opposite him.

“Meaning?”

“Thomas married Evelyn after she was already working for Arturo. He hated the danger. Begged her to quit.”

“Did she?”

“No.”

“And after she died?”

“He disappeared from anything connected to the harbor.”

Luca leaned on the table.

“Until his daughter started working for Rafael.”

Dominic nodded.

“Which means either Vanessa brought the danger back to him, or Thomas never really left.”

A guard entered.

“Boss, package at the gate.”

“No one touches it,” Luca said.

The bomb squad cleared it twenty minutes later.

Inside was a red folder.

Vanessa's file.

Elena opened it under Camille's supervision.

Photographs.

Carlo entering Warehouse Nine.

Evelyn behind him.

Arturo arriving eleven minutes later.

Dominic arriving seventeen minutes later.

Samuel Warren's unmarked federal sedan.

Then a sixth car.

Black Cadillac.

The final photograph showed a man getting out.

His face was partly turned.

Camille stopped breathing.

“No.”

Elena looked at her.

“You recognize him.”

Camille zoomed in.

The man was younger, but distinctive.

Thomas Reed.

Luca swore.

Elena turned to Dominic.

“You said Thomas wanted Evelyn out.”

“He did.”

“Then why was he there?”

Dominic looked honestly shocked.

“I didn't know.”

There was a note clipped to the last photograph.

Vanessa's handwriting.

DAD SAID HE NEVER MET CARLO.

HE LIED.

Camille flipped through the remaining pages.

Bank statements showed transfers to Thomas from Crescent Maritime, beginning two months before Carlo's death.

Elena felt sick.

“He was paid.”

Luca said, “Maybe Evelyn discovered her husband was inside the network.”

Dominic whispered, “Maybe that's why she died.”

Elena's phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

A photograph appeared.

Vanessa, alive, sitting in a chair.

Thomas stood behind her.

Not bound.

He held a gun.

A message followed.

BRING BOTH KEYS TO WAREHOUSE NINE.

NO POLICE.

NO LUCA.

ELENA ALONE.

Luca read it over her shoulder.

“No.”

Elena looked at the image again.

Vanessa's eyes were fixed on the camera.

Her right hand rested on her knee.

Two fingers pointed down.

Then one.

Then seven.

317.

Elena zoomed in.

Vanessa had slipped something red beneath the chair.

A corner of paper.

Camille saw it too.

“She is telling you the file we received is not complete.”

Luca said, “Or she's telling us this is a setup.”

Elena put the phone down.

“It can be both.”

She looked at Carlo's key and Arturo's key on the table.

For the first time, the path ahead was simple.

Not safe.

Simple.

“We go to Warehouse Nine.”

Luca shook his head.

“You are not going alone.”

“I know.”

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The smallest smile touched Elena's mouth.

“For once, I'm going to lie too.”