Chapter 7 - What Danny Hid Inside the RabbitSunrise was seventy-eight minutes away.
Dominic refused the ambulance.
Khloe refused to leave his side until a doctor examined the bullet wound.
The round had passed through the muscle of his upper shoulder.
Painful.
Bloody.
Not fatal.
“You need stitches,” the doctor said.
“Later.”
“You could reopen—”
“Later.”
Khloe stared at him.
“You're an idiot.”
The doctor looked terrified.
Dominic looked almost amused.
“So I've been told.”
Vincent entered.
“We traced Tony's message.”
“Where?”
“South Side. Old Marquette textile factory.”
Dominic knew it.
Salvatore had once owned the property.
Of course.
Khloe picked up the ledger.
“We take this.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“My brother is there.”
“And Tony wants the book.”
“So we give it to him.”
“Then he destroys the evidence.”
“I don't care.”
Dominic looked at her.
Khloe's eyes were full of fury.
“I care about Danny.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to decide his life is worth less than evidence.”
“I didn't say it was.”
“Then what are we doing?”
Dominic placed the ledger on the table.
“We give Tony exactly what he wants.”
Vincent understood first.
“A copy.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No. The real book.”
Khloe frowned.
“Then how—”
“We already photographed every page.”
Vincent smiled faintly.
“Tony doesn't know that.”
Khloe looked at Dominic.
“And if he kills Danny anyway?”
Dominic's face hardened.
“Then Tony won't see another sunrise.”
Khloe didn't like how calmly he said it.
But she believed him.
Before they left, a nurse handed Khloe a plastic bag containing Danny's belongings from surgery.
Wallet.
Keys.
A cheap watch.
His torn jacket.
And a worn white stuffed rabbit.
Khloe stopped.
“What is that?”
The nurse checked the list.
“It was inside his backpack when he arrived.”
Khloe lifted the rabbit.
Its fur was gray with age.
One ear had been stitched twice.
She knew it immediately.
“Mr. Hops.”
Dominic looked at her.
“My mother bought this for me when I was four.”
She turned it over.
“Danny stole it when we were kids because he said stuffed animals were stupid.”
Her fingers found a seam along the rabbit's back.
New thread.
Khloe frowned.
She tore it open.
Something small fell into her palm.
A USB drive.
Vincent exhaled.
“The recording.”
Khloe stared.
“Danny had it the whole time.”
Dominic connected the drive to an isolated laptop.
Only one audio file appeared.
Dated fourteen years earlier.
They played it.
Static.
Footsteps.
Then voices.
Salvatore Russo.
Carlo Bellini.
Patrick Hayes.
And another man.
Matteo Russo.
Dominic went pale.
The recording had been made before his father's murder.
Matteo's voice was furious.
“You've been lending money through my businesses.”
Salvatore answered.
“I've been making us rich.”
“You're preying on people who can't pay.”
“Don't become sentimental.”
“It's over.”
Bellini laughed.
“You think you can just shut it down?”
“Yes.”
“You owe people.”
“I owe nobody.”
Salvatore's voice lowered.
“You owe me.”
Matteo answered with words Dominic remembered his father saying throughout childhood.
“Family isn't a debt. It's a responsibility.”
Dominic shut his eyes.
The recording continued.
Matteo told Salvatore he was removing him from all financial control.
Bellini threatened him.
Then footsteps.
A door.
The recording should have ended.
Instead Patrick's breathing became audible.
He had hidden the recorder.
Salvatore spoke again.
“You heard him.”
Bellini said, “You really want your brother dead?”
A long silence.
Then Salvatore answered.
“Before morning.”
Khloe covered her mouth.
Dominic stared at the screen.
Twenty-two years of questions had just been answered by eight seconds of audio.
Then something unexpected happened.
A fifth voice entered.
A woman's.
“You promised nobody would get hurt.”
Khloe froze.
She knew that voice too.
Her mother.
Marianne Hayes.
Khloe stood so quickly the chair fell.
“No.”
The recording continued.
Salvatore said, “You were paid to keep Patrick quiet.”
Marianne answered, “I agreed to get him out of the city. I didn't agree to murder.”
Dominic paused the audio.
Khloe couldn't breathe.
“My mother knew?”
Dominic looked at her.
“She was trying to save Patrick.”
“Then why did she tell us he died?”
“Maybe because that was the only way to keep you alive.”
Tears filled Khloe's eyes.
Everything she had believed about her childhood was collapsing.
But inside the pain, something changed.
Her mother hadn't simply lied.
She had protected them.
Patrick hadn't simply abandoned them.
He had been hunted.
Their family had been shattered by men who considered ordinary lives disposable.
Khloe wiped her face.
“Let's get Danny.”
At the textile factory, Tony had placed Danny in the center of the old production floor.
Sunrise light began pushing against the broken windows.
Danny looked terrible.
Sweat covered his face.
Blood had seeped through his bandages.
Tony held a gun.
Two Bellini men stood near the exits.
Dominic entered carrying the ledger.
Khloe walked beside him.
Tony smiled.
“There she is.”
Khloe stared at him.
“You forged my name.”
Tony shrugged.
“It got you where I needed you.”
“My mother died while I was working off a debt that wasn't mine.”
“Your mother caused a great deal of trouble.”
Khloe's face changed.
Dominic felt her move.
He caught her hand.
Not restraining.
Reminding.
Find the door.
Khloe stayed still.
Tony looked at Dominic.
“Book.”
Dominic held it up.
“Danny first.”
Tony laughed.
“You don't negotiate very well for a mafia boss.”
“I negotiate fine.”
Dominic tossed the ledger onto the floor halfway between them.
Tony looked down.
“Bring it.”
“No.”
Tony raised his gun toward Danny.
Khloe spoke.
“Wait.”
Tony looked at her.
“I know where the recording is.”
Danny's eyes widened.
“Clo.”
Tony smiled slowly.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Khloe held up the stuffed rabbit.
Tony stared.
His smile disappeared.
Danny shut his eyes.
“Jesus.”
Khloe tore the USB free.
“You want the ledger and the recording?”
Tony's gaze fixed on the drive.
“Yes.”
“Then let my brother walk.”
Tony laughed.
“No.”
Khloe's voice became hard.
“Then I'll break it.”
She bent the USB slightly.
Tony aimed at her.
Dominic stepped in front.
“Careful.”
Tony smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The great Dominic Russo risking himself for a car wash girl.”
Dominic's expression didn't change.
Tony continued.
“You know what Salvatore used to say? Every strong man eventually finds one person stupid enough to make him weak.”
Khloe stepped around Dominic.
“And every stupid man eventually talks long enough to reveal what scares him.”
Tony's smile vanished.
She held up the drive.
“This scares you.”
He fired.
Dominic pulled Khloe down.
Gunfire erupted from the upper catwalk.
But it wasn't Tony's men firing.
Vincent's team had been waiting.
One Bellini man dropped his weapon.
The other ran.
Danny threw himself sideways, knocking his chair over.
Tony grabbed the ledger and sprinted toward a rear door.
Khloe saw him.
“Dominic!”
Dominic was already moving.
Tony disappeared into the old loading corridor.
Dominic followed.
Khloe reached Danny and cut his restraints.
“You okay?”
He laughed weakly.
“Fantastic.”
Then they heard a gunshot.
One.
Khloe froze.
A second followed.
She looked toward the corridor.
Dominic had disappeared into it.
Then Tony emerged alone.
May you like
Blood on his sleeve.
And Dominic Russo's gun in his hand.
