Chapter 3 - Locker 417 Revealed What Thomas Honeycutt Died Trying to ProtectUnion Station was nearly empty at six in the morning.
Nico arrived before sunrise.
Bella refused to stay behind.
“So did you,” she reminded him.
“I have security.”
“I have a brain.”
He looked at her.
She smiled.
“You're not getting rid of me.”
He sighed.
“Fine.”
Tilly stayed with Elena.
Locker 417 sat at the back of an old storage corridor.
The key fit perfectly.
Inside was a metal case.
Nico opened it.
There was no money.
No jewelry.
No weapon.
Only documents.
Photographs.
And a cassette tape.
Bella stared.
“My father kept this?”
Nico nodded.
A portable recorder was brought in.
The tape crackled.
Then Thomas Honeycutt's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, then I failed.”
Bella covered her mouth.
Nico stood beside her.
Thomas continued.
“The money was never stolen.”
Nico looked at Bella.
“It was moved.”
“Not by me.”
“I moved it to protect it.”
The tape crackled.
“Someone inside the organization is taking money from every shipment.”
“Not three million.”
“Much more.”
Nico's face tightened.
Thomas listed accounts.
Warehouses.
Shell companies.
Names.
Then he said something that stopped Nico's breath.
“Your father knows.”
Bella looked at him.
Nico shook his head.
Thomas continued.
“He knows because I showed him.”
“But he won't act.”
A long pause.
“He is afraid.”
Nico's fists clenched.
His father.
Afraid.
Thomas named another person.
Richard Vale.
At the time, Richard was the Barzini family's attorney.
A trusted man.
Nico knew the name.
“He controls the books.”
Thomas continued.
“He has been stealing through the port.”
“And he has someone inside the police department.”
Bella whispered.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
Nico's voice was low.
“He tried to expose them.”
The recording continued.
“They threatened my wife.”
“They threatened my daughter.”
“I had no choice but to disappear.”
Bella cried silently.
Thomas had left intentionally.
To save them.
Not abandoned them.
Then came the final statement.
“I am giving the evidence to someone I believe can survive.”
“If you're hearing this, find Sofia.”
Nico frowned.
“Who is Sofia?”
The tape ended.
A second later, footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Nico reacted instantly.
“Move.”
Three men appeared.
One carried a gun.
Bella ducked.
Nico shoved the metal case toward Everett.
Security moved.
A fight broke out.
Bella ran behind a pillar.
One attacker grabbed her.
She screamed.
Nico turned.
The man's weapon rose.
Nico fired first.
The man dropped the gun.
Security took him down.
Silence returned.
Bella was shaking.
Nico approached slowly.
“Are you hurt?”
She nodded.
Then shook her head.
He removed his coat and put it around her shoulders.
“You're safe.”
She looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I'm here.”
Something broke inside her.
She stepped closer.
For the first time, she allowed herself to lean against him.
Nico held her.
Not possessively.
Carefully.
As though she were something precious.
Later, at the estate, Bella sat beside him in the study.
Sofia was still a mystery.
They searched Thomas's files.
Nothing.
Then Bella noticed a photograph.
A woman standing beside Thomas.
She pointed.
“That's Sofia.”
Nico looked closer.
Her name was Sofia Marquez.
She had once been a secretary at Barzini Shipping.
She disappeared twenty years earlier.
Nico found a current address.
Chicago.
May you like
Sofia was alive.
And she had spent two decades waiting for someone to ask the right question.
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