Chapter 3 - The Safe Beneath the Old Church
The safe was hidden beneath St. Agnes Church.
Roman drove us there after midnight.
Lily slept in the back seat.
I sat beside Roman.
For twenty minutes, neither of us spoke.
Finally, I said, “You owe me an explanation.”
“I know.”
“Start with Elena.”
Roman kept his eyes on the road.
“Elena was my sister-in-law.”
“I know.”
“She married my older brother, Victor.”
“And?”
“Victor wasn't always cruel.”
That surprised me.
Roman continued.
“When we were young, Victor was the person I admired most.”
“What changed?”
“My father.”
Roman's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Our father believed fear was the only language people respected. Victor became exactly what he wanted.”
“And you?”
“I became what Victor couldn't.”
“What was that?”
“Someone who wanted out.”
I looked at him.
“You left the family?”
“I tried.”
“But you're still a Mafia boss.”
“Leaving isn't always as simple as walking away.”
His voice was bitter.
When we reached the church, Roman woke Lily.
She looked at me.
“Are you scared?”
“Yes.”
“Me too.”
We entered through a side door.
Beneath the altar was a hidden staircase.
The safe was behind a brick wall.
The brass key fit perfectly.
Roman stood beside Lily.
I watched his face.
He looked terrified.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because if Elena hid this here, she knew someone was coming for her.”
Lily inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a metal box.
A photograph.
A flash drive.
A leather notebook.
And a sealed envelope.
Lily reached for the photograph.
Her hands shook.
It showed her parents.
Elena was smiling.
Victor stood beside her.
But there was another person in the background.
Roman.
Much younger.
Blood on his shirt.
Lily stared.
“What happened that night?”
Roman didn't answer.
She looked at the notebook.
Inside were dates.
Payments.
Names.
Locations.
And beside several names was one word.
DEAD.
My stomach turned.
“What is this?”
Roman looked at the pages.
“Accounting.”
“For what?”
“Bribes.”
“Police?”
“Judges.”
“Politicians?”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“You're telling me your family controlled half of Chicago?”
“No.”
He turned the page.
“More than half.”
Then we heard footsteps.
Roman immediately closed the box.
Someone had followed us.
Gunshots echoed through the church.
Roman grabbed Lily and pushed her behind a stone pillar.
I dropped to the floor.
“Stay down!”
The lights shattered.
Men entered through the doors.
Roman moved like he'd been born in darkness.
He pulled a weapon.
Two shots.
Then silence.
I had never seen violence that close.
When the attackers fled, Roman ran toward us.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
Lily was crying.
Roman pulled her into his arms.
Then something fell from her pocket.
The sealed envelope.
I picked it up.
There was only one sentence written across the front.
For Lily, when Roman finally tells her the truth.
Roman stared at it.
“I didn't know that existed.”
Lily looked at him.
“Open it.”
He hesitated.
I handed it to him.
Roman opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter from Elena.
He read it silently.
His expression changed.
Then he handed it to Lily.
She read it.
Her tears began falling.
“What does it say?”
She looked at Roman.
“My mother said you didn't kill my father.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“She said you saved me.”
I looked at him.
“Saved her from what?”
Lily continued reading.
Then she stopped.
“There's one more thing.”
“What?”
She looked at Roman.
“She said Victor is not the person controlling the family.”
Roman went still.
“Who is?”
Lily whispered the final sentence.
“Grandmother Sophia.”
I stared.
Roman's aunt.
The woman who had introduced me to him.
The woman who had smiled at me.
The woman who had brought Lily to my bakery.
The woman who had supposedly been trying to help Roman find happiness.
Sophia.
Roman took the letter from Lily.
He read the sentence again.
Then his face became expressionless.
I knew that expression.
It was the same expression he had worn when he walked into my bakery for the first time.
Except now I understood what it meant.
May you like
Someone had just declared war.
And Roman Duca had finally realized the enemy was sitting at his own dinner table.
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