Chapter 5 - The Father Who Never Died
Everything about Antonio Vitali looked wrong.
Not monstrous.
Not visibly cruel.
That would have been easier.
He looked ordinary.
A dark overcoat.
Silver hair.
Elegant gloves.
A calm smile.
The kind of man strangers would trust.
The kind of man children would call grandfather.
The kind of man who could order a murder and then complain about the weather.
Aleandro stared at him across the yard.
"You should be dead."
Antonio smiled.
"I was dead."
"You lied."
"I survived."
"You abandoned your own wife."
"I protected her."
Sofia stepped forward.
"You destroyed my life."
Antonio looked at her with something resembling affection.
"I kept you alive."
"You kept me frightened."
"Sometimes there is no difference."
Aleandro's hand tightened around mine.
"Where is Vincent?"
Antonio laughed.
"Still loyal to you."
"Where is the ledger?"
"I don't have it."
"Then what do you want?"
Antonio looked directly at me.
"Her."
Aleandro stepped forward.
"No."
Antonio smiled.
"There it is."
"What?"
"The weakness your mother warned me about."
He pointed toward me.
"Love."
The word sounded obscene in his mouth.
"Emma has something I need."
"What?"
"Memory."
I stared.
Antonio explained.
Months ago, I had accidentally memorized an account number during a conversation I wasn't supposed to hear.
I hadn't understood its importance.
He believed I could reconstruct the financial trail leading to Rafael.
I shook my head.
"I don't remember."
"You will."
Aleandro stepped between us.
"You're not touching her."
Antonio's smile faded.
"You sound exactly like me."
"I'd rather die."
"I've heard that before."
Antonio raised a hand.
His men appeared.
Gunfire exploded.
Marco shoved Sofia behind the car.
Aleandro dragged me toward the house.
We reached the back entrance.
Someone slammed into Vincent.
He was bleeding.
"Go!" he shouted.
Aleandro caught him.
"You're alive."
Vincent laughed weakly.
"Disappointed?"
Aleandro pulled him inside.
"You betrayed me."
"No."
"You disappeared."
"Because your father was hunting me."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he was listening."
Aleandro stared.
Vincent handed him a small device.
"Tracker."
Aleandro looked at me.
My heart sank.
"The restaurant."
Vincent nodded.
"Your dinner was never random."
Aleandro's eyes became dark.
"How did David find her?"
"Rafael fed him the information."
I whispered, "He knew about me."
"Yes."
Everything finally made sense.
The date.
The questions.
The carefully chosen words.
David had wanted to find out whether I remembered something.
I had never been the woman at the table.
I had been the target.
But there was one thing nobody had anticipated.
I did remember.
Not the account number.
Something else.
A phrase.
A password.
A sentence Aleandro had once spoken to me while half asleep.
He had called me his little bluebird.
At the time, I had laughed.
But the same phrase had appeared in one of the documents Antonio showed me.
Little Blue.
It was the name of a hidden account.
I looked at Aleandro.
"I know where the ledger is."
Everyone went silent.
"You do?"
"Not exactly."
"Tell me."
I closed my eyes.
"My old apartment."
Aleandro stared.
"Why?"
"Because the night I left, I packed everything."
"What does that have to do with the ledger?"
"I found a flash drive."
"You never mentioned it."
"Because I thought it was yours."
"What happened to it?"
"I kept it."
Aleandro's face changed.
"Where is it?"
"In the wall."
Everyone stared at me.
"What wall?" Marco asked.
"The bedroom."
The apartment I'd left six months ago.
The place I hadn't visited since.
Antonio's men had likely searched it.
But maybe they hadn't known where to look.
We drove back to Manhattan.
The apartment had changed.
The hallway lights flickered.
The lock had been replaced.
Aleandro looked at me.
"You don't have to go inside."
"I will."
We entered.
The place smelled like dust and old memories.
My bedroom was exactly as I'd left it.
I walked to the wall behind my old dresser.
Three loose bricks.
The fourth contained the flash drive.
It was still there.
I pulled it out.
Aleandro inserted it into a laptop.
The screen loaded.
Then a list appeared.
Names.
Accounts.
Payments.
And a final video file.
Aleandro clicked it.
His father appeared on-screen.
"I know my son will eventually find this."
Antonio spoke directly into the camera.
"The ledger isn't evidence."
Aleandro leaned closer.
"It's a list."
"A list of everyone who helped build the empire."
I watched his father's face.
"Politicians."
"Judges."
"Police."
"Corporate executives."
"And one person inside the Vitali organization."
A name appeared.
Vincent.
I stared.
Vincent shook his head.
"No."
The video continued.
"Vincent will appear guilty."
Aleandro looked at him.
"But he isn't."
"He's the insurance policy."
Antonio's smile returned.
"The real traitor is the person closest to my son."
The screen went black.
Aleandro looked around the room.
"Who?"
A phone rang.
Not mine.
Not his.
Vincent's.
He answered.
A voice whispered:
"Look behind you."
We turned.
May you like
David Chen stood in the doorway.
Holding a gun.
