Chapter 4 - The Locker Beneath Grand CentralMave read the trust document four times.
The number remained the same.
Twenty-eight million dollars.
“No.”
Leo sat upright despite the stitches pulling at his side.
“Mave.”
“No.”
“You've read it.”
“It has to be fake.”
“It isn't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I recognize my father's attorney.”
She looked at him.
“You're telling me I've spent ten years choosing between groceries and electricity while twenty-eight million dollars existed somewhere?”
Leo said nothing.
Her laugh sounded broken.
“My mother borrowed money for chemotherapy.”
“Mave.”
“She sold her wedding ring.”
Leo's expression tightened.
“She probably didn't know the trust was still active.”
“How does someone not know they own part of a shipping company?”
“By hiding.”
Mave stood.
She paced.
“My mother hated debt. She worked until she couldn't stand.”
“Mave.”
“She died believing she owed hospitals seventy thousand dollars.”
Leo got out of bed.
He shouldn't have.
His face tightened with pain.
Mave immediately stopped.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“You were stabbed.”
“And you're unraveling.”
“I am not unraveling.”
“You're reorganizing the books on my dresser.”
Mave looked down.
She was.
Leo gently removed a book from her hands.
“Your mother was trying to keep you alive.”
“By lying?”
“My father did the same thing to me.”
That stopped her.
They stood close.
Too close.
Leo's shirt hung open above the bandage around his ribs.
Mave could see old scars.
Gunshot wounds.
Knife wounds.
A life written violently across his skin.
“Did it work?” she asked.
“What?”
“Did the lies keep you safe?”
“For a while.”
“And then?”
“They made me blind.”
Mave looked at the trust.
“So what happens now?”
Leo took a breath.
“If you legally claim ownership, you control twelve percent of Castiglion Maritime.”
“Your company.”
“Our legitimate company.”
“What about the illegitimate parts?”
“You don't want twelve percent of those.”
“Very funny.”
“I wasn't joking.”
Mave sat.
“Why would Dominic care?”
“Because twelve percent gives you voting rights.”
“In what?”
“The board.”
“You have a board?”
Leo looked offended.
“We are not animals.”
Despite herself, Mave laughed.
Then the seriousness returned.
“If Dominic killed your father for control…”
“He needs ownership.”
“And this prevents it.”
“Yes.”
“Could he force me to sign it over?”
Leo's face became terrifyingly calm.
“He could try.”
Mave understood.
“That is why they want me alive.”
“Yes.”
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then Mave looked at the metal box from Grand Central.
“There was more.”
They spent the next hour reviewing everything.
Old financial statements.
Shell companies.
Transfers.
Payments to Volkov-controlled businesses.
Evidence spanning almost thirty years.
Mave found another letter from her mother.
This one addressed to Salvatore.
Sal,
If Dominic discovers I copied the ledgers, he will kill me.
I don't care about the money.
Protect my daughter.
If anything happens to me, make sure Mave never becomes part of this world.
Leo stopped reading.
The final line struck both of them.
Mave whispered, “She wanted me away from you.”
Leo's jaw tightened.
“She wanted you away from this life.”
“Same thing.”
He looked at her.
“No.”
Mave waited.
Leo looked almost angry with himself.
“I am not this life.”
“Leo—”
“I run it. I inherited it. I built parts of it. But I am not every ugly thing people around me have done.”
She watched him carefully.
“Are you trying to convince me?”
“Yes.”
The honesty disarmed her.
“Why?”
His eyes met hers.
“Because I need you to believe there's something worth saving.”
The room went quiet.
Mave whispered, “In the company?”
Leo stepped closer.
“No.”
Her heartbeat accelerated.
“In you?”
He said nothing.
He didn't need to.
Mave looked at his mouth.
Leo noticed.
For three years, they had existed behind a line neither had crossed.
Employer.
Employee.
Boss.
Housekeeper.
Civilian.
Criminal.
Safe.
Unsafe.
That line disappeared.
Leo touched her cheek.
Slowly.
As if giving her time to move.
Mave didn't.
“You should not do that,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“You're my employer.”
“I can fire you.”
“Not helping.”
“I can give you severance.”
She laughed softly.
“You're terrible at romance.”
“I've never claimed otherwise.”
His thumb brushed her cheek.
Mave's breathing changed.
“So this is romance?”
Leo's eyes darkened.
“No.”
He leaned closer.
“This is me losing an argument I've been having with myself for three years.”
Then he kissed her.
It wasn't gentle at first.
It was restrained desperation finally breaking through.
Mave grabbed his shirt.
Leo flinched.
She immediately pulled away.
“Your wound.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
That sentence stopped him.
Their foreheads touched.
For the first time, Leo looked uncertain.
Mave smiled.
“You look terrified.”
“I am.”
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He laughed.
A real laugh.
Then the door opened.
Carmine froze.
Leo closed his eyes.
“Get out.”
“I didn't see anything.”
“You're currently seeing something.”
“Already forgotten.”
“Carmine.”
“Leaving.”
The door shut.
Mave laughed so hard she had to sit down.
Leo stared at the ceiling.
“I am going to kill him.”
“No, you're not.”
“He ruined the moment.”
“There will be others.”
Leo looked at her.
Mave realized what she had said.
Their smiles disappeared.
There will be others.
A future implied by four words.
Before either could address it, Leo's phone rang.
Carmine.
Leo answered irritably.
“This better be important.”
“It is.”
Leo's expression changed.
“What?”
Carmine spoke for nearly a minute.
Leo became completely still.
Then he ended the call.
“What happened?”
“They identified the attacker.”
“And?”
“He worked for Volkov.”
“We knew that.”
“He also worked security at Castiglion Maritime.”
Mave's stomach dropped.
“Currently?”
“Until six months ago.”
“So Dominic knows your operations.”
“Possibly.”
Leo began dressing.
“You are not going anywhere.”
“I have to.”
“You were stabbed three hours ago.”
“Dominic just made a move on the docks.”
“What move?”
“He called an emergency board meeting.”
Mave blinked.
“He can do that?”
“He still owns shares through old shell holdings.”
“What does he want?”
Leo looked at the trust documents.
“You.”
The board meeting was scheduled for noon the following day.
Dominic had finally stepped from the shadows.
He sent a letter through attorneys.
Formal.
Polite.
Almost absurdly civilized.
The letter claimed that Leo had mismanaged Castiglion Maritime, endangered shareholders through “reckless personal entanglements,” and concealed the existence of a major beneficiary.
Mave.
He demanded a vote.
Control of the company would depend on whether Mave's inherited shares were recognized.
“This is insane,” Mave said.
Leo sat beside her in the library.
“It gets worse.”
“How?”
“Dominic filed documents challenging the trust.”
“On what grounds?”
“Your mother signed it under coercion.”
“She was being threatened by him.”
“Yes.”
“So he's using his own threat as evidence?”
“Yes.”
“Lawyers are magical.”
Leo almost smiled.
“We need the original trust agreement.”
“Where is it?”
“Not in the box.”
Mave searched through her mother's letters again.
Nothing.
Then she remembered something.
“My mother had a safety deposit box.”
Leo looked at her.
“Where?”
“A neighborhood bank in the Narrows.”
“When?”
“She kept jewelry there.”
“Did you close it after she died?”
“No. I couldn't find the key.”
Leo stood.
“The key from the sedan.”
Mave stared.
318 had opened the Grand Central locker.
But another smaller key had been taped beneath the box.
They had assumed it belonged to the case.
It didn't.
Two hours later, they entered the bank.
Leo brought Carmine and Giani.
Mave brought identification.
The manager nearly fainted when he recognized Leo.
Mave muttered, “Try smiling.”
“I am.”
“You look constipated.”
Leo glared.
The safety deposit box opened.
Inside was the original trust agreement.
And one more cassette.
A handwritten label:
IF SALVATORE IS DEAD.
Leo stared.
They located an old cassette player in a storage closet at the bank.
Mave pressed play.
Static.
Then her mother's voice.
Young.
Clear.
Nervous.
My name is Evelyn Quinn.
I am making this recording because Dominic Castiglion has threatened to kill Salvatore Castiglion and his son.
Leo stopped breathing.
The tape continued.
Dominic is working with Viktor Volkov. They are moving weapons through Castiglion ships. Salvatore discovered part of it. Dominic believes killing him will allow him to take control.
Mave looked at Leo.
The voice continued.
If Salvatore dies, it was Dominic.
If anything happens to me, it was Dominic.
There is one other person who knows.
Giani Moretti.
Silence.
Everyone turned.
Giani stood near the door.
His face had gone gray.
Leo slowly faced him.
“You knew my mother?” Mave asked.
Giani looked at her.
“I knew Evelyn.”
Leo's voice was colder.
“For how long?”
“Before you were born.”
“You knew about Dominic?”
Giani closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Leo took one step toward him.
“And you never told me?”
“Your father ordered me not to.”
“My father is dead.”
“He made me swear.”
“Fourteen years, Giani.”
“I was protecting you.”
Leo laughed bitterly.
“Everyone protects me with lies.”
Giani looked toward Mave.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
Giani's voice trembled.
“Dominic didn't kill your father alone.”
Leo's face changed.
“Who helped him?”
Giani looked devastated.
“Someone you still trust.”
Leo became completely still.
“Name.”
Giani hesitated.
That hesitation cost them.
The bank window shattered.
Mave screamed.
Gunfire erupted.
Leo dragged her behind the vault wall.
Carmine fired toward the street.
Giani collapsed.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Giani!”
Leo crawled toward him.
Giani grabbed Leo's jacket.
His lips moved.
Leo leaned closer.
“The traitor…”
Giani coughed.
“Carm—”
His eyes went unfocused.
Leo slowly looked up.
Across the room stood Carmine Russo.
May you like
Holding a gun.
And for one terrible second, nobody knew which side he was on.
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