Chapter 7 - THE FATHER AND THE SON
Salvatore Vale looked smaller than I remembered.
Maybe twelve years of hiding had done that.
Maybe fear had.
The uncle of my childhood had filled every doorway.
He laughed louder than anyone.
Drank more than anyone.
And when my father wasn't looking, he reminded Gabriel and me that mercy was simply weakness wearing church clothes.
Now he sat tied to a chair in Beatrice's apartment while his own son held a gun to his head.
Lorenzo smiled into the camera.
“Midnight. Old Union Freight Terminal.”
Then the recording ended.
Gabriel stared at the frozen image.
“Trap.”
“Yes.”
“You're going.”
“Yes.”
“So am I.”
“No.”
He laughed.
“Twelve years ago these people tried to burn me alive.”
“Exactly.”
“Which means I get a vote.”
Beatrice stepped forward.
“So do I.”
We both turned.
“No,” I said.
She stared at me.
“Lorenzo entered my home. His family killed Patrick.”
“That doesn't mean you walk into a gunfight.”
“I have spent eleven years being told my husband's death was random.”
Her voice remained calm.
“That his murder was bad luck. That I should move on.”
Her eyes hardened.
“I am done letting powerful men decide which truths I'm allowed to face.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“She's coming.”
I hated that they were becoming a team.
At eleven thirty, we arrived near the Union Freight Terminal.
The building had been abandoned since a corruption investigation shut the company down eight years earlier.
Appropriate.
Corruption always left good real estate behind.
Marco wanted to come.
I refused.
Until I knew exactly what he had done for Lorenzo, I could not trust him with my back.
Instead, I gave him one job.
Send copies of the Northstar ledger to three separate lawyers with instructions that if I did not contact them by sunrise, every file went to federal investigators and the press.
For the first time in my life, my best weapon was not a gun.
It was exposure.
At midnight exactly, Gabriel, Beatrice, and I entered the terminal.
A light flicked on.
Salvatore sat in the middle of the loading floor.
Lorenzo stood beside him.
Six armed men surrounded them.
“Roman.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“Gabriel.”
His smile widened.
“Welcome back.”
Gabriel's face became stone.
“You sound disappointed.”
“Surprised.”
“Not the same thing.”
Lorenzo looked at Beatrice.
“And the maid.”
“Say that like an insult again,” Gabriel said, “and I'm going to rearrange your teeth.”
Beatrice whispered, “That's unnecessary.”
“I disagree.”
Even Lorenzo laughed.
“That mouth. I almost missed you.”
“You tried to murder me.”
“Nobody's perfect.”
I stepped forward.
“Let Salvatore go.”
My uncle raised his head.
“Roman.”
“Don't speak.”
Pain crossed his face.
Good.
Lorenzo walked in a slow circle.
“You've had a busy forty-eight hours.”
“You burned files in my office.”
“You noticed.”
“You attacked the church.”
“I did not.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Still lying.”
Lorenzo's smile vanished.
“My father ordered the church attack.”
Salvatore shouted, “He's lying!”
Lorenzo struck him across the face.
“Dad, please. The adults are talking.”
I stared at Salvatore.
“You ordered it?”
“No.”
Lorenzo pulled out his phone.
He played a recording.
Salvatore's voice.
“Kill the nun. Kill Gabriel. If Roman is there, do what you have to.”
Gabriel looked at me.
The voice was unmistakable.
Salvatore sagged.
“I was trying to protect us.”
“From what?” I asked.
“From him!”
He pointed at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo applauded slowly.
“There it is.”
Salvatore began shouting.
“You think he's loyal to you? He hates you!”
Lorenzo's face went cold.
“I spent my entire life cleaning up after this family.”
“You built Northstar.”
“My father built Northstar.”
Salvatore yelled, “You expanded it!”
“And made it profitable.”
The casual way he said it turned my stomach.
Human suffering reduced to accounting.
I stepped closer.
“You killed my mother.”
Lorenzo stared at me.
Then he smiled sadly.
“Eventually you'd find out.”
Something inside me wanted to pull the trigger.
Gabriel's earlier words stopped me.
He wants you angry.
“Why?”
“Because Elena never understood boundaries.”
“She was your aunt.”
“She was a liability.”
“You poisoned her.”
“Crane did.”
“At your order.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Beatrice sucked in a breath.
Lorenzo didn't look ashamed.
That was when I finally accepted it.
The man I had loved like a brother had never existed.
He had been a role.
A performance built specifically for me.
“You killed my father too?”
Lorenzo tilted his head.
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Carlo really did have a stroke.”
Salvatore laughed bitterly.
“After you changed his medication.”
Lorenzo looked annoyed.
“Details.”
My hand tightened.
Gabriel stepped closer to me.
A silent warning.
Not yet.
I looked at Salvatore.
“And Patrick Gallagher?”
My uncle's face changed.
Beatrice took one step forward.
“Answer me.”
Salvatore looked away.
Lorenzo answered for him.
“Dad.”
Beatrice's face broke.
Salvatore said, “I didn't know who he was.”
“You knew enough to kill him.”
“He was protecting Gabriel.”
“He was a paramedic!”
Her voice echoed through the terminal.
“He had nothing to do with your world!”
Salvatore looked at her.
“Anyone who touched Gabriel became part of our world.”
Beatrice slapped him.
Hard.
One of Lorenzo's men raised a weapon.
I pointed mine at his head.
“Try it.”
He lowered the gun.
Beatrice stood over Salvatore.
“My husband saved a dying man.”
Her voice trembled.
“And you murdered him for being decent.”
Salvatore had no answer.
Lorenzo rolled his eyes.
“This emotional theater is getting exhausting.”
Gabriel turned toward him.
“You always were impatient.”
“I was efficient.”
“You failed to kill me.”
“That was Dad's operation.”
Salvatore shouted, “You were there!”
“Yes, holding a gun I never fired.”
That surprised us.
Gabriel frowned.
“You poured the gasoline.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“Dad's men.”
“Why were you there?”
Lorenzo looked at me.
“Because Salvatore wanted me to learn.”
Something almost human entered his expression.
“I was twenty-four. I thought Dad was going to scare Gabriel.”
Gabriel stared.
“When did you realize?”
“When you were tied to the chair.”
“And you did nothing.”
Lorenzo's eyes hardened.
“I was a coward.”
For one second, the room shifted.
Then he continued.
“But I learned.”
There it was.
Not remorse.
Evolution.
“My father taught me the biggest weakness in our family,” Lorenzo said.
“Love.”
He looked at Salvatore.
“He loved power.”
Then Gabriel.
“You loved freedom.”
Then me.
“And Roman loved approval.”
His gaze landed on Beatrice.
“Which brings us to her.”
I stepped forward.
“Leave her out of this.”
His smile returned.
“See?”
My stomach tightened.
Lorenzo had been watching.
Studying me.
“You followed a maid into a frozen neighborhood because you saw her crying over leftovers.”
He laughed softly.
“The great Roman Vale.”
Beatrice looked at me.
I kept my eyes on him.
“What do you want?”
“At last.”
Lorenzo tossed a folder onto the floor.
“Control of every Vale company.”
“No.”
“Then Beatrice dies.”
One of his men raised a pistol toward her.
Gabriel moved.
Three guns swung toward him.
“Easy,” Lorenzo said.
He looked at me.
“Sign the transfer agreements. Walk away. Take Gabriel. Take the maid. Go discover morality somewhere warm.”
“You think I'd believe you'd let us leave?”
“No.”
At least he was honest.
Salvatore suddenly laughed.
Lorenzo turned.
“What?”
My uncle's bloody mouth stretched into a grin.
“You always talk too much.”
Then Salvatore kicked backward.
His chair slammed into Lorenzo.
Gunfire exploded.
Gabriel tackled Beatrice behind a steel crate.
I fired at the nearest gunman.
Salvatore threw himself sideways.
Lorenzo fired twice.
His father jerked.
One bullet struck Salvatore's chest.
The other hit his stomach.
He collapsed.
Lorenzo stared down at him.
No emotion.
I moved through smoke and shouting.
Then someone grabbed me from behind.
A blade pressed against my throat.
Lorenzo's voice reached me.
“Drop it, Roman.”
I froze.
A gun pressed against my back.
Lorenzo stood ten feet away.
He was smiling again.
Gabriel was pinned behind the crate.
Beatrice was gone.
My heart stopped.
“Where is she?”
Lorenzo glanced toward an open loading door.
A black SUV accelerated into the snow.
“Insurance.”
I lunged.
The blade cut my neck.
Lorenzo raised his pistol.
“Don't.”
The SUV disappeared.
Beatrice was inside.
And for the first time since I had entered that terminal, Lorenzo's smile became real.
“You see, cousin?”
He leaned closer.
“You may finally understand what I spent twelve years teaching you.”
May you like
His eyes were almost gentle.
“Everyone you care about becomes a weapon someone can use against you.”
