Chapter 6 - THE FADED PHOTOGRAPH
The sweet, elderly woman who had smiled at me an hour ago was gone.
In her place sat the matriarch of a crime family.
Her posture remained perfect. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap.
“You ordered the cover-up of my father’s murder?” Luca asked.
His voice didn’t rise. But the devastation in his eyes was absolute.
“I protected this family, Luca,” she said smoothly. “Your father was a fool. He was going to hand that ledger to the FBI. Do you know what was in that book? The names of every judge, every port authority officer, every union boss who worked for us. If he gave that to the Feds, our family would have been slaughtered in the streets by our rivals within a week.”
“So you let him die?” Luca asked.
“I didn’t kill him,” she said fiercely. “The Rossi family got to him first. When Richard called me in a panic, saying he found Vincenzo bleeding out in the office... I made a choice. I told Richard to dispose of the body and clean the room. We needed time to fortify our assets before the Rossi family made a move on you.”
She looked at Richard with utter disgust.
“But this idiot couldn’t even do that right. He let a waitress see him. He panicked and framed her. He created a loose end.”
I felt sick to my stomach.
“My sister’s life was a loose end to you?” I asked, my voice rising.
Mama Moretti looked at me with cold indifference.
“Casualties happen in war, Anna.”
Luca drew his gun.
The heavy, black metal glinted in the chandelier light.
He pointed it directly at Richard’s chest.
“Give me one reason not to put you in the ground next to my father,” Luca said.
Richard dropped to his knees, sobbing.
“Because if you kill me... Clara dies.”
Luca paused.
“Clara called me three days ago,” Richard babbled, tears streaming down his face. “She didn’t fake her death, Luca! I faked her death! I paid the prison doctor to declare her dead. I smuggled her out of the city. I’ve been paying for her and the boy to live in hiding for twelve years!”
I froze.
“You saved her?” I asked, confused.
“I couldn’t live with the guilt!” Richard cried. “But the Rossi family found out she’s alive. They know she hid the key to the ledger! They tracked her down in Seattle. That’s why she came back. She brought the boy to me because she thought I could protect him!”
Suddenly, every light in the restaurant went out.
Total, blinding darkness.
Women screamed. Glass shattered as diners panicked and bolted for the exits.
“Protect the boss!” one of Luca’s men shouted in the dark.
I wrapped my body completely around Leo, crouching on the floor under the table.
Then, a flashlight clicked on near the kitchen swinging doors.
The harsh white beam cut through the darkness, illuminating the empty dining room floor.
Standing at the end of the light was a woman.
She was wearing a soaked trench coat. Her hair was cut short, her face hardened by years of running. But her eyes were exactly the same.
Clara.
My sister.
She was holding a silver revolver.
May you like
And it was aimed right at Mama Moretti’s head.
“You kept your necklace, Mrs. Moretti,” Clara said, her voice echoing in the dark room. “But I kept the ledger.”
