Chapter 5 - THE BRASS KEY
I stared at Marcus, my mind completely short-circuiting.
Marcus. The man who hired me. The man who always made sure I got home safe. The man I had watched get pistol-whipped in my own bar just twenty-four hours ago.
“You?” I whispered, instinctively stepping in front of Leo, shielding my nephew with my body. Dante shifted his weight, his hand hovering near his jacket, but Miller’s gun was too steady, too focused on the child.
“Don't move, Rossi,” Miller warned, his finger tightening on the trigger.
“The bar shooting was a performance,” Dante said, his voice deadly calm. “You weren't a victim, Marcus. You staged the whole thing to flush Elena out so you could search her apartment for the locker ticket while the police detained her.”
Marcus chuckled. “Very good, Dante. Silas paid me a fortune to keep an eye on the girl for the last three years. But Sarah Voss was clever. The locker ticket was just a decoy. A test to see who came looking.”
Answer One. The locker was empty because my mother knew her enemies would eventually find the blue ticket.
“So where are the bonds?” Dante asked, stalling for time. He shifted slightly, angling his body between Miller’s gun and me.
“In her coat,” Marcus said, pointing directly at the heavy red wool coat I was wearing. “Sarah gave Elena that coat the winter she died. She told her never to throw it away. I've watched her wear it every winter. Check the left pocket lining, Elena. Do it slowly.”
My breath caught. I reached my hand into the deep left pocket of my coat. I felt along the inner seam. There, hidden beneath the thick wool, was a hard, metal lump.
I dug my nails into the fabric, tearing the old stitching.
A heavy brass key slid into my palm. It had the logo of First Manhattan Bank engraved on the side.
“Toss it here,” Marcus ordered.
Reversal. Marcus wasn't working for Silas. If he was, he would have handed the key to Silas hours ago.
“You’re not going to give this to Silas, are you?” I said, my voice surprisingly steady. “You’re going to steal the bonds for yourself.”
Marcus’s smile faded. “Silas is a fool who trusts a bartender and a dirty cop to do his heavy lifting. Toss the key, Elena. Or Miller puts a bullet in the boy.”
Dante caught my eye. A microscopic nod.
I raised my hand, holding the brass key. “Okay. Take it.”
I threw the key. But I didn't throw it to Marcus. I threw it hard to the right, directly into a massive crowd of rushing commuters exiting a train.
“Hey!” Miller yelled, his gun wavering as his eyes tracked the shining brass key flying through the air.
That split second of distraction was all Dante needed.
He lunged forward with explosive speed, grabbing Miller’s gun hand and twisting it violently upward. The gun fired into the vaulted ceiling, sending concrete dust raining down.
The terminal erupted into screaming chaos. Commuters scattered in pure panic.
Marcus cursed and tried to draw his own weapon, but I didn't wait. I grabbed a heavy metal trash can lid and swung it as hard as I could, smashing it directly into Marcus’s face. He went down hard, blood spraying from a genuinely broken nose this time.
“Elena, run!” Dante roared, delivering a brutal strike to Miller’s throat, dropping the dirty cop to his knees.
I grabbed Leo’s hand and ran into the sea of screaming people. Dante was right behind us.
We didn't stop until we reached the subway tunnels, losing ourselves in the labyrinth of the underground transit system. We sat on a filthy bench, gasping for air.
Leo was hugging my leg tightly. I stroked his hair, trying to calm my racing heart.
Dante sat next to me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his closed fist. He opened his fingers.
Resting in his palm was the brass key.
“How?” I gasped. “I threw it into the crowd!”
Dante smirked, a dangerous, handsome smile that made my stomach flip. “You threw a quarter, Elena. I saw you palm the key when you tore the pocket. You have good hands for a bartender.”
I couldn't help but let out a breathless, shocked laugh.
“We have the key,” Dante said, his expression turning serious. “First Manhattan Bank is ten blocks away. Once we get the bonds, we can buy our freedom from the Commission. Silas won't have a leg to stand on.”
But Open Two. Why did Sarah Voss hide the bonds in a bank instead of spending them? And what else was in that vault?
We reached the bank just as it opened. Dante used a fake ID and the brass key to access the lower vaults. The manager left us alone in a small, windowless viewing room with a heavy steel box.
I looked at Dante. He nodded.
I opened the lid.
Inside the box were stacks of century-old, untraceable bearer bonds. Millions of dollars.
But resting on top of the bonds was a small velvet box.
I opened it.
Inside was a stunning, delicate silver and sapphire bracelet.
Dante inhaled sharply, stepping back as if he had been struck. His face went completely pale.
“Dante?” I asked. “What is it?”
“That bracelet,” Dante whispered, his voice cracking with an emotion I had never heard from him before. “It belonged to my mother. She was wearing it the night she and my father were murdered.”
I stared at the bracelet, a horrifying realization dawning on me.
“Dante… if Silas stole the bonds twenty years ago… how did my adopted mother get this bracelet?”
Before he could answer, the heavy steel door of the viewing room locked with a loud, electronic click.
A voice came through the intercom speaker in the ceiling.
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“Because, Elena,” Silas’s voice echoed in the small room. “Sarah Voss didn't steal the bonds. She was trying to return them. After I murdered Dante’s parents.”
We were trapped inside the vault.
