Chapter 7 - The Betrayal Inside the Family“Put the gun down,” Salvatore ordered.
I didn't move.
He pressed his own pistol against Elena's temple.
“Lorenzo. Don't make me ask twice.”
Sokov watched with a faint smile.
I could shoot Salvatore before he pulled the trigger.
Probably.
But Sokov's men would kill Elena, and whoever was guarding Nora might receive the order before I could escape the warehouse.
I lowered my pistol to the floor.
Enzo did the same.
The men rushed forward and took our weapons.
Salvatore stepped away from Elena.
“Good boy.”
I looked at him.
“Call me that again, and I'll make sure they bury what's left of you in separate boxes.”
His expression hardened.
“You still think this is about you and me. It isn't.”
“Then explain it.”
He gestured toward Sokov.
“Victor owns the shipping contracts, the councilmen, half the police department, and enough judges to bury any evidence we find. Your mother intended to destroy everything we've built.”
“My mother wanted to protect the neighborhood.”
“She wanted to dismantle the family.”
“She wanted you to stop stealing from her trust.”
Salvatore's jaw tightened.
“You have no idea what your mother was doing.”
“Then tell me.”
For a moment, I saw the man who had taught me to drive, taken me fishing, and sat beside me during my father's final illness.
Then I remembered the ledger.
The payment.
The false transfer records.
The empty coffin.
Salvatore's expression softened.
“Your father was weak, Lorenzo. He built his empire on fear and called it loyalty. He made enemies faster than he could kill them. I spent twenty years cleaning up his mistakes.”
“So you murdered his wife?”
“I tried to save her.”
The answer was so unexpected that I stared at him.
Salvatore looked toward Sokov.
“Isabella discovered the accounts and threatened to expose them. Victor wanted her dead. I arranged a meeting to convince her to leave Boston.”
“And the brakes?”
“I didn't touch them.”
Sokov gave a quiet laugh.
“Not directly.”
Salvatore's eyes flashed.
“You said you'd handle the driver.”
“I did.”
“You killed Angelo.”
“He was a loose end.”
I watched the exchange.
They weren't united.
They were two men who had worked together long enough to know exactly how much they hated each other.
Sokov approached me.
“Your mother wasn't innocent, Lorenzo. She knew where the money was going. She signed the original documents, approved the trusts, and kept our secrets for years.”
“She was investigating the theft.”
“She was preparing to betray us.”
“You mean expose you.”
“Same difference.”
He placed a second document on the desk.
A deed transfer.
The same properties from the folder on Hanover Street.
“This is what we want. The cellar, the restaurant, the adjoining buildings, and the access passage to the harbor. Once you sign, the property becomes mine.”
“And the ledger?”
“Your uncle gets his future. I get the buildings. You get to leave Boston.”
Salvatore shook his head.
“He doesn't get to leave. Not with what he knows.”
Sokov shrugged.
“Then perhaps we should stop pretending there's a choice.”
Elena looked at me.
“Don't sign anything.”
Salvatore grabbed her hair and pulled her head back.
“Silence.”
I moved before I could think.
Two guards slammed me against the wall. One drove an elbow into my ribs. Another pressed a pistol against my neck.
Salvatore released Elena.
“Still impulsive,” he said. “Your mother never could teach you patience.”
I tasted blood.
“Where is Nora?”
“Safe,” he answered.
“Where?”
He leaned close.
“Somewhere you can't reach.”
The words were meant to frighten me.
They did.
But they also confirmed something I'd suspected since the lake house.
Salvatore wasn't planning to kill Nora immediately.
He needed me alive long enough to sign the documents and reveal the ledger.
That meant we had time.
Not much.
But some.
I looked toward Enzo.
He stood beside one of the guards, his hands cuffed behind him.
His eyes met mine.
He blinked once.
Then twice.
It was the signal we'd used for years when we needed to communicate without speaking.
Two blinks meant one thing.
Trust me.
I looked away.
Sokov pushed the deed toward me.
“Sign.”
I picked up the pen.
Elena shook her head.
I signed my name.
Then I placed the pen beside the document.
Sokov examined the signature.
“Beautiful.”
He held out his hand.
“Now the ledger.”
I looked at Salvatore.
“You want the original ownership documents too?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have a problem.”
His gaze sharpened.
“What problem?”
“The documents are locked in a box. The box requires two keys.”
“Where's the other key?”
“On the person who knows where the box is.”
Salvatore stared at me.
“Who?”
I let the silence stretch.
Then I smiled.
“My sister.”
His face changed.
For the first time since I'd entered the warehouse, he looked genuinely afraid.
“You found her?”
“Not yet. But you just confirmed she's alive.”
Sokov turned toward Salvatore.
“What is he talking about?”
My uncle didn't answer.
I continued.
“You stole my sister from the hospital. You told my mother the child died. Then you made sure she could never prove otherwise.”
Salvatore's face darkened.
“Your mother was unstable.”
“She was trying to find her daughter.”
“She would have destroyed us all.”
“So you let Sokov murder her.”
“I didn't kill her!”
The shout silenced the room.
Even Sokov stopped smiling.
Salvatore's breathing turned ragged.
“I didn't kill Isabella. I arranged for her to leave Boston. I arranged a false death because it was the only way to stop Sokov from reaching her.”
I stared at him.
“Then whose body did I bury?”
His mouth opened.
No answer came.
The warehouse suddenly seemed colder.
Enzo shifted beside the guard.
A distant alarm began to sound.
Sokov looked toward the door.
“What is that?”
One of the men touched his earpiece.
“We have a perimeter breach.”
Enzo smiled faintly.
I understood.
He had activated the emergency protocol.
Outside, engines roared. The warehouse lights flickered, then went dark.
Gunfire erupted near the loading bay.
I lunged toward the nearest guard.
The room exploded into motion.
Enzo struck his guard with a headbutt, grabbed the man's weapon, and fired into the ceiling lights. Elena overturned her chair, sending the metal legs crashing into Sokov's knees.
I drove my shoulder into the man holding me, sending him into the desk.
Salvatore stumbled backward.
For one second, our eyes met across the darkness.
He looked like a frightened old man.
Then he fled through a side door.
I could have followed him.
Instead, I grabbed Elena and pulled her toward the loading bay.
“Where's Nora?” I demanded.
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
We reached the warehouse entrance as my men poured inside.
The firefight lasted less than two minutes.
Sokov escaped through a private exit.
Salvatore was gone.
And the man who had been guarding the lake house was found dead in a vehicle nearby.
Nora was nowhere to be found.
I stood amid the shattered glass and spent shell casings.
For years, I'd believed that my greatest enemy was the man trying to take my territory.
Now I understood the truth.
May you like
My greatest enemy was the man who knew every road leading into my heart.
And he had just taken the only child who still trusted me.
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