Chapter 14 - The Last Dinner of the Morettis
Lorenzo forced us back into the chapel.
Teresa stumbled, and he tightened his grip on her arm. His pistol remained pressed against the side of her head.
“Put the ledger on the altar.”
Dante obeyed slowly.
“Let her go.”
“Not until I have the original documents.”
“You have the book.”
“I have a book. I want the evidence.”
Miguel stood near the wall, his hands raised. Nico had his weapon trained on Lorenzo, but the older man kept Teresa between himself and the gun.
I held Sophie close.
Bruno stood beside us, his shoulders tense, a low growl rumbling in his throat.
Lorenzo glanced at the dog.
“Call him off.”
“No,” I said.
His eyes shifted to me.
“Mrs. Alvarez, you seem determined to make this difficult.”
“You killed Isabella. You arranged Miguel's disappearance. You tried to steal my daughter. I don't think we're negotiating the same thing.”
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
“Your husband made his choices.”
“He chose to protect a child.”
“He chose to interfere with a family business.”
“She was a baby.”
“She was an asset.”
The word came out casually.
That was what frightened me most.
Lorenzo had spent so long treating human lives as figures in a ledger that he no longer understood why people might risk everything to protect them.
I stepped forward.
“You don't get to decide what she is.”
He raised the gun toward me.
“Stay where you are.”
Dante moved.
Lorenzo pressed the pistol harder against Teresa's head.
“Another step, and I shoot her.”
Dante stopped.
For several seconds, rain tapped against the chapel windows.
Then Teresa spoke.
“Lorenzo, do you remember Isabella's last words?”
He looked at her.
“Don't.”
“She told you the family would destroy itself if we kept treating children like property.”
“Shut up.”
“She was right.”
Lorenzo slapped her across the face.
Teresa staggered.
Sophie cried out.
Bruno lunged.
The chapel exploded into movement.
Nico fired at the ceiling, forcing Lorenzo to flinch. Dante tackled him from the side. Teresa fell to the floor as the pistol discharged into the stone wall.
I pulled Sophie behind the altar.
Miguel rushed toward Teresa while Dante wrestled Lorenzo for the weapon.
Bruno attacked Lorenzo's arm, clamping his jaws around the sleeve. Lorenzo screamed and struck the dog with the detonator.
The device flew across the floor.
Nico kicked it beneath the altar.
Then a shot rang out.
Dante fell to one knee.
“Dante!”
He clutched his side.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
Lorenzo ripped himself free of the dog and scrambled toward the detonator.
Nico fired again.
The bullet struck Lorenzo's shoulder, spinning him toward the wall.
Dante rose despite his injury and seized him by the collar.
“You've had seven years,” he said through clenched teeth. “Seven years to tell the truth.”
Lorenzo spat blood.
“Your father taught me that power was the only truth that mattered.”
“Then he taught you wrong.”
Dante struck him across the face.
Lorenzo collapsed.
Nico kicked the pistol away and secured his wrists with a pair of handcuffs taken from the guards' belts.
Outside, federal agents stormed the chapel.
“Federal officers! Everyone put your weapons down!”
The first agent through the door was Elena Ruiz.
She was in her forties, with dark hair pulled into a tight bun and a face that revealed almost nothing. Her eyes went immediately to the ledger on the altar.
Then to Lorenzo.
“Mr. Moretti, you're under arrest for conspiracy, financial fraud, kidnapping, and the attempted murder of multiple witnesses.”
Lorenzo laughed weakly.
“You don't have jurisdiction here.”
Ruiz held up the warrant.
“I have jurisdiction wherever your money went.”
She signaled to two agents.
They dragged Lorenzo to his feet.
As he passed Dante, he smiled.
“You think you've won? The family won't survive this.”
Dante leaned against the altar, blood running through his fingers.
“Good.”
Lorenzo's smile disappeared.
Ruiz turned to Miguel.
“Mr. Alvarez?”
Miguel nodded.
“You'll need to come with us. We have questions about the staged death and the missing records.”
“I expected that.”
She looked at me.
“Mrs. Alvarez, you and Sophie are safe. We're going to place you in protective custody until the remaining warrants are executed.”
“No.”
Ruiz paused.
“I'm sorry?”
“My daughter has spent the last three years being protected by people who kept secrets from her. I'm not going to hand her over to another system because someone assures me it will be different.”
Ruiz studied me.
Then she nodded.
“That's fair. We'll arrange protection at a location you choose, with full access to your attorney and no transfer of custody without a hearing.”
I hadn't expected her to agree.
Dante, still clutching his side, gave a faint smile.
“She may be the first person tonight who has listened to you.”
“Don't push your luck,” I replied.
A paramedic entered the chapel and began treating Dante's wound. It was serious but not life-threatening. Miguel had a cracked rib and several cuts. Teresa needed treatment for a broken wrist.
Sophie was physically unharmed.
For the first time in hours, I allowed myself to breathe.
Ruiz began collecting the documents.
When she reached the ledger, Miguel stopped her.
“There's one more page.”
He opened the inner cover and removed the translucent sheet bearing the signatures.
Ruiz examined it.
“This is the original authorization record.”
“Is it enough?” I asked.
“Enough to start with.”
She studied the line bearing her name.
Then she pointed to a small symbol beside it.
“This mark isn't mine.”
“What does it mean?” Dante asked.
Ruiz's expression changed.
“It belongs to the private office of Judge Harold Whitmore.”
Teresa looked up.
“He signed the original trust order.”
“And he has been dead for two years,” Ruiz replied.
Silence fell.
Ruiz turned the sheet over.
Beneath the symbol, barely visible beneath layers of ink, was a second signature.
A signature I recognized.
Raymond Russo.
Ruiz handed the document to an agent.
“Find Russo. Now.”
The agent hurried outside.
A radio crackled.
“Target vehicle located on the service road. Suspect apprehended.”
Russo had been caught.
For a moment, it seemed the entire night had finally reached its end.
Then Ruiz's phone rang.
She answered, listened, and went very still.
“What do you mean, missing?”
She looked at us.
“The original trust records have been removed from the federal evidence vault.”
Miguel closed his eyes.
“No.”
Ruiz continued listening.
“Who had access?”
A long pause.
Then she said, “Understood.”
She disconnected.
Dante struggled to his feet.
“Who took them?”
Ruiz looked at Teresa.
“Someone inside the court system.”
Teresa's face drained of color.
“Who?”
Ruiz lowered her voice.
“Judge Whitmore's daughter. She's been working under a different name for the last six months. Her real name is Evelyn Moretti.”
Dante stared at her.
“Our family has no Evelyn.”
Teresa slowly rose from the chair.
“Yes,” she whispered. “We do.”
Every face turned toward her.
She looked at Dante, then at Nico.
“Evelyn was your father's first child. She was removed from the family records after a dispute over the inheritance. I believed she had left the country.”
Ruiz's expression sharpened.
“Then we have another problem.”
Miguel looked at the open chapel door.
“Where would she go?”
Teresa didn't answer.
She reached into her pocket and removed a small photograph.
It showed a young woman standing beside the sea wall, dressed in black.
On the back, in faded handwriting, were four words.
The final heir returns.
I stared at the image.
The woman had Sophie's eyes.
And beneath her photograph was a date.
May you like
October 16.
The day the transfer was due to take place.
