Chapter 9 - THE LAST DINNERThey returned to the restaurant after midnight.
The building was abandoned.
Broken windows.
Empty tables.
Bloodstains still visible on the marble.
Tessa walked into the private dining room where everything had started.
The same chandelier hung overhead.
The same table.
The same chair.
For a second, she could almost hear Brett laughing.
Then she remembered Salvatore signing to her.
Tell the people watching us they're no longer welcome here.
She had thought it was a strange moment.
Now she understood.
He had recognized the trap.
The room was wired.
Evan searched beneath the table.
Salvatore examined the walls.
Then Tessa noticed something.
The private room's mirror.
It reflected the chandelier.
The table.
The door.
But not her.
She stepped closer.
A hidden camera.
Brett's voice came from a speaker.
“You were always smarter than I gave you credit for.”
Tessa looked up.
“Where are you?”
“Where you belong.”
The restaurant doors locked.
Gas began leaking into the room.
Evan covered his mouth.
Salvatore fired at the speaker.
Nothing.
A screen descended from the ceiling.
Brett appeared.
“You want the ledger?”
He smiled.
“Open the vault.”
Tessa stepped toward the wall.
“How?”
“Your father taught you.”
“I was seventeen.”
“You remember.”
She closed her eyes.
And then she did.
Her father kneeling beside her bed.
His fingers touching the scar.
His lips moving slowly.
She couldn't remember the sentence.
But she remembered the rhythm.
Three taps.
Pause.
Two taps.
Four.
Tessa looked at the wall.
The pattern.
She pressed it.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Salvatore watched.
“Think.”
She did.
Her father's hands.
Three.
Two.
Four.
She pressed again.
The wall clicked.
A section opened.
Inside was a small metal chamber.
And a photograph.
Tessa pulled it out.
She stared.
It showed her father.
Her mother.
Salvatore.
And a fourth person.
Brett.
Tessa's breath caught.
“He was there.”
Salvatore stared at the photograph.
“I knew him.”
“You knew him?”
“He was my father's accountant.”
Evan took the picture.
Then his face changed.
“Wait.”
He pointed at the man standing behind Brett.
Tessa recognized him.
Her father's former attorney.
Dead for fifteen years.
But the photograph had been taken recently.
The impossible became undeniable.
Someone had been keeping these people alive.
Or someone had been using their identities.
Brett's voice came through again.
“Congratulations.”
Tessa looked toward the screen.
“You wanted the ledger.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Brett smiled.
“I wanted the key.”
“You mean me.”
“Yes.”
The screen changed.
A timer appeared.
Ten minutes.
Brett spoke.
“Leave Salvatore.”
Tessa stared.
“Or?”
“Or every person connected to him dies.”
The timer began.
9:59.
9:58.
Salvatore looked at her.
“Don't.”
Tessa frowned.
“Don't what?”
“Choose me.”
She stared at him.
He continued.
“You don't owe me anything.”
“You saved Evan.”
“I also lied to you.”
“Yes.”
“I killed your father.”
“Yes.”
“I brought you into this.”
“Yes.”
Salvatore looked away.
“So leave.”
Tessa walked closer.
“No.”
His eyes lifted.
She took his face in both hands.
“I don't know if I forgive you.”
He nodded.
“I don't know if I can trust you.”
He nodded again.
“But I'm not leaving you.”
For the first time, Salvatore looked genuinely stunned.
The timer reached five minutes.
Then the restaurant doors exploded.
Men in black suits rushed inside.
Brett walked among them.
And beside him...
Evan's face went white.
“That's impossible.”
Tessa turned.
A man stepped from the smoke.
May you like
Her dead father.
Alive.
