Chapter 10 - THE LAST NAME IN THE LEDGER
Nobody moved.
Salvatore held Evelyn with one arm across her chest.
His weapon pressed beneath her jaw.
Lorenzo stood twenty feet away.
Celeste was behind him.
Marco guarded Thomas.
Arthur Vane had disappeared during the gunfire.
Three of Salvatore’s men remained standing.
Four Moretti loyalists surrounded the far side of the terminal.
The river wind moved through the broken windows.
Salvatore looked at Lorenzo.
“Put it down.”
Lorenzo did not move.
Evelyn could feel Salvatore’s breathing against her hair.
“Lorenzo.”
Salvatore pushed the weapon harder.
“Put it down.”
Lorenzo lowered his pistol.
Slowly.
Then placed it on the concrete.
Salvatore smiled.
“There.”
He sounded almost proud.
“Just like your father.”
Lorenzo’s eyes did not leave Evelyn.
Salvatore continued.
“Vittorio always believed there was one innocent person worth losing everything for.”
“You killed him for that?”
“I killed him because he forgot what power is.”
“What is power?”
Salvatore smiled.
“Choosing who gets sacrificed.”
Evelyn listened.
Not to his words.
To his breathing.
To the distance between his feet.
To the pressure of his arm.
Her father had once taught her how to escape a drunk gambler who grabbed from behind.
Drop your weight.
Turn toward the thumb.
Never fight the strongest part of the grip.
She had been eleven.
She had forgotten the lesson for years.
Until now.
Salvatore looked toward Thomas.
“You should have taught her to stay invisible.”
Thomas’s face changed.
He understood.
Evelyn dropped.
Hard.
Her knees folded.
Salvatore’s grip slipped.
She twisted toward his thumb.
The weapon discharged.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Lorenzo moved.
He crossed the distance before Salvatore recovered.
The two men crashed into a steel support.
Evelyn rolled away.
Marco fired at one of Salvatore’s guards.
Celeste grabbed the fallen weapon near her feet.
Arthur suddenly emerged from behind a cargo container.
He aimed at Lorenzo.
Celeste saw him.
“Dad!”
Arthur hesitated.
One second.
That was enough.
Celeste raised her weapon.
Her hands shook.
Arthur stared at his daughter.
“Put it down.”
Celeste’s face crumpled.
“You used me.”
“I protected this family.”
“You protected yourself.”
“Celeste.”
“You made me believe Lorenzo was the danger.”
Arthur stepped closer.
“Give me the gun.”
She shook her head.
Arthur’s voice hardened.
“Now.”
Celeste looked at him for a long moment.
Then lowered the gun.
Arthur smiled.
And aimed at her.
Evelyn shouted.
Lorenzo turned.
A shot rang out.
Arthur staggered.
He looked down.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Celeste still held her weapon.
Smoke curled from the barrel.
Arthur stared at his daughter.
“You.”
Celeste’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
He collapsed.
Across the warehouse, Lorenzo slammed Salvatore against the concrete.
Salvatore laughed even while losing.
“You think killing me changes anything?”
Lorenzo struck him again.
“The Circle has survived mayors.”
Another strike.
“Governors.”
Another.
“Federal investigations.”
Lorenzo stopped.
Salvatore smiled through blood.
“You cannot kill an idea.”
Lorenzo looked down at him.
“No.”
He stepped back.
“But I can expose one.”
Sirens began approaching outside.
Salvatore’s smile vanished.
He looked at Evelyn.
“The police?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Not exactly.”
Federal vehicles flooded the river road.
Thomas stared at her.
“How?”
Evelyn looked toward Lorenzo.
Earlier that afternoon, they had made copies.
One set had gone to a federal prosecutor whose name appeared nowhere in the ledger.
Another went to three investigative journalists.
The third had been scheduled for automatic release if Evelyn did not cancel the message by midnight.
It was 12:14.
The Circle was already becoming public.
Salvatore began laughing again.
At first quietly.
Then louder.
Lorenzo watched him.
“What?”
Salvatore looked at Thomas.
“You never told her.”
Thomas went pale.
Evelyn felt cold.
“Told me what?”
Thomas looked away.
Evelyn stepped toward him.
“What didn’t you tell me?”
Salvatore laughed.
“This is perfect.”
Lorenzo grabbed Salvatore by the coat.
“Talk.”
Salvatore’s eyes remained fixed on Evelyn.
“The ledger you found is not the original.”
Evelyn stared.
“What?”
“It is a copy.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Salvatore continued.
“Thomas made two.”
Evelyn turned toward her father.
“Where is the other one?”
Thomas said nothing.
“Dad.”
The word felt strange in her mouth.
“Where is it?”
Thomas looked at Lorenzo.
That frightened Evelyn more than Salvatore’s smile.
Thomas finally spoke.
“The original contains names I removed from the copy.”
Lorenzo’s expression hardened.
“What names?”
“People who were never supposed to be part of the Circle.”
Salvatore laughed softly from the floor.
“Heroes.”
“Reformers.”
“Men who publicly fought organized crime.”
“Some of them still hold office.”
Federal agents entered the terminal.
Commands echoed.
Weapons hit the ground.
Salvatore was dragged to his feet.
Celeste stood beside her father’s body without moving.
Marco helped Thomas toward Evelyn.
But Evelyn remained focused on one thing.
“The original ledger.”
Thomas looked exhausted.
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
He hesitated.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Thomas.”
Thomas looked at him.
Then at Evelyn.
“There is something else you need to know first.”
Evelyn’s chest tightened.
“What?”
Thomas reached inside his coat.
Marco immediately raised his weapon.
Thomas froze.
“Easy.”
He slowly removed a folded photograph.
He handed it to Evelyn.
The picture was old.
A hospital room.
Her mother lay in bed.
Thomas stood beside her.
And Vittorio Moretti stood near the window.
Evelyn stared.
“What is this?”
Thomas’s eyes filled with shame.
“This was taken the day you were born.”
Lorenzo looked at the picture.
His face went blank.
Evelyn turned it over.
Three words were written on the back in her mother’s handwriting.
Tell her someday.
Evelyn looked up.
“Tell me what?”
Thomas could barely meet her eyes.
Salvatore started laughing again as federal agents dragged him toward the doors.
Evelyn shouted.
“What does this mean?”
Thomas finally looked at her.
“Thomas Carter was not your biological father.”
The entire warehouse seemed to go silent.
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Thomas continued.
“Your mother was already pregnant when I agreed to raise you.”
Evelyn stared at Vittorio Moretti’s face in the photograph.
Then slowly looked at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo had gone completely still.
Evelyn’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“No.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Salvatore called from the doorway.
“Ask her who her father was, Lorenzo.”
Lorenzo turned toward him.
Salvatore smiled.
Then looked directly at Evelyn.
“Ask her why Vittorio Moretti paid Thomas Caruso to disappear with a newborn girl.”
Evelyn could hear her own heartbeat.
Thomas whispered.
“Evelyn.”
She backed away.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Thomas said nothing.
“Tell me.”
Still nothing.
Evelyn looked at Lorenzo.
The man whose life she had saved with a cocktail napkin.
The man her father had warned her never to trust.
The man whose father stood beside her mother on the day she was born.
Lorenzo looked down at the photograph.
Then at Evelyn.
Outside, Chicago was waking to the largest corruption scandal in its history.
Salvatore Moretti was in federal custody.
Arthur Vane was dead.
Celeste had lost her father, her engagement, and the last illusion she had about her family.
Thomas Caruso had returned from the dead.
The Circle was beginning to collapse.
But Evelyn suddenly understood that the story had never started with the engagement dinner.
It had started thirty-two years earlier.
With Vittorio Moretti.
With Evelyn’s mother.
And with a secret someone had murdered, lied, and burned half of Chicago to protect.
Thomas finally opened his mouth.
“There is one person who can prove who your real father was.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward the river.
“A woman everyone believes died the same year Vittorio did.”
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
Thomas whispered her name.
May you like
And Lorenzo Moretti went white.
TOBE CONTINUED
