Chapter 12 - The Man Above Grant
“Drop it.”
Voss turned toward Silvio.
Grant used the distraction instantly.
He shoved Ethan and Mia behind a desk and fired.
The bullet missed Voss.
Voss fired back.
Grant fell against the wall, clutching his side.
Lucinda ran toward the children.
Silvio moved between them and Voss.
Voss smiled.
“You always were Arturo’s difficult son.”
“You forged evidence against me.”
“I improved reality.”
“You blackmailed my father.”
“He was easy to blackmail.”
Silvio’s eyes darkened.
“You killed Mateo.”
“No.”
Voss shook his head.
“Grant killed Mateo.”
Grant groaned from the floor.
“You told me to make sure he couldn’t testify.”
Voss glanced at him.
“And you misunderstood a suggestion.”
“You said the problem needed to disappear.”
“I meant the evidence.”
Grant laughed despite the pain.
“Liar.”
Silvio saw Lucinda getting the children toward the maintenance door.
Voss saw it too.
He swung the gun toward them.
Silvio rushed him.
The shot went into the ceiling.
They crashed into a table.
Voss was older.
But desperate men could be dangerous.
He drove the pistol into Silvio’s ribs.
Silvio struck his wrist.
The gun slid across the floor.
Grant reached for it.
Lucinda kicked it away.
Grant looked up at her.
“You stupid woman.”
Lucinda stared at him.
“You tried to kill my brother’s children.”
“I did everything for you.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“You did everything through me.”
Grant reached for her ankle.
She stepped back.
Voss lunged toward the gun.
Silvio caught him and drove him into the wall.
Outside, police sirens finally approached.
Voss froze.
His expression changed.
“You called them.”
Silvio looked at him.
“I called everyone.”
The marina was surrounded.
Voss began laughing.
“You think this ends with me?”
Silvio said nothing.
“There are people who signed those transfers.”
“Bankers.”
“Lawyers.”
“Executives.”
“Your father built an empire on favors.”
“I built protection around those favors.”
Silvio tightened his grip.
“Then they can all start talking.”
Voss smiled.
“You won’t survive what comes out.”
“Maybe.”
Silvio looked toward Ethan and Mia.
“But they will.”
Police flooded the dockhouse.
Grant was arrested on the floor.
Voss was taken in handcuffs.
Lucinda stood with Ethan and Mia against her.
The children were shaking.
Silvio approached.
Ethan looked up.
“Is it over?”
Silvio wanted to say yes.
He almost did.
Then an officer entered carrying the brass key.
“We searched Voss.”
Silvio frowned.
“The key was on me.”
He checked his pocket.
Empty.
It must have fallen during the fight.
The officer handed it back.
Silvio looked toward the marina office.
Locker seventeen.
The original evidence.
The truth Arturo had hidden.
“Almost.”
Silvio took Ethan’s hand.
“We finish one thing first.”
They entered the marina office with detectives.
Locker seventeen was in the back row.
Silvio inserted the key.
The lock opened.
Inside sat a black document case.
A sealed envelope.
Three hard drives.
And a handwritten letter addressed to Silvio.
He opened the letter.
The first line stopped him.
SON, IF ETHAN HAS GIVEN YOU THIS KEY, THEN I FAILED TO KEEP MY PROMISE TO MATEO.
Silvio kept reading.
Then his face changed.
Because Arturo’s letter contained a final secret.
Mateo had known someone was stealing from the trust.
May you like
But Mateo had also discovered the Moretti empire itself had been built on a crime that went back thirty-one years.
And Arturo believed that if the truth ever surfaced, every Moretti asset could be seized.
