Chapter 6 - When Chicago’s Monsters Turned on Their Own
Sofia was gone before Rachel’s team reached the Bronzeville building.
They found the chair from the video.
A camera.
Two empty coffee cups.
Nothing else.
But they found fingerprints belonging to Carlo Moretti.
Dante did not speak for almost ten minutes after Rachel confirmed it.
I watched his face close.
The man who had started to emerge on the porch disappeared behind the reputation again.
“What will Carlo do?” I asked.
“Whatever protects Carlo.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“It’s the only answer I have.”
The plan changed.
We would still go to the Black Vault.
Now we had to assume Victor knew everything Dante knew.
Every tunnel.
Every camera.
Every hidden exit.
The only advantage remaining was me.
Victor still believed I was frightened enough to trade the flash drive for my life.
That part did not require acting.
At 8:47 the next evening, I stood outside the cathedral in a black coat.
Underneath, I wore a simple dark dress.
No server uniform.
No silver tray.
No costume that made me feel invisible.
Dante stood beside me.
“You can still walk away.”
“So can you.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It is. You just don’t believe it.”
His eyes held mine.
Then he opened his palm.
Inside was a tiny earpiece.
“Rachel will hear everything.”
I inserted it.
“And you?”
“I’ll be near you.”
“How near?”
“As near as Victor allows.”
“That makes me feel much better.”
“It shouldn’t.”
I rolled my eyes.
He almost smiled.
Then we entered.
The Black Vault looked different without waitstaff.
No music.
No auction displays.
No paintings.
Only thirty men and women seated around tables.
Some I recognized from the night before.
Others wore the blank expressions of people accustomed to secrecy.
Victor stood on the stage.
Sofia sat beside him.
Alive.
She looked furious rather than frightened.
I immediately understood why Dante loved her.
Victor smiled when he saw us.
“Elena Reyes.”
Dante moved half a step closer.
Victor noticed.
“Dante. Always dramatic.”
“Release my sister.”
“No greetings?”
“No.”
Victor sighed.
“Your father had the same flaw. Always rushing to the unpleasant part.”
My hands curled.
“You knew my father.”
“I employed him.”
“You threatened him.”
“I paid him.”
“You used him.”
Victor smiled.
“That is what employment is, depending on the salary.”
I remembered Dante’s lesson.
Silence.
Do not rush to fill it.
I stared at Victor.
He waited.
I waited longer.
His smile faded slightly.
Good.
Finally, he spoke.
“Do you have my drive?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
I removed a flash drive from my coat.
Victor gestured.
A guard approached.
Dante stepped between us.
Victor lifted one eyebrow.
“She is capable of handing a man a USB drive.”
“She is.”
Dante looked at me.
His way of reminding everyone the choice was mine.
I stepped around him and placed the drive into the guard’s hand.
Victor nodded approvingly.
“Much better.”
The guard inserted it into a laptop.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
Then he nodded.
Victor relaxed.
“Sofia.”
He gestured.
The man behind Sofia untied her hands.
She stood.
Dante moved forward.
Victor raised one finger.
“Not yet.”
Sofia stopped.
Dante’s entire body tightened.
“You have the drive.”
“And you have questions.”
Victor looked at me.
“Don’t you?”
I did.
Rachel’s voice was barely audible in my ear.
Keep him talking.
I stepped closer.
“My father copied your records.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you kill him?”
Dante’s eyes flashed toward me.
Victor smiled.
“Straight to murder.”
“Did you?”
Silence.
He studied me.
Then shrugged.
“Your father had a weak heart.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He also had a weak character.”
Anger burned through me.
“That still isn’t an answer.”
Victor walked closer.
“No, Elena. I did not personally kill your father.”
Personally.
The word mattered.
“Who did?”
Victor glanced toward Dante.
I followed his gaze.
Dante’s face went hard.
Then a man stepped from the shadows beside the stage.
Carlo Moretti.
Older than Dante.
Same dark eyes.
Same controlled posture.
But where Dante’s silence felt guarded, Carlo’s felt cold.
Dante whispered, “Uncle.”
Carlo sighed.
“You were always too sentimental.”
Sofia looked at him with naked disgust.
“You took me.”
“I made sure nobody hurt you.”
“You kidnapped me.”
“For the family.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“There it is. The excuse men use when they want gratitude for ruining your life.”
Even Victor looked amused.
Dante stepped forward.
“Did you kill Rafael Reyes?”
My father’s name sounded strange in his mouth.
Carlo did not answer.
Victor did.
“Rafael had become unreliable.”
I felt dizzy.
“How?”
“He wanted to become a good man after decades of being useful.”
Victor looked at me.
“You inspired that, apparently.”
I hated that sentence.
My father’s redemption was not my responsibility.
Neither were his sins.
“What did Carlo do?”
Carlo finally spoke.
“I warned him.”
Dante stared.
“You went to his house.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He panicked.”
My throat tightened.
“He had a heart attack?”
Carlo nodded.
“I left.”
“You left him dying?”
“He was already dead for all practical purposes.”
My body went cold.
Dante moved.
Fast.
He crossed half the space before I caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
Every eye turned toward me.
Dante looked down.
“Not yet.”
He understood.
Rachel needed the record.
Victor needed to keep talking.
Carlo smiled.
“The waitress has better discipline than you.”
Dante’s jaw clenched.
I stepped in front of him.
“Why the debt?”
Victor answered.
“Your father hid something. We needed you scared enough to lead us to it.”
“You forged documents.”
“No. Your father convinced you to sign them.”
The truth cut deeper because it was partly true.
“But you turned them into a threat.”
“Yes.”
“You hired me for the Black Vault.”
“Marco did.”
“Because you ordered him.”
“Yes.”
“Why bring me here if you could search my apartment?”
Victor smiled.
“Because fear makes people reveal what searches cannot.”
I remembered my phone.
The warning.
My realization about the music box.
“You expected me to lead you to it.”
“Eventually.”
I had.
But they had not followed me because Rachel’s agents had blocked surveillance.
Victor continued.
“Your father believed Dante could protect you.”
His smile widened.
“He underestimated how predictable Dante becomes when he cares about someone.”
Dante’s eyes moved to me.
My heart skipped.
Victor noticed.
Of course he noticed.
“Interesting.”
He stepped closer.
“So that part happened faster than expected.”
“Leave her out of this,” Dante said.
“There. Predictable.”
Victor turned toward the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you came tonight because I promised you information.”
Rachel’s voice sharpened in my ear.
This is it.
Victor continued.
“Names of witnesses. Investigators. Informants. People capable of threatening businesses represented in this room.”
My skin crawled.
He gestured toward the laptop.
“And now we have the final archive.”
Dante stared at the screen.
Victor smiled.
“Bidding begins at five million.”
No one moved.
Then one man lifted a paddle.
“Five.”
Another voice.
“Six.”
The auction was happening.
They were bidding on lives.
Rachel now had evidence of conspiracy from everyone participating.
But we still needed Sofia free.
I looked at her.
She was watching me.
Then very subtly, she moved her right hand.
Two fingers.
Toward the floor.
I followed her gaze.
A small metal object rested beside her chair.
A scalpel.
Of course.
Doctor.
She must have hidden it.
Her bindings had been cut.
Now she had access.
I looked at Dante.
Then back at Sofia.
He noticed.
So did Carlo.
“What are you looking at?”
Everything happened at once.
Sofia kicked the chair backward into the guard.
Dante lunged.
I dropped.
Victor shouted.
The lights went out.
Not an accident this time.
Rachel.
Emergency lights flashed.
Men rushed toward exits.
Federal agents entered through the service corridor.
“FBI! Do not move!”
Somebody grabbed my coat.
I twisted free.
A gunshot cracked overhead.
Marble shattered near the wall.
Dante appeared in front of me.
“Down!”
“I am down!”
“Stay there!”
“That was the plan!”
Even now, Gabriel later told me, I sounded annoyed.
Sofia reached us.
“Dante!”
He caught her.
For half a second, brother and sister held each other.
Then Sofia pushed him away.
“Emotional reunion later.”
Definitely his sister.
Rachel appeared.
“Elena, move!”
I started toward her.
Then I saw Victor.
He was escaping through the tapestry behind table seven.
The same table where I had been grabbed.
“Rachel!”
She followed my gaze.
“Damn it.”
Dante saw him too.
He ran.
I followed.
“Elena, no!”
That was Rachel.
Then Dante.
Then probably Sofia.
I ignored all three.
The tapestry hid a service tunnel.
Victor was already halfway down.
Dante caught him near a steel door.
Victor turned with a pistol.
I froze.
Dante froze too.
Victor smiled.
“There he is.”
His gun stayed aimed at Dante.
“The man everyone fears.”
Dante slowly lifted his hands.
“Let Elena go back.”
Victor glanced at me.
“She followed you.”
“She does that.”
“Unfortunately.”
I almost objected.
Wrong moment.
Victor’s finger tightened.
Then another voice came from behind us.
“Put it down.”
Carlo.
For one ridiculous second, I thought he had changed sides.
Then I saw his gun was pointed at me.
Dante’s face changed.
“Uncle.”
Carlo looked almost sad.
“I’m sorry.”
I believed he meant it.
That somehow made it worse.
“Rafael’s daughter was always the loose end.”
Dante took one step toward me.
Victor aimed higher.
“Don’t.”
Dante stopped.
Carlo looked at me.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
The words hit me differently than he intended.
For three years, I had survived by disappearing.
Serving.
Avoiding attention.
Accepting threats.
Paying a debt that was never mine because fear told me silence was safer.
Not anymore.
I looked at Dante.
He read something in my face.
His eyes widened slightly.
I moved.
Not toward Carlo.
Toward the emergency alarm mounted beside me.
I slammed my palm against it.
A steel fire door dropped from the ceiling between Carlo and Victor.
Victor shouted.
Dante lunged.
Carlo fired, but the bullet struck steel.
Rachel’s agents rushed into the corridor behind us.
“Drop it!”
Carlo turned.
Too late.
Three agents surrounded him.
On the other side of the fire door, I heard Dante struggling with Victor.
Then silence.
“Dante!”
No answer.
My blood went cold.
I ran toward the small inspection window.
Victor was on the floor.
Dante stood above him.
Victor’s weapon was several feet away.
For one second, Dante stared down at the man responsible for years of violence, my father’s death, Sofia’s kidnapping, and everything else.
He could have ended him.
Nobody in that tunnel would have been surprised.
Instead, Dante stepped away.
When agents raised the fire door, he looked at Rachel.
“Take him.”
Victor laughed from the floor.
“Is that mercy?”
Dante looked down at him.
“No.”
His voice was calm again.
“It’s consequence.”
Agents handcuffed Victor.
Carlo followed minutes later.
I leaned against the wall.
My entire body started shaking now that it was over.
Dante approached slowly.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“I specifically told you not to.”
“You’ve been telling me not to do things for two days.”
“One of these days you may consider listening.”
“Unlikely.”
He stopped in front of me.
Neither of us smiled.
Because suddenly we understood.
We had survived.
He lifted one hand but did not touch me.
“May I?”
I nodded.
He pulled me against him.
Not like the first night.
No audience mattered.
No claim.
I held him just as tightly.
Then Rachel’s phone rang.
Her expression changed as she listened.
“What?” I asked.
She looked at us.
“Cross is gone.”
My relief disappeared.
“Gone where?”
“He never reported to headquarters.”
Dante released me.
Rachel continued.
“And according to airport records, a private aircraft filed a flight plan under one of Victor’s companies twenty minutes ago.”
“Destination?” Dante asked.
Rachel looked at him.
“Canada.”
I understood immediately.
Victor and Carlo were captured.
But the corrupt federal official who could destroy the entire case was escaping.
The Black Vault was finished.
The war wasn’t.
May you like
Not yet.
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