Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE
The emergency lights made Marino Tower look like a crime scene before anyone had committed a crime.
Emily hated the color red.
It made spreadsheets harder to read.
She crouched beneath the reception desk while Dante’s security team cleared offices one by one.
Vincent remained inside the conference room.
Victor Novak had been moved to a secure holding area.
Sal had somehow acquired a sandwich despite Emily’s earlier prohibition.
Dante stood beside the private elevator holding a weapon.
Emily looked at him.
“You know, statistically, there are easier workplaces.”
“Leave.”
“No.”
“This is not negotiable.”
“You say that a lot for someone who keeps losing the argument.”
His eyes narrowed.
Emily returned to her laptop.
Someone was attempting to delete the Clara archive.
The attack originated from inside the Marino network.
Whoever it was knew administrator credentials.
Michael Baresi knew them.
So did Emily.
So did Dante.
And, unfortunately, several IT administrators who were now being escorted into conference rooms by armed men.
Emily opened system logs.
The intruder had bypassed two-factor authentication using a backup token generated in 2017.
“Nobody deletes anything,” she muttered.
Dante looked back.
“What?”
“Old credentials.”
“Whose?”
“Finding out.”
The token ID appeared.
MGM-002.
Emily stared.
“What?”
She turned the screen.
“The account holder initials are G.M.”
Dante’s face tightened.
“Gabriel Marino.”
“Yes.”
“That account should have been deleted fourteen years ago.”
“It wasn’t.”
A gunshot sounded from the far hallway.
Dante moved instantly.
“Stay here.”
“Gladly.”
He disappeared with two guards.
Emily stayed exactly seven seconds.
Then she followed.
Not because she wanted to participate in an armed confrontation.
Because the intruder was inside the finance department.
And if someone destroyed her quarterly backup system after she had spent three consecutive Sundays reorganizing it, violence was going to become the least of their problems.
She reached the finance corridor.
A man lay unconscious near the copy room.
Alive.
Dante’s men were moving toward the records vault.
The door stood open.
Someone was inside.
Dante raised one hand.
His men stopped.
A voice came from behind the shelves.
“You always did rush into rooms.”
Dante froze.
An older man stepped into view.
Gabriel Marino looked enough like Dante’s father that Emily understood immediately why Dante seemed unable to breathe.
Same dark eyes.
Same broad forehead.
Same hard line around the mouth.
But Gabriel carried fourteen years of scars.
One side of his neck was burned.
His left hand curled partially inward.
He wore no expensive suit.
Only a black coat over a gray shirt.
Dante lowered his weapon half an inch.
“You died.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Apparently not.”
“I saw the body.”
“You saw a body.”
Dante’s expression became colder.
“My father buried you.”
“My brother buried what he was told was left of me.”
“Why?”
Gabriel looked toward Emily.
“Because Vincent needed everyone to believe the warehouse fire had solved a problem.”
Dante’s eyes shifted.
“Vincent?”
“Not exactly.”
Emily stepped forward.
Dante glared at her.
She ignored him.
“Then who?”
Gabriel’s gaze settled on her.
“You’re Emily.”
“How does everyone know my name?”
“You’re very popular today.”
“I’m beginning to miss obscurity.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
Then he looked at Dante.
“Michael Baresi found me twelve years ago.”
Dante frowned.
“Why?”
“Because your father’s money was never meant only for you.”
Gabriel explained.
Giuseppe had planned to divide the escape fund among legitimate trusts, employee pensions, and reparations for several families harmed by Marino operations.
Michael Baresi helped construct the financial network.
Gabriel discovered it.
At first, he wanted a portion.
Then he wanted all of it.
He threatened Giuseppe.
Two months later, Gabriel’s warehouse burned.
“I survived because one of my men pulled me through a loading tunnel.”
“Why not come back?”
“Because the police officer who found me received a call before the ambulance arrived.”
Gabriel’s eyes hardened.
“The caller knew which hospital I was going to.”
Emily understood.
“You thought there was someone inside law enforcement.”
“And inside the family.”
Gabriel nodded.
“So I died.”
“For fourteen years?”
“I watched.”
Dante’s anger erupted.
“You watched Clara die?”
Gabriel flinched.
“No.”
“You watched my father die?”
“He died naturally.”
“You watched me bury my wife and said nothing.”
“I tried to warn Clara.”
Dante’s face changed.
Gabriel continued.
“Victor carried the message for me.”
Dante glanced toward Emily.
The pieces moved into place.
Victor had not been Clara’s enemy.
He had been the messenger.
Gabriel said, “Clara found the financial theft. She learned Michael had been draining Giuseppe’s accounts.”
“Then Michael killed her.”
“I believe Michael ordered the bomb.”
“Believe?”
“He had help.”
“Who?”
Gabriel looked toward the red-lit corridor.
“I came here because Michael contacted me tonight.”
Emily frowned.
“Why?”
“He offered to trade the remaining account keys for protection.”
Dante’s voice became dangerous.
“And?”
“I told him to meet me downstairs.”
“Where is he?”
“He never arrived.”
Emily remembered the parking garage footage.
“Someone intercepted him.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Gabriel looked at Dante.
“The person Michael has been afraid of for nine years.”
Footsteps approached.
Vincent appeared at the end of the hallway.
Everyone raised weapons.
Vincent stopped.
“Easy.”
Gabriel’s face changed.
For the first time, Emily saw fear.
Vincent looked at him.
“Hello, Gabe.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“Vincent.”
Dante looked between them.
“You knew he was alive.”
Vincent did not answer.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
The confession landed quietly.
Dante took one step forward.
“Since when?”
“Fourteen years.”
Dante’s gun rose.
Emily moved closer.
“Dante.”
He did not look at her.
Vincent said, “I helped him disappear.”
Gabriel stared.
“You?”
“You thought the officer at the hospital was trying to locate you for Michael.”
Gabriel’s expression shifted.
Vincent continued.
“He was mine.”
“Why?”
“Because Michael had already paid two men to finish the job.”
Gabriel seemed genuinely stunned.
Vincent said, “I gave you a death certificate. A body. A route out.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were paranoid and angry.”
“That was fourteen years ago.”
“And you stayed paranoid and angry.”
Emily muttered, “He has a point.”
Dante turned.
She held up both hands.
“Bad timing.”
Vincent looked toward the archive terminal.
“Michael is the thread.”
Dante lowered the gun slightly.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily’s laptop chimed.
An incoming calendar invitation.
She stared.
The sender was Michael Baresi.
No subject.
Meeting location:
MARINO FAMILY MAUSOLEUM.
Tomorrow.
6:00 a.m.
Attached file.
Emily opened it.
A photograph.
Michael was sitting inside a stone room.
His face bruised.
A newspaper lay on his lap showing that day’s date.
Behind him stood a person wearing a dark coat.
The face had been deliberately cropped away.
Beneath the image were four words.
BRING CLARA’S ORIGINAL LEDGER.
Dante stared.
Emily zoomed in.
“What?”
“Reflection.”
A polished brass fixture on the mausoleum wall reflected part of the photographer.
A hand.
A ring.
Vincent leaned closer.
Dante stopped moving.
The ring displayed a gold crest.
A lion beneath a crown.
Emily looked at Dante.
“Meaning?”
Vincent answered.
“That ring belonged to Giuseppe Marino.”
Dante’s father.
Dante whispered, “I buried him wearing it.”
Nobody spoke.
Emily stared at the photograph again.
First Victor Novak returned from the dead.
Then Gabriel Marino.
Now someone possessed a ring buried nine years ago with Dante’s father.
She rubbed both temples.
“I swear to God, if Giuseppe walks into this office tomorrow, I’m charging the family an administrative resurrection fee.”
Dante looked at her.
His expression broke.
One brief laugh escaped him.
Then he caught himself.
Gabriel stared.
Vincent stared.
Emily sighed.
“Wonderful. Apparently trauma has made me funny.”
Dante’s gaze softened.
Only for a moment.
Then he looked back at the photograph.
“The mausoleum opens at six.”
Vincent shook his head.
“It’s a trap.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
“You’re going anyway.”
“Yes.”
Emily closed her laptop.
“So am I.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“We’ve covered this.”
Dante approached until only inches separated them.
“This time I mean it.”
“You meant it the other three times.”
“Emily.”
“Dante.”
His eyes dropped to hers.
The rest of the hallway disappeared.
“You could die.”
“So could you.”
“That’s different.”
“No.”
“It is to me.”
The words slipped out.
Dante realized it immediately.
Emily did too.
Neither moved.
Vincent suddenly found the ceiling fascinating.
Gabriel looked away.
Emily’s voice became quieter.
“You don’t get to decide that my life matters more than yours.”
Dante stared at her.
Nine years earlier, Clara had tried to teach him the same lesson.
He had not listened.
This time, slowly, he nodded.
“Stay beside me.”
Emily swallowed.
“Fine.”
“And wear the vest.”
“Fine.”
“And if I tell you to run—”
“I’ll evaluate the situation.”
His mouth almost moved.
“That is not what I said.”
“It is the best you’re getting.”
At 5:58 the next morning, Dante Marino walked into his family mausoleum with Emily Davies at his side.
The stone chamber was empty.
No Michael.
No kidnapper.
No sound.
Then Dante noticed the crypt belonging to his father.
The marble slab had been removed.
Inside—
the coffin was open.
May you like
And Giuseppe Marino’s body was gone.
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