Chapter 5 - The Dinner TrapThree days later, Molly returned to Crimson and Steel.
Gerardo hated the idea.
That was one reason she did it.
The other was simpler.
She needed Salvatore to believe she was still vulnerable.
The restaurant had never felt stranger.
Everyone knew something had changed between the feared man in the corner booth and the waitress who refused to fear him.
Rumors multiplied.
Some said Molly was his mistress.
Others said she was an undercover agent.
The dishwasher believed she had hypnotized him.
Molly preferred that explanation.
At nine, Gerardo arrived.
He deliberately sat in her section.
She approached.
“Wine?”
“Coffee.”
She stared at him.
“Are you sick?”
“I have meetings.”
“I've seen you drink cognac before threatening people.”
“I don't threaten people.”
“You're right. You stare until they develop medical problems.”
Gerardo’s mouth twitched.
Then his eyes shifted past her shoulder.
A warning.
Molly felt it before she saw him.
Salvatore Romani entered the restaurant.
He was sixty-eight, silver-haired, elegant, and smiling.
The room greeted him differently than Gerardo.
Gerardo inspired silence.
Salvatore inspired performance.
People rushed to shake his hand.
That made Molly distrust him immediately.
He approached her.
“Molly Warner.”
She kept the tray between them.
“You know my name.”
“I knew your father.”
“So I'm discovering.”
Salvatore looked wounded.
“James was my friend.”
“Funny. Mom's notes weren't very friendly.”
His smile flickered.
Gerardo stood.
“Sit somewhere else, Uncle.”
Salvatore ignored him.
“I wanted to offer my condolences, Molly.”
“Seventeen years late.”
“I was told you died in the fire.”
“Disappointing, wasn't it?”
Gerardo's eyes moved to her.
She knew that look.
Careful.
Salvatore laughed.
“You have your father's courage.”
“My father ended up dead.”
The laughter stopped.
Then Salvatore leaned closer.
“You should be careful which stories you believe.”
“Especially yours?”
Gerardo stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Salvatore looked at his nephew.
“You always did mistake possession for protection.”
Molly saw Gerardo’s jaw tighten.
Salvatore had found the wound.
“She's not mine,” Gerardo said.
The words should not have mattered.
But they did.
Because he meant them.
Molly was not property.
Not a witness he owned.
Not a woman he could command.
Salvatore seemed disappointed by the answer.
He walked away.
Molly whispered, “He came here to scare me.”
“No.”
Gerardo watched his uncle.
“He came here to see whether I care about you.”
Molly's stomach dropped.
“And?”
“He got his answer.”
Before she could respond, the fire alarm sounded.
Customers rose.
Then the lights died.
Gerardo grabbed Molly's hand.
“Kitchen exit.”
Smoke began pouring from the hallway.
Not fire.
A diversion.
Molly understood instantly.
“Ledger.”
Gerardo looked at her.
The original ledger was inside his penthouse safe.
But they had brought a copied page to the restaurant as bait.
It was upstairs in Gerardo’s office.
“Stay here.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Molly.”
“Stop saying my name like it's a court order.”
She ran upstairs.
Gerardo cursed and followed.
The office door was open.
Someone was already inside.
Arthur Keane.
The deputy commissioner stood beside the desk holding the copied page.
Molly froze.
Keane smiled.
“Your father was just as stubborn.”
Gerardo appeared behind her.
Keane reached for his weapon.
Molly grabbed a heavy brass lamp and threw it.
The lamp struck Keane’s wrist.
His gun fell.
Gerardo crossed the room in seconds.
Keane slammed against the wall.
Gerardo's fist drew back.
“Don't,” Molly said.
He stopped.
Keane laughed.
“She owns you already.”
Gerardo looked at Molly.
“No.”
He lowered his fist.
“She reminds me I can choose.”
Police sirens approached.
Not Keane’s people.
An assistant district attorney Gerardo had quietly contacted was arriving with federal investigators.
Keane’s smile vanished.
The copied ledger page was enough to open a formal investigation.
Not enough to destroy Salvatore.
But enough to begin.
As agents handcuffed Keane, he looked at Molly.
“You think your father was innocent?”
Molly stiffened.
“He didn't tell you everything.”
“What?”
Keane smiled.
“He started the fire.”
Molly lunged toward him.
Gerardo caught her.
Keane was dragged away laughing.
For the first time since the nightmare began, Molly truly broke.
“My father wouldn't—”
“I know.”
“You don't know anything.”
“No.”
Gerardo held her shoulders.
“But Keane wanted that reaction.”
She stared at him.
“You believe the tape?”
“I believe evidence.”
“And me?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
The answer was immediate enough to frighten them both.
Then Marco appeared in the doorway.
His face was white.
“Boss.”
Gerardo turned.
“The penthouse was hit during the alarm.”
“The ledger?”
Marco swallowed.
“Gone.”
Molly closed her eyes.
Their strongest evidence had vanished.
May you like
And only six people had known where it was.
One of them had betrayed Gerardo.
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