Chapter 4 - A DEAD MAN’S CONFESSION
Thomas Russo was dying on Callum’s dining table.
There were expensive places to die in Chicago.
This was probably one of them.
A crystal chandelier hung above Thomas while Dr. Levitt pressed gauze into the gunshot wound.
“Hospital,” Levitt said.
“No.”
“You’re bleeding internally.”
Thomas laughed weakly.
“Then I suppose we’ve identified the problem.”
Callum stood opposite him.
Seventeen years of questions sat between them.
“Who shot you?”
Thomas looked at his nephew.
“Same people who’ll kill you.”
“Names.”
“You always were Vittorio’s son.”
Callum leaned closer.
“Don’t use my father to insult me.”
Thomas smiled.
“That wasn’t an insult.”
Then he coughed blood.
Sadie entered despite Callum’s instructions.
He turned.
“I told you—”
Thomas saw her.
His face changed.
“Evelyn.”
Sadie stopped.
“My mother is dead.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“You knew her?”
“I loved her.”
Nobody spoke.
Sadie stared at him.
“What?”
Thomas’s breathing became ragged.
“Your mother was supposed to leave Chicago with me.”
Callum’s patience snapped.
“Start making sense.”
Thomas looked toward him.
“The Russo-Bellandi war was a lie.”
That silenced everyone.
Thomas explained.
Thirty years earlier, Vittorio Russo and Bellandi patriarch Lorenzo Bellandi had secretly created something called the Ledger.
Not an accounting book.
An insurance policy.
Photographs, bank records, police payments, judges, politicians, killings, property transfers.
Enough evidence to destroy half the organized crime structure of Chicago.
“They planned to leave the business,” Thomas whispered. “Take their legitimate assets and burn everything else.”
“What changed?” Sadie asked.
“Men who depended on the system discovered the plan.”
A consortium formed.
Politicians.
Police.
Businessmen.
Criminals.
The Ash Circle.
Three lines inside a circle.
Not a family symbol.
A warning.
“They murdered Lorenzo and blamed Vittorio,” Thomas continued. “Then they murdered Russo men and blamed the Bellandis. Within months, both families were killing each other.”
Callum felt sick.
His empire had been built upon a manufactured war.
“What does the painting contain?”
“A map to the Ledger.”
“And the key?”
Thomas looked at Sadie’s necklace.
“One of two.”
Sadie’s voice trembled.
“Who has the second?”
Thomas turned toward Callum.
“Your mother.”
Callum laughed.
“My mother died when I was six.”
“No.”
The room became silent.
Thomas looked almost apologetic.
“Your father told you she died.”
Callum’s hands slowly curled into fists.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thomas.”
“I swear.”
Callum grabbed him by the shirt.
Levitt protested.
Callum ignored him.
“WHERE IS SHE?”
Thomas winced.
“She disappeared because staying near you would have killed you.”
Callum released him.
He turned away.
The room tilted.
Sadie watched him carefully.
She understood something the others did not.
Callum Russo could survive bullets.
Betrayal was different.
Thomas whispered, “There’s more.”
Callum did not turn.
“Of course there is.”
“The second Bellandi daughter.”
Sadie moved closer.
“Who?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Evelyn had two children.”
Sadie shook her head.
“No.”
“She separated you after the fire.”
“Who is she?”
Thomas hesitated.
Then:
“Her name is Nora.”
Sadie went white.
Callum turned.
He knew that name.
Everyone in Chicago did.
Nora Bell.
Assistant State’s Attorney.
The prosecutor who had spent five years trying to put Callum Russo in prison.
Sadie laughed.
It came out broken.
“My sister is the woman trying to imprison him?”
Marco muttered, “Thanksgiving should be fun.”
Nobody laughed.
Thomas suddenly grabbed Callum’s wrist.
His strength was surprising.
“Listen.”
Callum leaned down.
“The Ledger isn’t money.”
“I understand.”
“No.”
Thomas’s eyes sharpened.
“You don’t.”
He whispered something into Callum’s ear.
Callum froze.
Thomas released him.
“What did he say?” Sadie asked.
Callum did not answer.
Thomas smiled faintly.
Then the monitors began screaming.
Levitt moved quickly.
“Thomas?”
No response.
“Thomas!”
His body convulsed once.
Then stopped.
Dr. Levitt checked his pulse.
Nothing.
Thomas Russo had finally died seventeen years after everyone buried him.
Sadie approached Callum.
“What did he tell you?”
Callum stared at his uncle.
“The Ledger contains the name of the person who ordered my father’s murder.”
Sadie waited.
“And?”
Callum looked at her.
“He said that person is still sitting at my table.”
Sadie slowly looked around.
Marco.
Dr. Levitt.
Two guards.
Herself.
Callum.
May you like
Someone in that room had betrayed Vittorio Russo.
And Callum had no idea who.
