Chapter 8 - The Graveyard Confession
Rain fell over Saint Michael’s Cemetery.
Victor hated the place.
He had not visited Daniel’s grave in eleven years.
Now Norah walked beside him between wet headstones while Gabriel’s men remained beyond the gates.
Vincent had demanded Victor come with Norah alone.
Samuel knelt beside Daniel’s grave.
Vincent stood behind him.
He was seventy now.
Silver hair.
Camel coat.
A gentleman’s umbrella.
Nothing about him suggested murder.
Norah had learned not to trust appearances.
“Victor.”
Vincent smiled.
“You have Daniel’s posture.”
“Let Samuel go.”
“You always were impatient.”
Vincent looked at Norah.
“Evelyn was beautiful too.”
Norah’s skin crawled.
“You knew my mother.”
“Very well.”
Victor noticed the emphasis.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent smiled.
Then looked toward Samuel.
Norah understood first.
“No.”
Samuel lifted his head.
Vincent continued.
“Evelyn’s first son needed a father.”
Norah stared at Samuel.
Vincent Russo was his biological father.
Samuel went pale.
“You told me Vittorio—”
“I told you what made you useful.”
Samuel surged upward.
Vincent struck him with the gun.
Norah moved instinctively.
Victor caught her.
Vincent smiled.
“There she is. Evelyn all over again.”
“What happened to her?” Norah demanded.
“You know. Cancer.”
“You were watching her?”
“For years.”
“Why?”
“Because she had my son.”
Samuel looked shattered.
Vincent had known.
He had simply never claimed him.
“You left me,” Samuel whispered.
Vincent shrugged.
“Your mother made inconvenient choices.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Like helping Daniel expose you?”
Vincent’s smile faded.
There it was.
The final secret.
Vittorio had not ordered Daniel’s death.
Vincent had.
Daniel had discovered his uncle was stealing from the organization and laundering money through politicians.
Mercer sabotaged the car.
Vittorio learned the truth later.
Before he could retaliate, Vincent arranged his murder too.
Then Evelyn disappeared with the evidence.
Victor had spent half his life hating a dead father for the wrong crimes.
Vittorio had been brutal.
But Daniel’s murder was not one of them.
Vincent lifted the gun toward Victor.
“Your father was becoming sentimental. Daniel made him weak. Then you inherited everything that should have been mine.”
Norah saw Samuel’s hand moving.
Slowly.
Toward the gun hidden beneath Vincent’s coat.
Vincent noticed.
He fired.
Victor shoved Norah down.
The shot tore through his side.
“Victor!”
He collapsed.
Norah crawled toward him.
Vincent turned the weapon on her.
Samuel struck him from behind.
The gun flew.
Both men crashed against Daniel’s headstone.
Norah pressed her hands against Victor’s wound.
“Stay with me.”
His face had gone gray.
“Still think spilling wine was a good plan?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Shut up.”
“Very aggressive.”
“Victor.”
He smiled weakly.
“Norah.”
“What?”
“I meant it.”
“What?”
“When I said I loved you.”
Her face crumpled.
“You can tell me again when we’re home.”
Gunfire cracked behind them.
Norah covered Victor.
Then silence.
Gabriel came running through the rain.
Vincent lay wounded but alive.
Samuel had disarmed him.
Police entered moments later.
This time they were not Vincent’s officers.
Federal agents followed.
Norah barely noticed.
She rode inside the ambulance with Victor.
He lost consciousness halfway to the hospital.
For nine hours, Norah waited.
Fineian arrived despite medical orders.
Samuel came too.
Gabriel paced until a nurse threatened to remove him.
Finally, a surgeon entered.
Norah stood.
“He survived.”
Her knees nearly gave out.
The bullet had missed Victor’s liver and spine.
He would recover.
Norah entered his room shortly after sunrise.
Victor looked strangely ordinary beneath white hospital sheets.
No suit.
No guards.
No empire.
Just a tired man who had almost died.
His eyes opened.
“You’re here.”
“Where else would I be?”
He looked at her for several seconds.
Then at Fineian and Samuel standing through the glass.
“Your family is complicated.”
Norah laughed through tears.
“Says Victor Russo.”
“Fair.”
She sat beside him.
Victor reached beneath the blanket.
Norah frowned.
“What are you doing?”
He produced something.
A small velvet box.
Norah stared.
“You got shot carrying that?”
“I had plans.”
“You brought an engagement ring to a hostage exchange?”
“I’m efficient.”
She laughed so hard she cried.
Victor opened the box.
The diamond was simple.
Elegant.
“Norah Hastings.”
“No.”
His face fell.
She kissed him.
“I mean no, you are absolutely not proposing while drugged in a hospital bed.”
“I’m perfectly lucid.”
“You just asked the nurse whether Gabriel was a horse.”
Victor frowned.
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll fire him.”
“You can ask again when you can stand.”
Victor closed the box.
“Fine.”
Norah kissed his forehead.
He caught her wrist before she moved away.
“Then don’t go far.”
She intertwined their fingers.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Outside the room, Samuel smiled for the first time.
But down the corridor, two federal agents were approaching.
May you like
And they were not there for Vincent.
They were there for Victor.
