Chapter 6 - The Father Behind the Funeral
Elena did not deny it.
That frightened Luca more than Vittorio's accusation.
“Tell me he's lying.”
Elena looked at Sofia.
“Not here.”
Luca turned to Clara.
“Take Sofia upstairs.”
Sofia refused to release her mother.
Elena kissed her forehead.
“I'll come find you.”
“You promise?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“I promise.”
Clara took Sofia away.
When the door closed, Luca faced his wife.
“Talk.”
Elena sat down.
“My father knew about Vittorio's operation before I did.”
“How?”
“Because he helped create it.”
The Russo and Moretti families had been rivals before Luca and Elena married.
Their marriage was supposed to end decades of hostility.
Instead, Daniel Russo saw it as an opportunity.
He and Vittorio formed a secret partnership.
Vittorio stole from the Moretti empire.
Daniel moved the money.
Adrian discovered it first.
That was why he had to disappear.
Years later Elena discovered the same trail.
“When my father realized I knew, he came to me.”
“And helped you escape.”
“At first.”
She looked at Luca.
“The car crash was supposed to frighten me into silence. Daniel arranged a replacement body and bribed the coroner. He said he'd expose Vittorio once I was safe.”
“But?”
“He never intended to.”
Daniel needed Elena alive because she possessed part of Adrian's evidence.
Vittorio needed her dead.
So Daniel hid his daughter while quietly negotiating with Vittorio.
For four years Elena had been moved from city to city.
Every time she attempted to contact Luca, Daniel's people found out.
Until she escaped six months earlier.
“Why not come directly here?”
“Because I still didn't know who inside this house worked for them.”
Luca glanced at Marco.
Marco looked ashamed.
“Then why send Clara?”
“I didn't.”
Everyone went still.
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
“I knew Margaret had a daughter. I knew she might eventually find the Boston box. But I never contacted Clara.”
Luca felt the puzzle rearranging itself.
“Then somebody made sure she came here.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Elena didn't know.
Marco pulled up Clara's employment records.
Her application had been submitted through Sterling Domestic Services.
The recommendation letter came from an executive named Rebecca Hale.
Rebecca did not exist.
But the phone number attached to her account had made one call six weeks earlier.
To Daniel Russo.
Luca stared at the screen.
“Daniel sent Clara.”
“Why?” Adrian asked.
Elena suddenly understood.
“The song.”
They looked at her.
“Daniel knew the evidence was protected by the melody, but he never knew the full sequence. I changed it after I disappeared.”
“So he sent Clara here because she knew your song,” Luca said.
“And Sofia knew the rest.”
Daniel had been trying to bring the two halves of the code together.
Without exposing himself.
Clara and Sofia weren't random.
They were keys.
Luca's phone rang.
Daniel Russo.
Luca answered on speaker.
“Daniel.”
“My boy.”
Luca nearly crushed the phone.
“Don't call me that.”
Daniel sighed.
“So Elena finally came home.”
“You let me bury your daughter.”
“I kept her alive.”
“You kept her prisoner.”
“I kept all of you alive.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Where's Vittorio?”
Daniel laughed.
“You still think Vittorio matters?”
“Where is he?”
“With me.”
That surprised everyone.
Then Daniel said, “Bring Sofia and Clara to the old Saint Augustine Hotel tomorrow at noon.”
Luca's expression became murderous.
“No.”
“Then you'll never receive the final ledger.”
“I don't care about your ledger.”
“You should.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“Because it contains every police officer, judge and politician who helped us.”
He paused.
“And the name of the person who ordered the hit on your father twenty-three years ago.”
Luca froze.
His father had supposedly died during a robbery.
Daniel continued.
“You've spent your life avenging the wrong things, Luca.”
The call ended.
Adrian immediately said, “We're not taking Clara or Sofia anywhere.”
“Agreed.”
Elena looked at Luca.
“Daniel expects you to come anyway.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
Luca's expression hardened.
“We give him exactly what he expects.”
The next morning, Saint Augustine Hotel looked abandoned.
It wasn't.
Luca's men surrounded the property from three blocks away.
Marco entered through the basement.
Adrian covered the roof.
Luca walked through the front door alone.
Daniel waited in the ballroom.
Vittorio sat beside him.
Both men were unarmed.
Apparently.
Daniel smiled.
“Where are the girls?”
“Safe.”
“Then you've wasted my time.”
“No.”
Luca placed Sofia's stuffed rabbit on the table.
Daniel's eyes locked onto it.
There it was.
Greed.
“The code is inside?”
“Maybe.”
Vittorio laughed.
“You were always too sentimental, Luca.”
Luca looked at his uncle.
“And you were always too confident.”
Daniel picked up the rabbit.
Nothing happened.
Then Elena's voice echoed from speakers hidden throughout the ballroom.
“Hello, Father.”
Daniel spun around.
Police sirens erupted outside.
Not Moretti-controlled police.
Federal agents.
Elena had spent four years building a case beyond Chicago.
Daniel's face collapsed.
Vittorio ran.
Adrian emerged from a side door and tackled him.
Daniel reached for a hidden gun.
Luca fired first.
The bullet struck Daniel's shoulder.
He fell screaming.
Within minutes, federal agents flooded the ballroom.
Vittorio was handcuffed.
Daniel was bleeding but alive.
Luca walked toward him.
Daniel smiled through the pain.
“You think you won?”
Luca said nothing.
Daniel whispered, “Ask Elena where the real Sofia is.”
Luca froze.
Behind him, Elena went completely still.
Daniel laughed.
“The little girl in your house isn't the child Elena was protecting in Boston.”
Luca turned toward his wife.
“Elena?”
Tears filled her eyes.
May you like
And Luca knew immediately.
Daniel had just revealed the secret she still hadn't told him.
