Chapter 4 - The Night Leo Became a Rossi
Leo had been sixteen.
His father had ordered him to remain upstairs.
He didn’t.
That was the beginning.
The Rossi estate had looked different in 2008. Less glass. More dark wood. More men smoking indoors. Carlo Rossi was still strong then, still feared.
Daniel Moretti had arrived shortly after midnight.
He was bleeding.
He told Carlo that Vittorio had discovered the copied records.
He begged him to protect his wife and daughter.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Leo remembered hiding behind the staircase.
One of Vittorio’s men entered through the service corridor.
Daniel ran.
The gunman followed.
Leo found his father’s pistol inside an unlocked desk drawer.
He fired once.
The bullet struck the gunman in the back.
Leo had nightmares about the sound for years.
Daniel escaped that night.
Carlo buried the truth.
And Vittorio pretended to believe Daniel had disappeared with stolen money.
“Why didn’t your father expose Vittorio?” Tessa asked.
“Because half the people in those records belonged to Vittorio. Judges. Detectives. City officials. Carlo believed moving too soon would start a war.”
“So he did nothing.”
“He protected Daniel.”
“My father died.”
Leo accepted the accusation without defending Carlo.
“Yes.”
Tessa turned away.
She hated how complicated grief became when the dead stopped being simple.
Her father had lied about his name.
Leo’s father had helped him.
Leo had killed for him.
Vittorio may have murdered him.
And now eighteen years later, somebody had used Connor to reopen the entire story.
Marco examined the ledger.
Several pages had been removed.
“Not enough.”
Leo frowned.
“What?”
“If Vittorio is behind this, why attack Connor now?”
Tessa looked at the letter.
“My father said there were copies.”
Marco nodded.
“Exactly. Whoever staged Connor’s debt thinks Tessa has something else.”
Leo looked at her.
“Did your father ever give you anything unusual?”
“No.”
“Think.”
“I was eight.”
“Anything.”
Tessa closed her eyes.
Birthday presents.
School notebooks.
A cheap silver bracelet.
A stuffed rabbit.
Then she remembered.
“The music box.”
Leo waited.
“My father gave me a wooden music box the week before he died. My mother hated it.”
“Why?”
“She said it reminded her of him.”
“Where is it?”
Tessa’s face fell.
“Storage.”
They reached the storage facility forty minutes later.
The unit had already been opened.
Leo drew his weapon.
Tessa had never seen him move so quickly.
The door rose.
Everything inside had been overturned.
Boxes ripped open.
Furniture broken.
Her childhood belongings lay across the concrete.
Tessa rushed toward a damaged cardboard box.
The music box was gone.
Leo cursed.
Then they heard a noise.
Someone was behind them.
Marco turned.
A gunshot cracked through the building.
Leo grabbed Tessa and threw her behind a concrete pillar.
More shots.
Marco returned fire.
Tessa covered her ears.
Leo pressed his body between hers and the open aisle.
“Stay down.”
“You’re bleeding.”
A bullet had grazed his shoulder.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“Tessa.”
Another bullet struck concrete.
Dust exploded beside them.
Leo leaned around the pillar and fired twice.
A man collapsed.
The second attacker ran.
Marco pursued him.
Silence returned.
Tessa stared at Leo’s shoulder.
Blood spread through his white shirt.
Without thinking, she pressed both hands against the wound.
Leo looked down at her.
“You’re shaking.”
“Someone is shooting at us.”
“I noticed.”
“Stop saying that.”
For some reason, he almost smiled.
It was the wrong moment.
That made it worse.
Tessa tore fabric from the lining of her coat and pressed it against him.
Leo watched her hands.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“You got shot protecting me.”
“Occupational hazard.”
“What occupation? Terrifying housekeepers?”
His mouth moved again.
This time she knew it was a smile.
Then Marco returned dragging the surviving attacker.
The man was young.
Terrified.
Leo crouched despite his wound.
“Who sent you?”
The attacker spat blood.
Nobody answered.
Leo waited.
Silence was one of his weapons.
Finally the man whispered, “Vittorio.”
Tessa’s stomach dropped.
Leo’s face became stone.
“Where is he?”
The attacker laughed.
“You think this is about the old man?”
Leo’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“You still don’t understand.”
The man looked at Tessa.
“Her father didn’t hide the evidence from Vittorio.”
He smiled through bloody teeth.
“He hid it from Carlo Rossi.”
Leo froze.
May you like
The attacker leaned closer.
“Your father was the one Daniel Mercer was afraid of.”
