Chapter 6 - The Warehouse in the Snow
Leo wanted Mia to remain at home.
Mia refused.
“You don't get to uncover the truth about my family and then lock me away from it.”
“Someone may have killed for this secret.”
“Someone may have killed my father. Someone may have lied about my mother. I'm not sitting in my apartment while you decide which parts of my life I'm allowed to understand.”
Leo stared at her for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
“Fine. But you stay with Paulie and Declan, and if either of them tells you to leave, you leave.”
“I'm not promising to enjoy that arrangement.”
“Neither am I.”
They reached the warehouse just before sunset. Snow drifted across the cracked pavement, and the old building stood beside the river like a forgotten monument to the family's past.
Declan checked the entrance while Paulie examined the surrounding street.
Leo unlocked the side door with a key Arthur had provided.
Inside, dust covered the floor. Rusted machinery stood beneath torn tarps. The air smelled of damp wood, metal, and something faintly chemical.
Mia followed Leo down a narrow corridor.
“This place looks like it hasn't been used in years.”
“It hasn't been used openly.”
He stopped at a metal door near the back.
The lock had been replaced recently.
Leo drew his weapon.
Mia's heart lurched.
“Is that necessary?”
“Yes.”
He opened the door.
Beyond it lay a small office containing a desk, two filing cabinets, and a wall covered in old photographs.
Leo moved through the room with deliberate caution. Declan checked the rear exit while Paulie examined the desk.
Mia noticed a photograph pinned to the wall.
Her mother stood beside a younger Arthur Bellini and a man Mia had never seen before. The man had dark hair, a strong jaw, and a faint silver scar near his left eyebrow.
He looked remarkably like Leo.
On the back of the photograph was a name.
Daniel Sullivan.
Mia reached toward it.
A noise sounded behind the filing cabinets.
Leo spun around.
“Who's there?”
A man stepped into view, holding a flashlight.
He was older, with a gray beard and a limp. His eyes widened when he saw Leo.
“Mr. Castiglione.”
“Who are you?”
“Michael Dorsey. I used to maintain this property.”
“Who has been paying the taxes?”
Dorsey hesitated.
Leo took one step forward.
“Answer.”
“Someone from the family office. I never met him. He left instructions to keep the building untouched.”
“Who gave you those instructions?”
“I don't know.”
Mia moved toward the desk and noticed a small wooden box tucked beneath it. Inside were letters, an old pocket watch, and a cassette tape labeled with a date from twenty-five years earlier.
The date matched the night Daniel Sullivan died.
“Leo.”
He turned.
Mia held up the tape.
For the first time since they entered the warehouse, Leo looked genuinely shaken.
They found an old recorder in the filing cabinet. After several attempts, it crackled to life.
A man's voice filled the room.
Vittorio Castiglione.
“If you are hearing this, then I have failed to protect Elena's child. Daniel discovered the truth about the shipping accounts. He intended to expose the men who were using our legitimate businesses to move money for the syndicate. I ordered him to leave Chicago. I believed it would be enough.”
A long pause followed.
Then Vittorio continued.
“It was not enough. The order came from someone closer to the family than I realized.”
The tape hissed.
Mia gripped Leo's arm.
“Who?”
The recording continued.
“Daniel was killed before he could deliver the records. Elena believed the child would be next. I helped Evelyn take her away. But the man responsible has never stopped searching.”
A sudden crash echoed from the corridor.
Declan shouted, “Movement!”
Leo pulled Mia behind the desk as gunfire shattered a window.
Paulie returned fire from the doorway. Declan dragged Dorsey to the floor.
“Get her out!” Leo shouted.
He grabbed the tape and shoved it into Mia's coat pocket.
They ran toward the rear exit, but headlights flared outside.
Two black vehicles blocked the alley.
Men emerged from the snow.
Leo stopped dead.
One of the men stepped forward and removed his gloves.
Mia recognized him immediately.
Greg Henderson.
The former grocery manager smiled at her through the falling snow.
“Hello, Miss Sullivan.”
Leo raised his weapon.
Greg looked directly at Mia.
“Your mother should have stayed quiet. Now, if you want to know who killed your father, you'll have to come with me.”
Then he lifted his hand.
May you like
A gunshot exploded in the darkness.
And Leo fell to one knee.
