Chapter 5 - The Price of Silence
Vincent moved in front of Scarlet.
Bellini smiled.
“Still predictable.”
Vincent’s gun remained lowered beside his leg.
“Anthony.”
“Vincent.”
Scarlet stood behind him, barely breathing.
Tony hovered near the door.
The swagger Scarlet had endured for months was gone.
He looked terrified.
Vincent noticed.
That mattered.
Bellini was in control.
Tony was merely trapped in the machinery he had helped build.
“Give me the notebook,” Vincent said.
Bellini laughed.
“You think this is about stolen steaks?”
“No.”
“Good. I’d hate to die disappointed in you.”
Scarlet whispered, “Die?”
Vincent ignored the word.
“What does Rizzo want?”
Bellini’s smile vanished.
Tony looked sharply toward him.
That confirmed everything.
Bellini had been feeding information to Salvatore Rizzo.
Restaurant deliveries provided perfect camouflage. Trucks moved across the city every day without attracting attention. Magnolia had become a quiet transfer point for money, documents, and intelligence stolen from Vincent’s organization.
Scarlet had discovered discrepancies accidentally.
The notebook could prove enough to unravel the operation.
“You should’ve stayed away from legitimate business,” Bellini said. “You got soft.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“People have been saying that for years.”
“And eventually they’ll be right.”
Bellini raised his gun.
A crash erupted from the dining room.
The lights died.
Scarlet felt Vincent seize her hand.
“Down.”
Two deafening shots followed.
She dropped behind a steel counter.
Vincent disappeared into darkness.
There were footsteps.
A grunt.
Glass breaking.
Then silence.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Bellini was gone.
Tony lay on the floor holding his bleeding shoulder.
Marco entered with two men.
“Bellini escaped through the alley.”
Vincent looked at Tony.
“Leave him.”
Tony’s face went white.
“Vincent, wait.”
Scarlet stared.
Tony knew.
Of course he knew.
Everybody except her seemed to understand who Vincent really was.
Tony crawled backward.
“I can explain.”
Vincent crouched.
“Then explain.”
“Bellini made me do it.”
“You stole employee wages.”
“He told me—”
“You charged Scarlet for insurance that didn’t exist.”
Tony looked at her.
Vincent’s voice became frighteningly quiet.
“That was Bellini too?”
Tony said nothing.
Vincent stood.
Scarlet suddenly understood what might happen next.
“Vincent.”
He looked at her.
“Outside.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“This doesn’t concern you.”
“It absolutely concerns me.”
Tony’s face twisted.
“She’s why we’re in this mess!”
He lunged.
Everything happened at once.
Tony grabbed Scarlet.
Vincent struck him so fast she barely saw the movement.
Tony hit the floor.
Vincent stood over him.
The fury in his face terrified her.
“Vincent!”
He stopped.
Scarlet touched his arm.
“Enough.”
His breathing slowed.
For several seconds, the entire kitchen seemed suspended.
Then Vincent stepped away.
“Call the police,” Scarlet said.
Marco stared at her.
Tony actually laughed.
Vincent did not.
Scarlet looked at him.
“If you want me to believe you’re anything different from the men threatening us, call the police.”
“This isn’t how my world works.”
“Maybe that’s the problem.”
Vincent looked at Tony.
Then at Scarlet.
He took out his phone.
Marco’s eyebrows rose.
Vincent dialed.
Twenty minutes later, Tony Russo was taken away in an ambulance under police guard.
The evidence provided anonymously to investigators was enough to trigger a fraud investigation.
Scarlet watched the ambulance leave.
“You actually did it.”
Vincent stood beside her.
“You asked.”
“I didn’t think you listened to anyone.”
“I’m experimenting.”
Despite everything, she smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
“What happens now?”
“We find Bellini.”
“And then?”
Vincent did not answer.
Scarlet understood.
She wrapped her arms around herself.
“Your world scares me.”
“It should.”
“At least you’re honest about something.”
That hurt.
Vincent looked toward the street.
“I never intended to involve you.”
“You didn’t. Tony did. Bellini did. I did when I started writing things down.”
“You were trying to protect people.”
“I was trying to prove I wasn’t crazy.”
Vincent turned.
“You weren’t.”
Scarlet’s eyes filled unexpectedly.
“You have no idea what it means to hear that.”
He almost reached for her.
Almost.
Then Marco approached.
“We found the notebook.”
Scarlet blinked.
“What?”
“Bellini dropped it behind the restaurant.”
Marco handed it over.
Scarlet opened the cover.
Her handwritten columns were intact.
She exhaled.
Then her expression changed.
“There’s something in here that isn’t mine.”
A folded sheet had been inserted between the pages.
Vincent opened it.
It contained a list of dates and dollar amounts.
At the bottom was a name.
Dr. Samuel Hayes.
Scarlet went completely still.
“That’s my father.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You said he disappeared.”
“He did.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Vincent studied the dates.
The most recent payment had been made three weeks earlier.
Scarlet stared at the paper as though it were a ghost.
“My father is alive.”
Vincent said nothing.
Then Scarlet noticed the company attached to the payments.
Rizzo Medical Holdings.
Her eyes rose slowly to Vincent.
“What does Salvatore Rizzo have to do with my father?”
Vincent already feared the answer.
But Scarlet was not finished.
She pointed to another line.
A payment made to Chicago Mercy Hospital.
Milo’s hospital.
May you like
Scarlet’s voice cracked.
“Why is your enemy paying my brother’s medical bills?”
