Chapter 5 - The Box Her Mother Hid for Fifteen YearsThe storage unit was in Somerville.
Dominic wanted to send Leo.
Chloe refused.
“If my mother left something with my name on it, I’m going.”
“It could be a trap.”
“Everything could be a trap.”
“That is not an argument.”
“It is when apparently my entire childhood was one.”
Dominic stared at her.
Chloe stared back.
Leo stood between them looking like a man reconsidering every career decision he had ever made.
Finally Dominic sighed.
“Body armor.”
Chloe blinked.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I am not wearing—”
Twenty minutes later, Chloe wore body armor beneath a Boston College sweatshirt.
“I hate you.”
Dominic checked his weapon.
“I’ve survived worse.”
The storage facility smelled like concrete and dust.
Unit 314.
Leo cut the lock.
Inside were three boxes.
No gold.
No guns.
No dramatic mafia treasure.
Paper.
Hundreds of pages.
Elaine Bennett had kept records.
Invoices from St. Vincent’s.
Copies of checks.
Patient billing records.
Construction contracts.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Daniel Mercer had apparently spent years building a case showing that St. Vincent’s Foundation had served as a laundering operation for several criminal organizations.
But something was different about the newest documents.
Dominic recognized it first.
“This isn’t Bellucci money.”
Chloe looked up.
“Whose?”
He said nothing.
Leo picked up another page.
His face changed.
“Dom.”
Chloe looked between them.
“What?”
Dominic took the document.
At the top:
MORETTI DEVELOPMENT GROUP.
Chloe felt the room change.
“Your company?”
“My father’s.”
“Same family.”
“Yes.”
Dominic continued reading.
Then his expression emptied.
“What?”
He handed Leo the page.
Leo swore.
Chloe grabbed it.
A payment authorized twenty years earlier.
Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Recipient hidden behind a numbered corporation.
Purpose:
E. BENNETT RESOLUTION.
Chloe stopped breathing.
“Bennett?”
Dominic did not answer.
“My mother?”
“We don’t know.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Chloe—”
“Stop protecting me from sentences!”
Her voice echoed.
Dominic went silent.
She held up the document.
“What does resolution mean?”
His jaw tightened.
“In my father’s world?”
“Yes.”
“It could mean payment.”
“Or?”
“Intimidation.”
“Or?”
Dominic looked into her eyes.
“Removal.”
Chloe felt sick.
“My mother worked at St. Vincent’s.”
“Yes.”
“She found the records.”
“Probably.”
“And your father paid someone to…”
She could not finish.
Dominic looked pale.
“My father died eight years ago.”
“That does not make this better.”
“No.”
“You knew nothing?”
“No.”
“How can I believe that?”
“You cannot.”
The answer stunned her.
Dominic stepped closer but stopped before touching her.
“You should not believe me because I ask you to. Verify everything.”
Chloe’s anger faltered.
“I will give you access to company archives.”
“Why?”
“Because if my father threatened your mother, you deserve proof.”
Leo interrupted.
“There’s another box.”
Inside was a cassette recorder.
And a sealed envelope.
FOR CHLOE.
Her mother’s handwriting.
Chloe sat on the concrete floor.
Her fingers trembled opening it.
Sweetheart,
If you are reading this, then I failed to tell you while I was alive.
I told myself silence kept you safe.
Maybe that was true when you were a child.
Later, it became cowardice.
Chloe stopped.
Tears blurred the page.
Dominic crouched several feet away.
She continued.
Elaine explained everything.
At twenty-eight, she worked in accounts payable at St. Vincent’s.
She discovered fraudulent vendors.
Daniel Mercer helped her copy records.
They planned to expose the operation.
Then Daniel’s source disappeared.
Elaine became frightened.
She stopped cooperating.
A Moretti representative approached her.
But not to threaten her.
To pay her.
Chloe frowned.
She kept reading.
Dominic’s father had discovered that another Moretti associate, Vincent Moretti, was using hospital contracts to steal from both the family and legitimate charities.
Salvatore Moretti paid Elaine for evidence.
The “resolution” payment was hush money and relocation assistance.
Not a murder contract.
Chloe exhaled shakily.
Then came the next sentence.
Vincent never forgave me.
Dominic went still.
“Vincent?”
Chloe looked up.
“You know him.”
Dominic’s face had become stone.
“My uncle.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“He sits on my board.”
Silence.
Leo swore.
Everything shifted.
The attacker knew Dominic’s schedule.
Knew his reduced security.
Had access to internal information.
Knew Chloe’s identity before she saved Dominic.
Vincent Moretti.
Family.
Chloe read further.
Elaine had kept one final piece of evidence hidden.
A ledger proving Vincent had siphoned millions through St. Vincent’s and arranged the disappearance of two witnesses.
She had given it to Daniel.
Daniel hid it somewhere called “the chapel.”
Dominic stood.
“St. Vincent’s had a chapel.”
Chloe looked at him.
“The hospital was demolished.”
“No.”
“What?”
“Most of it was.”
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“The chapel was preserved.”
“Why?”
“My family owns the property.”
Of course they did.
Chloe laughed without humor.
“This is becoming ridiculous.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Chloe.”
“What?”
“If Vincent knows Daniel gave you that key, he knows we have these records.”
“So?”
“He will come.”
“For us?”
“For you.”
Her fear returned.
“Why me?”
“Because Elaine’s letter establishes chain of custody. Daniel’s key has your name. If the ledger surfaces through you, prosecutors can connect the evidence.”
Chloe stood.
“So I’m a witness again.”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“We need to move.”
A sound came from outside.
Metal.
Leo immediately raised his weapon.
Lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the unit.
Chloe stopped breathing.
Dominic’s hand found hers.
“Behind me.”
Footsteps.
Several.
Leo whispered, “Back exit.”
They moved between storage units.
Then a voice echoed from the darkness.
“Dominic.”
Dominic froze.
The voice was older.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Uncle.”
Chloe’s blood turned cold.
Vincent Moretti stepped into the emergency lighting.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
A pistol in his hand.
Three men behind him.
His gaze moved toward Chloe.
“Elaine’s daughter.”
He smiled.
“You look like her.”
Chloe felt Dominic shift in front of her.
Vincent sighed.
“You always did inherit your father’s weakness, Dominic.”
“What weakness?”
“Women who should have remained irrelevant.”
Dominic’s voice became deadly.
“Walk away.”
Vincent laughed.
“You still think this is your city?”
“No.”
Dominic’s hand tightened around Chloe’s.
“But she is under my protection.”
Vincent looked at their joined hands.
His smile changed.
May you like
“That,” he said, “is exactly what I was hoping for.”
Then the first shot was fired.
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