Chapter 5 - ROSA’S CONFESSION
Alessandro stared at Rosa.
“No.”
Carlo laughed.
“Ask her.”
Rosa’s shoulders shook.
“I didn’t kill Vittorio.”
Carlo walked closer.
“But you changed his route.”
Alessandro’s eyes moved toward Rosa.
She closed hers.
“Yes.”
The word nearly broke her.
Carlo smiled.
“See?”
Rosa looked at Alessandro.
“Your father asked me to.”
“Why?”
“He knew someone was following him.”
Carlo’s smile faded.
Rosa continued.
“Vittorio planned to meet federal investigators.”
Alessandro stared at her.
“He wanted out?”
“He wanted you out.”
That stopped him.
“He knew the organization was changing.”
Rosa’s voice trembled.
“He wanted the legitimate businesses separated.”
“He wanted you to have a life he never had.”
Carlo stepped forward.
“And he planned to destroy everything our family built.”
Rosa looked at him with disgust.
“He planned to save his son.”
Carlo’s expression hardened.
The truth became clear.
Carlo had discovered Vittorio’s plan.
He arranged the ambush.
Mateo changed the route.
But Carlo’s men found them anyway.
The crash followed.
Vittorio died.
Mateo survived.
Then Carlo framed Mateo.
Alessandro looked at his uncle.
“You sent Mateo to prison.”
“Yes.”
“And had him killed there.”
Carlo didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Alessandro’s hands curled into fists.
Carlo smiled.
“You want to hit me.”
“No.”
Carlo raised an eyebrow.
“I want you alive long enough to lose everything.”
Suddenly, the warehouse lights went dark.
Marco’s voice came through Alessandro’s hidden earpiece.
“Down.”
Alessandro dropped.
Glass shattered.
Moretti security entered from three directions.
Carlo’s men scattered.
Alessandro reached Rosa.
He cut the restraints.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
Gunfire cracked somewhere outside.
Carlo escaped through a rear door.
Marco chased him.
But by the time they reached the pier, a speedboat was disappearing into the fog.
Rosa leaned against Alessandro.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For keeping the truth from you.”
Alessandro looked at the black river.
“Why?”
“Because Carlo threatened everyone.”
“Me?”
“You most of all.”
Rosa reached into her dress.
She removed a tiny brass key.
“Your father gave me this.”
Alessandro stared at it.
“What does it open?”
“I don’t know.”
“He said Mateo would.”
Alessandro thought of Sophia.
The next morning, he showed her the key.
Sophia stared at it.
Then she started crying.
“My father had one exactly like this.”
“Where?”
“My mother kept it.”
“Where is she?”
Sophia’s face changed.
“She died eight years ago.”
“What happened to her belongings?”
“A storage unit in Queens.”
Alessandro stood.
Sophia grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t go alone.”
He looked at her hand.
Then at her.
“You’re worried about me?”
“I’m worried about Emma.”
“What does Emma have to do with it?”
Sophia’s eyes met his.
“She trusts you now.”
The words hit harder than Alessandro expected.
Three hours later, he and Marco reached the Queens storage facility.
Unit 317 belonged to Elena Delgado.
The brass key opened it.
Inside were boxes.
Furniture.
Photographs.
And one steel case.
Alessandro opened it.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
A tape sat inside.
A handwritten label read:
VITTORIO — LAST NIGHT.
Marco found an old player.
They pressed play.
Static.
Then Vittorio Moretti’s voice filled the storage unit.
“If this recording survives me, Carlo has already made his move.”
Alessandro stopped breathing.
Then another voice appeared.
Mateo Delgado.
“What about Alessandro?”
Vittorio answered.
“He must never become what we became.”
A pause.
Then Vittorio said something Alessandro would remember for the rest of his life.
“And if I fail, Mateo, promise me your family will remind my son that power means nothing if the people beneath you live in fear.”
The tape clicked.
Then Carlo’s voice appeared.
Clear.
Close.
“You should have kept your mouth shut, brother.”
A struggle followed.
Then the recording ended.
Marco stared at Alessandro.
“We have him.”
Alessandro shook his head.
“No.”
“We have his voice.”
“We have twenty-year-old evidence.”
Marco understood.
They needed the ledger.
Then Alessandro noticed something inside the steel case.
A photograph.
Mateo and Vittorio stood beside a small church.
Written on the back were four words.
WHERE BOTH SONS BEGAN.
Alessandro stared at it.
Because he knew exactly where that church was.
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And if Vittorio had hidden the second ledger anywhere...
It was there.
