Chapter 3 - The Key to Locker 317
Luca Romano's house didn't look like Emily expected.
She had imagined gold furniture and marble statues.
Instead, it was quiet, modern and heavily guarded.
Maya stared through the windows.
"You live here alone?"
Luca removed his coat.
"Mostly."
"That's depressing."
Emily gave her sister a look.
"What?"
Maya shrugged.
"I'm being kidnapped for protection. I should be allowed observations."
"You're not kidnapped," Luca said.
Emily pointed at him.
"Don't start."
Maya whispered, "I like him."
"You've known him twenty minutes."
"He has snacks."
Luca looked at Daniel.
"Feed them."
Emily frowned.
"We're not dogs."
Luca finally smiled.
"No. Dogs are easier."
Despite herself, Emily almost smiled back.
Almost.
An hour later, Daniel entered the library holding a tablet.
"We found the locker."
Luca stood.
"Where?"
"Union Station."
Emily immediately grabbed her coat.
Luca shook his head.
"No."
"Here we go again."
"Victor Hale already knows about the key."
"Which means we go before he does."
"Which means you stay here while we go."
Emily stepped closer.
"That key belonged to my father."
"And?"
"And nobody opens that locker without me."
Luca stared at her.
Then at Maya.
Maya raised both hands.
"I'm staying here."
Emily looked betrayed.
"I'm brave, not stupid."
Twenty minutes later, Emily and Luca entered Union Station through a private service entrance with Daniel and two guards.
Locker 317 was in an older storage corridor scheduled for renovation.
Emily's hand shook as she inserted the key.
Luca noticed.
"You don't have to do it."
"Yes, I do."
She turned the key.
The door opened.
Inside sat a small metal box.
Nothing else.
Emily pulled it out.
There was a folded note taped to the top.
Her father's handwriting.
She recognized it immediately.
Emily, if you ever have to open this, it means I failed to keep this away from you. I'm sorry. Trust the numbers. Not the names.
Emily swallowed.
Luca didn't speak.
Inside the box were accounting ledgers, a flash drive and an old voice recorder.
Daniel looked at Luca.
"This could be it."
Emily picked up the recorder.
"Play it," Luca said.
She pressed the button.
Static.
Then her father's voice.
"If someone is hearing this, Victor Hale knows I found the transfers."
Emily froze.
The recording continued.
"Hale created shell contractors and routed city infrastructure funds through them. When auditors started noticing, he attached the transactions to companies linked to Anthony Romano."
Luca's jaw tightened.
His father.
Thomas Parker's voice continued.
"Romano didn't authorize the transfers. I verified that. Hale needed someone powerful enough to blame and dangerous enough that nobody would ask questions."
Emily looked at Luca.
He was staring at the recorder.
"The full ledger is included. Copies were sent to an attorney. If anything happens to me—"
The recording stopped.
Emily pressed the button.
Nothing.
"Battery?" Daniel asked.
Luca took the flash drive.
"We have enough."
A voice came from the corridor.
"No, you don't."
Everyone turned.
Victor Hale stood ten yards away.
Two armed men beside him.
The gray-haired businessman looked exactly as Emily remembered.
Only now he wasn't pretending to be polite.
"Miss Parker," he said. "You've caused a remarkable amount of trouble."
Luca stepped in front of Emily.
Hale smiled.
"Luca Romano."
"Victor."
"You've grown."
"You've aged badly."
Hale chuckled.
"Your father had the same mouth."
"And you stole twenty million dollars while hiding behind his name."
"Allegedly."
Emily stepped out from behind Luca.
"You killed my father."
Hale's smile disappeared.
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
"Your father made unfortunate decisions."
"My father tried to expose you."
"Your father didn't understand the world he was stepping into."
Emily's voice shook with anger.
"He understood you were a thief."
Hale's men raised their weapons.
Luca's guards did the same.
Luca spoke without looking away from Hale.
"Emily, behind me."
"No."
"Tonight would be a wonderful time to start listening."
She stepped behind him.
Hale sighed.
"Give me the box."
Luca said, "No."
"This doesn't concern you."
"My father's name is on those records."
"Your father is dead."
"So is hers."
The quiet in Luca's voice was worse than shouting.
"And I'm beginning to think you had something to do with both."
Hale's expression changed.
Emily caught it.
So did Luca.
Luca said, "Interesting."
Hale stepped backward.
One of his men suddenly lunged for the box.
Daniel intercepted him.
Everything exploded at once.
Emily ducked as someone shouted.
A gunshot cracked against the ceiling.
Luca grabbed her and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
"Are you hit?"
"No."
"Stay here."
"Where are you going?"
"To end this."
Another shot.
Emily grabbed his jacket.
"Don't."
Luca looked at her.
"If you go out there angry, Hale wins."
"I am not angry."
"You're terrifyingly calm, which is worse."
For half a second, the world disappeared around them.
Then Luca nodded.
He took out his phone.
Emily frowned.
"Who are you calling?"
"The police."
She stared.
"A mafia boss is calling the police?"
His mouth twitched.
"Try not to sound disappointed."
Sirens were already approaching.
Hale heard them too.
His face changed.
"You called them before coming here."
Luca stepped from behind the pillar.
"I assumed you would follow us."
"You set me up."
"No."
Luca held up the flash drive.
"Thomas Parker did that eleven years ago."
Chicago police flooded the corridor moments later.
Hale looked at Emily as officers moved toward him.
"This isn't over."
Emily met his stare.
"For my father, it was over eleven years ago."
Then she looked at the evidence in Luca's hand.
May you like
"For you, it's just starting."
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