Chapter 4 - The Trap at Pier Seventeen
By morning, our house looked like a security compound.
Men stood outside.
Two cars blocked the driveway.
Marco had replaced the broken window.
Mom hated every second of it.
“I want those men off my lawn.”
Vincent sipped coffee.
“They’re keeping you alive.”
“They’re crushing my flowers.”
Vincent looked outside.
“They can stand on the driveway.”
Mom pointed at him.
“Better.”
I stared at Dad.
“Were they always like this?”
Dad smiled.
“Worse.”
Vincent placed the old ledger pieces across the table.
“Vale believes Daniel still has the full record.”
“He does,” I said.
Vincent looked at me.
Dad coughed.
Mom looked away.
I froze.
“Wait.”
Nobody spoke.
“Dad.”
He sighed.
“There is one original copy.”
“Where?”
He looked toward the clock shop.
“No.”
Vincent stood.
“We move it today.”
Dad shook his head.
“If Vale follows us—”
“That’s the point.”
Everyone looked at Vincent.
He leaned over the table.
“We give him something to follow.”
Marco understood immediately.
“A decoy.”
Vincent nodded.
“We make Vale believe Daniel is delivering the ledger to me at Pier Seventeen.”
Dad frowned.
“And the real copy?”
“Goes somewhere else.”
I spoke.
“To the authorities.”
Vincent looked at me.
Dad looked uneasy.
Vincent smiled slightly.
“She’s smarter than both of us.”
Dad muttered.
“I raised her.”
Vincent looked at him.
“Rose raised her.”
Mom smiled.
“Correct.”
The plan was simple.
Which meant I hated it immediately.
Dad and Vincent would appear together at Pier Seventeen carrying a fake ledger.
Marco’s men would watch from nearby.
Meanwhile, Mom and I would deliver the real evidence to Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Sloan, someone Vincent claimed he trusted.
I stared at him.
“You trust a federal prosecutor?”
“I trust her to hate Arthur Vale more than she hates me.”
“That’s comforting.”
Vincent looked at my father.
“You ready?”
Dad stood with his cane.
“I’ve been ready for twenty-two years.”
---
The old clock shop was empty when we arrived.
Dad unlocked a safe behind the repair counter.
Inside was a thick black ledger wrapped in cloth.
Vincent stared at it.
“That little book destroyed half my family.”
Dad handed it to me.
“Now it ends this.”
I took it carefully.
Mom touched my shoulder.
“We go now.”
Before we reached the door, Vincent’s phone rang.
Marco.
Vincent answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
Dad stepped closer.
Vincent listened.
Then he looked at me.
“Vale isn’t going to the pier.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where is he?”
Vincent lowered the phone.
“He’s already here.”
The front window exploded inward.
Mom screamed.
Vincent pulled her down.
Dad grabbed me.
Men rushed through the rear entrance.
Marco’s guards engaged them.
Vincent shouted.
“Back room!”
Dad pushed me toward the hallway.
We reached the workshop.
Arthur Vale stood inside.
He had entered through the alley.
Silver hair.
Dark gloves.
Calm smile.
“Daniel.”
Dad froze.
“Arthur.”
Vale looked at Vincent.
“And Vincent.”
Then his eyes moved to me.
“So this is the girl.”
Vincent stepped in front of me.
Vale smiled.
“Always protective.”
Dad’s voice hardened.
“You leave her out of this.”
Vale tilted his head.
“You disappeared because of her.”
Mom stepped beside Dad.
“No.”
Vale looked at her.
“Rose.”
Her voice was cold.
“You should have stayed gone.”
Vale laughed softly.
“You all became sentimental.”
He reached toward the ledger.
“Give it to me.”
I held it tighter.
Vincent said quietly.
“Nora.”
I understood.
I threw it toward him.
Vale turned.
Dad swung his cane into Vale’s wrist.
The ledger fell.
Marco rushed through the doorway with two agents behind him.
“Federal agents!”
Vale stopped.
Vincent smiled.
“That was fast.”
A woman in a navy suit entered.
Rebecca Sloan.
She looked at Vale.
“Arthur Vale, you’re under arrest.”
Vale’s smile disappeared.
“You think that ledger is enough?”
Rebecca picked it up.
“With twenty-two years of financial records, shipping logs, bribery accounts, and your signature?”
She looked at Dad.
“It’s a start.”
Vale looked toward Vincent.
“You think this changes what you are?”
Vincent stepped closer.
“No.”
Then he looked at Dad.
“It changes what happened to him.”
Agents pulled Vale away.
Dad stood silently.
For the first time in twenty-two years, Arthur Vale could no longer reach us.
But one question still remained.
May you like
I turned toward my parents.
“Now tell me the rest.”
