Chapter 5 - Ashwood Bridge Secrets
Luca Moretti read the note twice.
Then a third time.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE REST OF ELENA’S EVIDENCE.
Hannah watched his face harden.
“You’re not going.”
Luca looked at her.
“I am.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“Hannah.”
“Vincent wants you alone because he thinks grief makes you stupid.”
Marco nodded.
“She’s right.”
Luca gave him a look.
Marco shrugged.
“You pay me to keep you alive.”
Sophia sat rigidly in her wheelchair.
“Daddy, don’t go.”
That stopped him.
He crossed the room and crouched in front of her.
“I have to finish this.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“You said courts decide.”
“They will.”
“Then let the police go.”
Luca looked toward the windows.
Rain had returned.
The same kind of cold rain that had covered the city the night Elena died.
Hannah understood what he was thinking.
Three years of believing his wife had simply lost control.
Three years of replaying a crash he had never seen.
Now Vincent had gone back to the bridge.
With Sophia’s coat.
With Elena’s evidence.
Hannah stepped closer.
“You want answers.”
“Yes.”
“So do I.”
“You’re not coming.”
“Then neither are you.”
He stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.”
“Hannah.”
“If Vincent sees you arriving alone, he controls everything. If police rush him, he might destroy whatever he has.”
Marco said, “We can place teams below the bridge and behind the maintenance road.”
Luca turned.
“You already have a plan?”
“I started one when you first looked like you were going to do something reckless.”
Hannah almost smiled.
Luca did not.
“What else?”
“Wire you.”
“No.”
Hannah immediately said, “Yes.”
Luca looked at her.
“You enjoy this?”
“A little.”
Sophia raised her hand.
“Me too.”
Luca pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Wonderful. My own family has mutinied.”
The plan took thirty minutes.
State police closed the outer access roads quietly. Detectives waited out of sight beneath the bridge. Marco positioned men in civilian vehicles far enough away not to spook Vincent.
Luca wore a small transmitter beneath his shirt.
Hannah remained in Marco’s SUV two blocks away.
That had been the compromise.
Not that Luca liked it.
Before leaving, he looked at her.
“If anything goes wrong, Marco takes you and Sophia out.”
Sophia, who had been ordered to stay at the Moretti house, was not actually in the SUV.
Hannah said, “I’m aware.”
“You follow him.”
“Yes.”
“No improvising.”
She stared at him.
“You do realize I jumped into a freezing river through a broken car window.”
“Exactly why I’m concerned.”
He turned away.
Then stopped.
“Hannah.”
“What?”
“If this goes badly—”
“Don’t.”
He looked back.
She softened.
“Go get the truth.”
Luca nodded.
Then walked toward Ashwood Bridge.
Vincent stood beside the railing.
Alone.
His coat whipped in the wind.
The Chicago River moved black beneath him.
Luca approached slowly.
“You asked for me.”
Vincent turned.
“You brought police.”
Luca did not react.
“You expected me not to?”
Vincent smiled.
“You’ve changed.”
“My daughter survived you.”
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
“You still don’t know what happened.”
“Then tell me.”
Vincent lifted a small flash drive between two fingers.
“Everything Elena collected is here.”
Luca stopped ten feet away.
“Give it to me.”
“You think this is that simple?”
“It can be.”
“No.”
Vincent laughed softly.
“You spent your whole life believing your father built an empire with loyalty.”
“My father is dead.”
“And he’d be ashamed of what you’ve become.”
Luca’s expression remained flat.
“A father.”
“A coward.”
Luca stepped closer.
Vincent pointed toward the river.
“Stay there.”
Luca stopped.
Vincent continued.
“Elena discovered payments.”
“What payments?”
“To judges. Port officials. Union managers.”
“I know what our business was.”
“No. You know what your father allowed you to know.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Vincent held up the flash drive.
“Elena found accounts I used to keep everyone protected.”
“You stole from the foundation.”
“I moved money.”
“From sick children.”
“Don’t be sentimental.”
Luca’s face changed.
“You always hated that foundation.”
“I hated what Elena turned you into.”
“What did she turn me into?”
“Someone who wanted legitimacy.”
Vincent spat the word.
“Someone who talked about leaving businesses behind. Cleaning things up. Selling assets.”
Luca stared.
“You killed my wife because I wanted out.”
Vincent looked away.
“That’s not what happened.”
“Then what happened?”
For the first time, Vincent looked tired.
“Elena called me that night.”
Sophia’s recorded memory played in Luca’s mind.
Vincent, stop following me.
“She said she had copies of the accounts.”
Luca waited.
“I followed her.”
“In the SUV.”
“Yes.”
Hannah listened through the feed from inside Marco’s vehicle.
Her hands tightened.
Vincent continued.
“I wanted the files.”
“Did you hit her car?”
“No.”
“Did you force her off the road?”
“No.”
Luca took one step.
“Careful.”
Vincent’s hand moved inside his coat.
Marco immediately spoke through Luca’s hidden earpiece.
“Possible weapon.”
Luca ignored it.
“What happened?”
Vincent’s breathing changed.
“She saw me coming.”
“And?”
“She accelerated.”
“Because she was afraid of you.”
“She panicked.”
“Because you were chasing her.”
“I was trying to stop her!”
Vincent suddenly shouted.
“She swerved.”
Luca said nothing.
Vincent’s voice cracked.
“I came around the curve and her car was already through the barrier.”
Silence.
“You didn’t hit her?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you call for help?”
Vincent looked toward the water.
That answer mattered more than everything else.
Luca knew it.
Hannah knew it.
Vincent whispered, “Because I saw someone jump after them.”
“Hannah.”
“Yes.”
“And you left.”
Vincent said nothing.
Luca’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“My wife was dying.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“My four-year-old daughter was trapped underwater.”
“Hannah was there.”
“You left because Hannah was there?”
“I thought she would save them.”
Luca stared at him in disbelief.
“You gambled my daughter’s life on a stranger so you could protect yourself.”
Vincent snapped, “I panicked!”
“No.”
Luca’s voice remained calm.
“You calculated.”
Vincent shook his head.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand exactly.”
Luca moved one step closer.
“You saw the woman who could identify your vehicle.”
Vincent went pale.
“And three days later, you found her at Mercy.”
“Stop.”
“You threatened her.”
“Stop.”
“You destroyed her career.”
Vincent’s hand emerged.
A pistol.
Marco spoke sharply in Luca’s earpiece.
“Gun.”
Hannah grabbed the SUV door handle.
Marco caught her wrist.
“Don’t.”
Vincent aimed at Luca.
“Tell the police to back off.”
Luca did not move.
“There are no police.”
Vincent laughed.
“You were never a good liar.”
“I don’t need to be.”
Vincent raised the gun higher.
“Tell them.”
Luca stared at him.
“No.”
The wind tore across the bridge.
Vincent’s finger tightened.
Then a voice suddenly came through Luca’s phone.
Small.
Furious.
“Uncle Vincent.”
Both men froze.
Luca pulled the phone from his coat.
“Sophia?”
Marco swore.
Hannah turned.
Sophia was not at the house.
She was sitting in the third-row seat of the SUV.
Wrapped in a blanket.
Holding Marco’s backup phone.
Hannah stared.
“How did you get in here?”
Sophia whispered, “Maria helped.”
Marco closed his eyes.
“I am firing half the household.”
On the bridge, Vincent stared at Luca’s phone.
Sophia’s voice came through the speaker.
“Did you leave us in the water?”
Vincent’s face collapsed.
“Sophia.”
“You knew I was there?”
“I didn’t know—”
“Yes or no?”
Vincent lowered the gun slightly.
“Yes.”
Sophia started crying.
“You left Mommy.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
The words broke something.
Vincent’s pistol lowered another inch.
Luca spoke.
“Put it down.”
Vincent looked at him.
For a moment, it seemed he might.
Then police sirens sounded in the distance.
Vincent spun.
“You lied!”
He raised the gun.
Luca moved.
A single shot cracked across the bridge.
Hannah screamed.
Marco threw open the SUV door.
“Stay here!”
He ran.
State police surged from both ends of the bridge.
Vincent fell against the railing.
His gun skidded across wet pavement.
Luca dropped to one knee.
Hannah could no longer stay inside.
She ran.
“Hannah!” Sophia shouted.
Rain struck her face as she sprinted toward the bridge.
She reached Luca first.
Blood stained his shoulder.
“Oh my God.”
“I’m fine.”
“You were shot.”
“Grazed.”
“That is not fine.”
He almost smiled.
“You came anyway.”
“Shut up.”
Vincent lay several yards away, alive, a police officer pressing gauze against his leg.
The flash drive had fallen near the railing.
Marco recovered it.
“Got it.”
Vincent looked toward Luca.
“You think that makes you clean?”
Luca stared down at him.
“No.”
Vincent laughed weakly.
“Your father built everything with blood.”
“I know.”
“You’ll lose half of it if those files go public.”
“Then I lose half.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“You mean that.”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to become?”
Luca looked toward Hannah.
Then toward Sophia, still visible through the SUV windshield.
“Something better than you.”
Vincent was taken away.
By midnight, investigators confirmed the flash drive contained more than enough evidence.
Financial records.
Private emails.
Payments.
Internal correspondence.
And one audio file recorded by Elena herself.
Luca listened to it in his study with Hannah beside him.
Elena’s voice filled the room.
“If Luca hears this, tell him I wasn’t trying to destroy the family. I was trying to save what was left of it.”
Luca looked down.
The recording continued.
“And tell Sophia that her father loves her more than he knows how to say.”
His eyes closed.
Hannah reached for his hand.
He looked at her fingers around his.
Neither spoke.
Then Elena said one final thing.
“And if the nurse from Mercy ever finds Sophia, trust her. She was kind to me when she had no reason to be.”
Hannah stopped breathing.
Luca turned toward her.
“You were never an accident.”
Her eyes filled.
“No.”
“Elena chose you.”
“I barely knew her.”
“She noticed who you were.”
Hannah looked away.
Luca squeezed her hand.
“So did Sophia.”
“And you?”
May you like
He held her gaze.
“I’m getting there.”
