Chapter 4 - What Daniel Brooks Hid
Thomas Reed placed an old leather folder on the table.
Nico remained standing.
Sienna didn’t.
She dropped into a chair.
“Tell me everything.”
Thomas looked at Nico.
“Your father discovered Victor Caruso was stealing from the organization.”
“How much?”
“Millions. But money wasn’t the real problem.”
Thomas opened the folder.
“Caruso was selling information.”
Nico’s face hardened.
“To whom?”
“Anyone willing to pay.”
Sienna looked between them.
“And my father?”
“Daniel discovered it.”
Thomas pushed forward an old photograph.
Daniel stood beside a car holding a small notebook.
“Your father overheard Caruso arranging a meeting. Daniel told Antonio Valente.”
“Nico’s father.”
“Yes.”
Thomas continued.
“They were driving to meet me when their brakes failed.”
Sienna went pale.
“No.”
“Daniel saved copies of everything.”
“Where?”
Thomas looked directly at her.
“That is what Caruso has spent eight years trying to learn.”
Sienna laughed bitterly.
“Well, I certainly don’t have anything.”
Thomas pointed toward the black card.
“Your father did.”
Nico placed the card on the table.
Thomas pressed the silver crest.
A tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a narrow metal key.
Sienna stared.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Thomas almost smiled.
“Daniel designed the compartment himself.”
“What does the key open?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
Nico immediately asked, “Where?”
Thomas named a private bank downtown.
Sienna stood.
“Then we go.”
“No,” Nico said.
She turned.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re staying somewhere secure.”
“That box belonged to my father.”
“And people are trying to kill you because of it.”
“Which makes me extremely motivated.”
“Sienna.”
“Nico.”
Thomas watched them.
Marco entered from the hallway.
“We need to move.”
Nico looked at Sienna.
She folded her arms.
“You can carry me again, but I’ll scream the entire time.”
“You screamed the first time.”
“I’ll be louder.”
Nico exhaled.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“You come with me.”
Sienna blinked.
“That worked?”
“Don’t make me reconsider.”
They reached the bank shortly before sunrise.
The key opened box 417.
Inside sat a flash drive.
Nothing else.
Sienna picked it up.
“That’s it?”
Nico nodded.
“That may be enough.”
Back at his secured penthouse, Marco connected the drive to an isolated laptop.
Files appeared.
Payments.
Names.
Dates.
Photographs.
Recorded conversations.
Then Sienna saw something that made her stop breathing.
A video file.
Dated the night her father died.
She clicked it.
Daniel Brooks appeared on-screen.
Older than she remembered him.
Tired.
Scared.
But alive.
“If Sienna ever sees this…”
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Nico moved beside her.
Daniel continued.
“Sweetheart, if you’re watching, then I didn’t get the chance to explain.”
Sienna’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“I got involved because I thought helping Antonio Valente would keep dangerous men away from our neighborhood. Then Victor Caruso turned everything into something ugly.”
Daniel lifted documents.
“I have proof.”
He paused.
“And if Antonio and I don’t survive tonight, his son Nico can be trusted.”
Sienna looked at Nico.
Nico stared at the screen.
Daniel’s final words came quietly.
“Don’t spend your life afraid, sweetheart. Live loudly. You were always good at that.”
The recording ended.
Sienna wiped her eyes.
“That explains the poking.”
Nico looked at her.
“What?”
“My father literally told me to live loudly.”
Nico laughed softly.
Then Marco’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
“Caruso knows we opened the box.”
Nico stood.
“How?”
“Because he just sent a message.”
Marco turned the screen.
A photograph showed Tessa leaving her apartment.
Someone was watching her.
Below it were five words.
Bring the drive. Come alone.
Sienna’s face went cold.
“No.”
Nico looked at her.
“I’ll handle it.”
“No.”
“Sienna.”
“He wants something that belongs to me.”
“He wants you.”
“Then we give him exactly what he thinks he wants.”
Nico stared.
Sienna picked up the black card.
May you like
“Let me serve him.”
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