Chapter 4 - The Brother Who Sold the King
Gabriel drove us to St. Catherine’s Church, a stone building tucked between two closed businesses on the Near West Side.
Father Thomas Moretti opened the side door wearing sweatpants beneath his black clerical shirt.
He was my uncle, my father’s younger brother, and the only Moretti who had chosen God over the family business.
He looked at the blood on my clothes.
“I assume this is not a social visit.”
“I need the archive.”
His expression changed.
“No.”
Sarah looked between us.
“What archive?”
Father Thomas stepped aside and let us enter.
“Evidence,” he said. “Insurance policies. Records Dante’s father kept in case allies became enemies.”
“Luca’s payments to police officers, judges, customs agents,” I added.
Sarah stared at me.
“You have proof against half the city?”
“My father believed trust should always come with receipts.”
Father Thomas locked the door.
“And he gave the records to me because he feared what you would become.”
“What did I become?”
“A man arriving at a church at three in the morning with a bullet wound.”
“That does not answer the question.”
“It answers enough.”
Gabriel lowered me onto a pew.
Sarah paced near the altar.
“My family has less than two hours.”
Father Thomas studied her.
“You helped him?”
“He offered ten thousand dollars.”
“That sounds like Dante.”
“I’m beginning to think he overpaid.”
“You may be right.”
I looked at my uncle.
“Thomas.”
He sighed.
“The archive is beneath the sacristy.”
We entered a small room behind the altar. Father Thomas opened a hidden safe built into the stone wall.
Inside were ledgers, hard drives, photographs, and sealed envelopes.
I found the folder marked VANCETTI.
Sarah picked up a photograph.
It showed Luca shaking hands with a senior police commander.
“This could destroy him.”
“It could destroy many people.”
“Then why haven’t you used it?”
“Because releasing it would create chaos.”
She looked at me.
“And keeping it created tonight.”
I had no answer.
Father Thomas removed a small black drive from the safe.
“This contains everything.”
I reached for it.
He pulled his hand back.
“If I give this to you, it does not become another weapon in your war.”
“It ends the war.”
“How?”
“By making Luca unable to control the battlefield.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“We send copies to the press.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Luca will know before they publish.”
“Then we schedule the release,” she said. “Multiple journalists, federal investigators, every major network. If we don’t cancel it by sunrise, the files go public.”
Father Thomas looked at her with new respect.
“You’ve done this before?”
“I schedule promotional emails for Jerry’s Diner.”
I stared at her.
“You compare exposing organized crime to advertising pancakes?”
“The software does not care.”
For the next twenty minutes, Sarah used Father Thomas’s computer to upload encrypted files to multiple recipients.
She typed quickly.
“Send me your passwords.”
“No.”
“Dante.”
“My passwords contain sensitive information.”
“You own nightclubs and threaten politicians. I’m not interested in your photo collection.”
Gabriel coughed to hide a laugh.
I gave her the passwords.
At 4:02 a.m., Sarah leaned back.
“Done. If I don’t enter a cancellation code by six, everything gets released.”
“Why you?” I asked.
“Because Luca expects you to control it.”
“He’ll threaten you.”
“He already has my family.”
Father Thomas handed me a clean shirt and dark coat from a storage closet.
“You still cannot walk into that terminal alone.”
“I won’t.”
Sarah looked at me.
“You promised Luca you would.”
“I rarely keep promises made under threat.”
Gabriel spread a city map across a table.
“Terminal seventeen has three entrances. Main gate, river access, and an old rail tunnel.”
Father Thomas pointed to the eastern wall.
“The tunnel was sealed years ago.”
“Officially,” I said.
Sarah folded her arms.
“How many people can you still trust?”
I considered the question.
“Four.”
“Names.”
“Gabriel. Thomas. Rosa Bellini, my financial adviser. And Elias Kane.”
“Who is Elias?”
“My father’s former security chief.”
“Call him.”
“I retired him.”
“Tonight appears to be a good time for a reunion.”
I used Thomas’s phone.
Elias answered with a rough voice.
“I wondered when you would finally call.”
“You heard?”
“Everyone heard. Julian has been ordering your captains to swear loyalty.”
“How many did?”
“Too many.”
“How many refused?”
“Enough.”
“I need terminal seventeen contained before five.”
“You’re wounded.”
“Yes.”
“Marcus?”
“Dead.”
Elias went silent.
Then he said, “I’ll bring everyone who still remembers what the Moretti name is supposed to mean.”
The call ended.
Sarah watched me.
“What is it supposed to mean?”
I put on the clean shirt slowly.
“Once, protection.”
“And now?”
“Fear.”
“Maybe that’s why your brother betrayed you.”
The comment landed harder than I expected.
“My brother betrayed me because he wanted power.”
“He wanted what he thought power would give him.”
“You defend him?”
“No. I’m trying to understand him. You should too.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows you. He knows how you think, where you stand, what you’ll sacrifice. Luca is dangerous, but Julian is the one who can predict you.”
I looked at the terminal map.
Sarah was right.
Julian would expect me to enter through the rail tunnel because it was the least obvious route.
“He’ll place men here,” I said, pointing to the eastern wall.
“So don’t go there.”
“We make him believe I will.”
Gabriel frowned.
“How?”
Sarah looked at my bloodstained coat lying across the pew.
“Do you have another car?”
Father Thomas glanced toward the church garage.
“An old black sedan.”
Sarah smiled grimly.
“We give them something to chase.”
At 4:37 a.m., Father Thomas drove the sedan toward the eastern tunnel with Dante’s bloody coat visible through the rear window. Two black SUVs immediately followed.
Meanwhile, Gabriel took Sarah and me by boat from a private dock beneath the church’s riverside storage building.
Elias and his loyal men moved into position around the terminal.
The city lights reflected across the black river.
Sarah stood beside me in the boat, wearing one of Thomas’s raincoats over her waitress uniform.
“You can still stay behind,” I said.
“My mother and brother are in there.”
“I’ll get them out.”
“You could barely walk forty minutes ago.”
“I’m improving.”
“You nearly fell into the boat.”
“The dock was wet.”
She looked at me.
“You don’t have to pretend with me.”
“I’m not pretending.”
“You’re afraid your brother will make you choose.”
I turned toward the terminal.
“He already has.”
“Between what?”
“My empire and your family.”
“What will you choose?”
Before I could answer, Gabriel slowed the boat near a dark loading platform.
Armed men were visible above us.
Sarah whispered, “That was not a difficult question.”
I met her eyes.
“No,” I said. “It wasn’t.”
We climbed onto the platform.
Elias emerged from the shadows.
He was sixty-two, broad-shouldered, with silver hair and an old scar across his jaw.
He looked at my wound.
“You look terrible.”
“You look old.”
“Good. You’re still yourself.”
He handed me a weapon.
I checked the magazine.
“Where are they?”
“Luca has twenty men inside. Julian has six of yours.”
“My captains?”
“Watching. Waiting to see who wins.”
“Then they were never mine.”
Sarah stepped between us.
“My family.”
Elias pointed toward the north office.
“Two civilian hostages. Guarded by three men.”
“I’m going there.”
“No,” I said.
She glared at me.
“Dante.”
“Elias will take you.”
Elias shook his head.
“My orders are to protect you.”
“My order is to protect her.”
He studied me for a second, then nodded.
“Come on, Miss Jenkins.”
Sarah began to follow him but stopped.
She turned back and grabbed the front of my coat.
“If you get yourself killed, I will find a way to collect that ten thousand dollars from your estate.”
“You’ll receive twenty.”
“Don’t make jokes.”
“I’m not.”
Her grip loosened.
“Bring your brother back alive.”
“Why?”
“Because death is easy. Let him live with what he did.”
Then she followed Elias into the darkness.
I watched her disappear.
Gabriel stood beside me.
“She has known you for less than three hours.”
“Yes.”
“And she already gives you orders.”
“Yes.”
“You like her.”
I checked my weapon.
“This is not the time.”
Gabriel smiled.
“For you, it may be the only time.”
A loudspeaker crackled inside the terminal.
Julian’s voice echoed across the building.
“Dante, I know you’re here.”
I stepped into the open.
“So do I.”
Lights snapped on.
At the far end of the terminal, Luca Vancetti stood beside my brother.
Julian wore a tailored gray suit and my father’s ring.
The sight of it made my blood run colder than the rain.
May you like
Luca smiled.
“Welcome to your funeral.”
