Chapter 4 - Locker 317
Locker 317 contained no money.
No diamonds.
No secret passport.
Just a flash drive and a letter.
My hands shook when I recognized my father’s handwriting.
Emma,
If you’re reading this, I failed to come home.
I closed my eyes.
Dominic stood beside me without speaking.
I continued.
The letter explained everything.
My father had discovered that the Castellano family was using his accounting firm to hide millions through shell companies.
When he tried to leave, they manufactured the gambling debt to control him.
He had actually gambled.
Just nowhere near $150,000.
Then he found evidence connecting Castellano money to the conspiracy surrounding Dominic’s father.
I looked up.
“Dominic.”
He took the letter.
His jaw tightened as he read.
Leo plugged the flash drive into an isolated laptop.
Folders appeared.
Accounts.
Transfers.
Names.
Dates.
Then one file made Dominic go completely still.
“What?” I asked.
He pointed.
A transfer made forty-eight hours before his father’s death.
The receiving company belonged to someone inside the Russo organization.
Leo whispered, “We have a traitor.”
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
“Who?”
Leo opened the ownership records.
Then froze.
“Paul wasn’t the important connection.”
“Leo.”
“It’s your uncle.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Victor?”
Leo nodded.
The room went silent.
Victor Russo had advised Dominic since his father died.
He had attended the funeral.
He had stood beside Dominic’s mother.
Dominic stepped away.
I followed.
“Dominic.”
“Don’t.”
I stopped.
His hand closed into a fist.
“My father trusted him.”
“So did you.”
“That’s worse.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
I stepped closer.
“Trusting someone isn’t the betrayal. Breaking that trust is.”
His expression shifted.
“You always talk this much?”
“When terrified.”
“You’ve been terrified for three days.”
“Exactly.”
He almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Victor.
Dominic answered normally.
“Uncle.”
I could hear only pieces.
Dinner.
Tonight.
Family discussion.
Dominic’s eyes stayed on the screen.
“Of course,” he said.
He hung up.
Leo shook his head.
“You’re not going.”
“I am.”
“He knows.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at Dominic.
“Then use that.”
Both men turned toward me.
“What?”
“Victor thinks you don’t know.”
Dominic stared.
“So let him keep thinking that.”
Leo smiled slowly.
“The waitress has a point.”
“I have a name.”
“Right. The terrifying Emma Carter.”
Dominic looked at me.
“You’re staying here.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You need somebody Victor doesn’t consider important.”
His expression hardened.
“Absolutely not.”
“He’s already tried to use the Onyx staff.”
“No.”
“He sees me as a waitress.”
“No.”
“He’ll talk around me.”
“Emma.”
I stepped directly in front of him.
“I started this by putting an X beside your glass.”
“No. You ended an assassination attempt by doing that.”
“Then let me help finish the rest.”
Dominic stared at me for several seconds.
Finally, he exhaled.
“You stay beside me.”
“Fine.”
“You do exactly what I say.”
“We can negotiate that.”
“No.”
Leo laughed.
Dominic pointed at him.
“Not one word.”
Leo raised both hands.
“I love this partnership.”
Dominic looked at me.
“It is not a partnership.”
May you like
I smiled.
“We can negotiate that too.”
