Chapter 2
The restaurant doors locked before I could take another breath.
Joseph’s men moved through the dining room.
One lowered the blinds.
Another guided the remaining customers toward the kitchen.
Nobody argued.
Everybody in Chicago knew Joseph Salvini’s name.
People said he owned judges, unions, nightclubs, and half the construction companies along the river.
They said men disappeared after insulting him.
I had never known how much was true.
Standing near his shattered glass, I suddenly feared all of it was.
“I am not your daughter,” I said.
Joseph kept staring at the phone.
The man who had sent the message was forced into a chair near the bar.
He looked ordinary.
Gray jacket.
Wire-rimmed glasses.
A wedding ring.
That frightened me more than if he had looked dangerous.
Joseph’s lieutenant, Vincent Russo, placed the phone on the table.
“The message went to an unregistered number.”
“Can you trace it?” Joseph asked.
“I’m trying.”
The stranger looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
He lowered his eyes.
Joseph stepped closer.
“You photographed her. You knew her name. That means someone sent you here.”
The man’s lips trembled.
“I was told to watch the restaurant.”
“By whom?”
“I can’t say.”
Vincent pulled the man’s wallet from his jacket.
His name was Harold Crane.
He was an accountant for a company called Lakefront Logistics.
Joseph recognized it.
“Moretti.”
The name silenced his men.
I looked between them.
“Who is Moretti?”
Joseph did not answer.
Vincent did.
“Someone who has wanted Mr. Salvini dead for a long time.”
“I have nothing to do with that.”
“You do now,” Joseph said.
Anger cut through my fear.
“You don’t get to say that. You walked into my life ten minutes ago.”
“I did not walk into yours. You walked to my table.”
“Because I was serving your drink.”
“And now a rival knows your face.”
I reached for my phone.
“I’m calling my mother.”
Joseph caught my wrist.
I pulled away immediately.
“Don’t touch me.”
His hand dropped.
For one second, regret crossed his face.
Then the feared man returned.
“Use Vincent’s phone.”
“Why?”
“Because yours may be tracked.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
My phone rang.
Mom appeared on the screen.
I answered before anyone could stop me.
“Mom?”
Her breathing was fast.
“Audrey, listen carefully.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Leave the restaurant.”
“I’m trying.”
“Don’t go with Joseph.”
Every man around me froze.
I looked at him.
“How do you know I’m with him?”
My mother did not answer.
A crash sounded through the call.
Then a man spoke in the background.
“Rose, put down the phone.”
“Mom?”
She whispered, “Run.”
The call ended.
I dialed again.
It went straight to voicemail.
I grabbed my coat.
Joseph blocked my path.
“Move.”
“You cannot go home.”
“My mother needs me.”
“So do my men. They’ll bring her here.”
“No.”
I tried to get around him.
He stepped in front of me again.
“I lost Rose once because I listened to a lie. I will not lose her again.”
“She isn’t yours to lose.”
His face tightened.
“Neither are you.”
“I don’t belong to you.”
“That is not what I meant.”
A heavy bang shook the front windows.
One of Joseph’s men shouted.
The lights went out.
Several people screamed in the kitchen.
Emergency lights turned the restaurant red.
Vincent pulled me behind the marble bar.
Joseph’s men drew their weapons.
Glass cracked near the entrance.
Something metal rolled across the floor.
“Smoke!” Vincent yelled.
Thick white clouds filled the dining room.
Joseph wrapped his jacket around my head.
“Stay down.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“Keep your face covered.”
Men shouted near the kitchen exit.
A woman cried out.
Then someone seized my ankle.
I kicked hard.
A masked man appeared through the smoke.
He grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the bar.
Joseph hit him from the side.
They crashed into a table.
The masked man reached into his coat.
Vincent knocked the weapon away.
Joseph pulled me to my feet.
“Move!”
We ran through the kitchen.
My manager, Derek, stood beside the freezer door.
His face was pale.
“You brought this here,” he shouted at me.
“I didn’t know.”
“Back exit,” Joseph ordered.
Derek stepped in front of it.
“No one leaves until the police arrive.”
Vincent grabbed him.
“Who locked the alley gate?”
Derek looked toward the floor.
Joseph understood before I did.
“You.”
Derek shook his head.
“I had no choice.”
“How much did Moretti pay you?”
“No one paid me.”
Vincent pulled Derek’s phone from his pocket.
A message was open.
Keep the girl inside for three minutes.
Derek lunged for it.
Joseph pushed him against the wall.
“You sold a twenty-year-old waitress.”
“They threatened my family.”
“And you chose hers.”
I heard sirens outside.
Joseph opened the freezer.
Behind the shelves was a narrow service door I had never noticed.
It led into the neighboring hotel’s basement.
We crossed storage rooms and laundry corridors until we reached an underground garage.
Two black vehicles waited.
“I’m not going with you,” I said.
Joseph opened the rear door.
“You can come willingly, or Vincent can take you to a police station where Moretti has three officers on his payroll.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
“Then why would I get in?”
“Because Rose told you to run from me, not from the men who took her.”
That hit me.
“How do you know they took her?”
“The crash. The man’s voice. She was warning you while someone entered your home.”
My knees weakened.
Joseph steadied me without grabbing.
His voice softened.
“I know you hate me already.”
“I don’t know you well enough to hate you.”
“You will.”
The honesty unsettled me.
“Will you help my mother?”
“I will bring Rose home.”
“Alive?”
His eyes changed.
“Alive.”
I climbed into the vehicle.
Joseph sat beside me.
Vincent took the front passenger seat.
As we drove out of the garage, three police cars sped past without stopping.
I tried calling Mom again.
Nothing.
Vincent handed me a new phone.
“Call someone you trust. Don’t give them your location.”
I called my best friend, Kayla.
No answer.
I called our neighbor, Mrs. Alvarez.
She answered on the second ring.
“Mrs. Alvarez, is my mother home?”
“Audrey, thank God.”
“What happened?”
“Two men came to your apartment.”
My chest tightened.
“Did they take her?”
“I don’t know. I heard shouting. Then I saw a dark car leave.”
“Was my mother inside?”
“I couldn’t see.”
Joseph leaned closer.
“Ask if the men wore anything distinctive.”
I repeated the question.
Mrs. Alvarez thought for a moment.
“One had a silver pin on his coat. It looked like a wolf.”
Joseph and Vincent exchanged a look.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Joseph’s voice became cold.
“Victor Moretti uses a wolf as his symbol.”
Mrs. Alvarez began crying.
“There’s something else. Rose gave me a package last month. She said if anything happened, I should give it to you.”
“What package?”
“A red envelope.”
“Do you still have it?”
Silence.
“Mrs. Alvarez?”
“Someone broke into my apartment this afternoon. The envelope is gone.”
Joseph cursed under his breath.
“What was inside?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But your name was written on it.”
The call suddenly filled with static.
Then a man’s voice replaced hers.
“Joseph Salvini.”
Joseph took the phone.
“Moretti.”
The voice laughed.
“You sound surprised.”
“Where is Rose?”
“Safe for the moment.”
“I want proof.”
“You’ll get it.”
“What do you want?”
“The girl.”
Joseph looked at me.
“No.”
“You don’t even know if she’s yours.”
“She is not part of this.”
“She became part of it the second Rose kept her alive.”
My stomach twisted.
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
Moretti heard me.
“Audrey,” he said. “Your mother has told you such a sweet little story.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“Soon.”
“What was in the red envelope?”
The man laughed again.
“Ask Joseph what happened on February ninth, twenty-one years ago.”
I looked at Joseph.
His face had gone gray.
“What happened that day?”
He said nothing.
Moretti continued.
“That was the night Joseph ordered Rose Bennett’s death.”
The call ended.
I stared at the man who might be my father.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Joseph looked out the window.
Vincent lowered his head.
“Tell me,” I shouted.
Joseph finally faced me.
“I gave an order that night.”
My throat closed.
“What order?”
“To find Rose before she could testify.”
“Testify against whom?”
“Me.”
I reached for the door handle even though the vehicle was moving.
Joseph caught my arm.
I fought him.
“Let me out!”
“You’ll be killed.”
“You tried to kill my mother!”
“No. I tried to find her.”
“You just said you gave an order.”
“I said bring her to me alive.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because the man who received that order changed it.”
“Who?”
Joseph’s eyes moved toward Vincent.
Vincent turned around.
“It was Joseph’s younger brother,” he said.
“Marco Salvini.”
Joseph released my arm.
“Marco told everyone Rose died that night.”
“Where is he now?”
Joseph’s expression hardened.
“He disappeared eleven years ago.”
The new phone rang.
A video appeared.
My mother sat tied to a chair in a dark room.
A bruise marked her cheek.
A man stepped behind her.
He was older than Joseph, but they had the same eyes.
He smiled into the camera.
Joseph whispered, “Marco.”
The supposedly missing brother leaned toward my mother.
“Tell our daughter the truth, Rose.”
Our daughter.
Joseph stared at the screen.
I stopped breathing.
May you like
Then Marco looked directly into the camera.
“Joseph Salvini is not Audrey’s father.”
