Chapter 6
I wanted to go.
Every person around me told me no.
Kayla had nothing to do with the Salvinis.
She worked at a bookstore, watched terrible reality shows, and complained whenever I canceled our Sunday breakfasts.
Moretti had taken her because she was my friend.
Her fear was my fault.
Joseph read the guilt on my face.
“It is Moretti’s fault.”
“He wouldn’t know her if I hadn’t spoken to you.”
“He knew you before that night.”
“What?”
Mom lowered her eyes.
Joseph looked at her.
“Tell her.”
My mother confessed that Moretti had watched us for years.
Unknown cars appeared outside our old apartments.
Strangers asked neighbors about me.
That was why Mom moved us four times before I turned twelve.
It was why she never let me post our address online.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“What could I say? That the men from my past might use my child against me?”
“Yes.”
“You were a child.”
“I stopped being a child years ago.”
“I never stopped being afraid.”
Her voice broke.
I hugged her despite my anger.
She had lied.
But every lie had grown from fear.
That did not make the lies harmless.
It made them tragic.
Elena contacted a federal tactical team she trusted.
She refused to reveal the location until every agent’s background was checked against the memory-card files.
Kane had uploaded an encrypted copy before Moretti captured him.
The original card was not Moretti’s only danger.
“He must know there are copies,” Vincent said.
“Then why demand Audrey?” Nicholas asked.
Joseph answered.
“Because this was never only about the evidence.”
Moretti and Joseph had once been closest among the Seven Stars.
After Joseph’s father was killed, they built their first business together.
Then Joseph fell in love with Rose.
Moretti loved her too.
Mom stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Victor told me once. I thought he was drunk.”
“He never told me.”
“He knew you chose me.”
Moretti’s hatred had begun as jealousy, but Marco turned it into opportunity.
Together, they used Rose’s records to control officials and weaken Joseph.
When Marco tried to leave, Moretti killed him.
Then he hid the witness, Gabriel.
“Moretti does not want a business,” Joseph said. “He wants my life.”
“And I’m part of it,” I said.
“You are the part he could never have.”
I hated being spoken about like a possession.
“I am not your proof that you won.”
Joseph’s voice softened.
“No. You are proof I lost twenty years.”
Elena completed the operation plan.
I would appear to enter the lake house alone.
A tracking device would be hidden in the lining of my boot.
Federal teams would approach from the woods and water.
Joseph insisted on coming.
Elena refused because of his leg.
He stood from the wheelchair.
Pain crossed his face, but he remained upright.
“You want to stop me?”
“You can barely walk.”
“I do not need to walk far.”
Mom stepped in front of him.
“You will ruin the plan.”
“I will not let Audrey enter that house alone.”
“You don’t get to become her father by dying dramatically.”
Joseph stared at her.
“Then tell me how.”
Mom’s anger vanished.
“You stay alive long enough for her to decide whether she wants you.”
The words settled between us.
I looked at Joseph.
“I want you there.”
Mom closed her eyes.
“Audrey.”
“I’m not saying I trust him. I’m saying Moretti expects him to come.”
Elena adjusted the plan.
Joseph would follow in a second vehicle with Vincent and Nicholas.
Mom would remain at the church under protection.
She objected.
This time, I made the choice.
“You protected me for twenty years. Let me protect you tonight.”
She held me for a long time.
Then she placed the Polaroid from Joseph’s wallet into my hand.
“He gave me this the night we got the tattoos.”
“Why did he have it?”
“I mailed it to him after I disappeared.”
“Why?”
“So he would remember me.”
Joseph had carried it for two decades.
That mattered more than I wanted it to.
We reached White Birch Lake before midnight.
Snow covered the ground.
The lake house stood among dark trees.
I followed Moretti’s instructions and walked to the front door alone.
Anthony searched me.
He removed my phone and coat.
He missed the tracker in my boot.
Moretti waited in the main room.
Kane, Gabriel, and Kayla were tied to chairs.
Kayla began crying when she saw me.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Moretti smiled.
“How touching.”
“Let them go.”
“You came here with nothing.”
“I came with myself.”
“Joseph’s daughter.”
“My name is Audrey.”
“Your name matters only because of his.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He was in his forties, thin and exhausted.
Teresa’s eyes were unmistakable.
“What did you see the night Marco died?”
Moretti’s smile vanished.
Gabriel looked at him.
“Victor shot Marco.”
Anthony struck the back of his chair.
Moretti raised one hand.
“Let him speak. Dead men need stories.”
Gabriel had worked at the depot as a mechanic.
He saw Moretti and Marco arguing beside a train car.
Marco wanted to confess everything to Joseph.
He planned to reveal where Rose and I lived.
Moretti shot him and ordered Gabriel killed.
Anthony, only a teenager then, could not do it.
He hid Gabriel instead.
“You saved him?” I asked Anthony.
Anthony looked away.
Moretti laughed.
“My son has always been weak.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “He was human.”
Moretti struck him.
I moved forward.
“Stop.”
Moretti looked at me.
“There it is. Joseph’s temper.”
“I am nothing like Joseph.”
“You came into my house.”
“To save people.”
“He would say the same.”
The back door opened.
Joseph entered alone.
He leaned on a cane.
Moretti’s face filled with satisfaction.
“I knew you couldn’t stay away.”
Joseph looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Then we end this.”
He placed a pistol on the floor and kicked it aside.
Moretti searched behind him.
“Where are your men?”
“Gone.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Joseph removed a flash drive.
“This contains every account, payment, and name connected to my organization.”
Vincent stared through a scope from the woods outside.
The federal team waited for Elena’s signal.
Moretti took the drive.
“What do you want?”
“Everyone in this room walks away.”
“Including you?”
“No.”
My heart stopped.
Moretti smiled.
“You offer your life?”
Joseph did not look at me.
“Yes.”
“No,” I said.
“Audrey, stay quiet.”
“You don’t get to meet me and die three days later.”
His expression almost broke.
“This is the only useful thing I can give you.”
“I don’t want it.”
Moretti raised his weapon.
Joseph stepped closer.
“Release them first.”
“Victor,” Kane said, “the memory card has already been copied.”
“I know.”
“Then this changes nothing.”
“It changes everything for me.”
Moretti pointed the weapon at Joseph’s chest.
Before Elena could give the signal, Anthony stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Moretti stared at his son.
“Move.”
“No.”
“You saved Gabriel. You hid him for eleven years.”
Anthony’s face changed.
“I would do it again.”
Moretti struck him.
Anthony did not move.
“You’re finished,” he said. “The accounts are frozen. Your officers are being arrested. There is nothing left.”
“I still have a name.”
“You destroyed it.”
Moretti turned his weapon toward Anthony.
Joseph lunged.
The weapon fired.
Windows shattered as federal agents entered.
I dropped beside Kayla.
Moretti and Joseph crashed to the floor.
Vincent reached them first.
Moretti was arrested.
Joseph lay still.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I pressed both hands against the wound.
“Look at me.”
His eyes opened.
“Audrey.”
“You don’t get to leave.”
“I tried to be useful.”
“Try being alive.”
His mouth almost formed a smile.
The paramedics arrived.
As they lifted him, he caught my hand.
“There’s something you need to know.”
“What?”
“Vincent knew where Rose was.”
Vincent froze.
May you like
Joseph’s grip weakened.
“He knew for twenty years.”
