Chapter 7 - THE CUFF LINK
Midnight came with rain.
Raphael stood at Pier 17 with Clara beside him.
Milo and six men were hidden beyond the warehouses.
Clara was furious when she learned.
“You promised no tricks.”
“I promised Noel comes home.”
A black sedan arrived.
Anthony Morelli stepped out.
Bianca did not.
Neither did Noel.
Anthony held Clara’s tin box.
Raphael stared at him.
“You killed my father.”
Anthony’s face tightened.
“No.”
“The cuff link.”
“Was mine.”
“So?”
“I was there after he was hit.”
Raphael stepped closer.
“Why?”
Anthony’s hands trembled.
“Because your father called me.”
That answer made no sense.
“He was dying.”
“No. He was alive for nearly twenty minutes.”
Raphael froze.
Police reports said his father died almost instantly.
Anthony continued.
“Your father knew the car wasn’t an accident.”
“Who drove it?”
Anthony looked toward Clara.
“Her father.”
Clara went still.
“My father died when I was a baby.”
“No.”
Anthony’s voice softened.
“That’s what your mother told you.”
Clara stared at him.
“Who was he?”
Anthony swallowed.
“Victor Salvi.”
Raphael felt something cold move through him.
Clara was Victor Salvi’s daughter.
The man secretly financing Bianca.
The enemy who had spent decades trying to control the harbor.
Clara stumbled backward.
“No.”
Anthony lifted both hands.
“Your mother fled him before you were born. She changed your name. Victor found you when you were nineteen.”
The memories came faster now.
A man in a restaurant.
A hand around Clara’s wrist.
A voice saying she owed him obedience because she carried his blood.
Then Anthony admitted the rest.
“Victor ordered Raphael’s father killed. Years later, when he found out you had discovered the coat, he ordered me to recover it.”
“You pushed me.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Raphael moved so fast Milo appeared from the shadows.
Clara grabbed Raphael’s sleeve.
“No.”
“He crippled you.”
“I know.”
“He terrorized you.”
“I know.”
“Then let go.”
“No.”
Her eyes met his.
“If you become exactly what they say you are, then they win.”
Raphael stopped.
Anthony began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Then a child’s voice came from inside the warehouse.
“Mommy!”
Clara ran.
Raphael followed.
Noel stood beside Daniel Mercer.
Alive.
Clara dropped to her knees and pulled her daughter against her.
Daniel looked at Raphael.
“We need to leave.”
“Where’s Bianca?”
“Gone.”
“What did she take?”
Daniel handed him an empty leather cover.
Raphael recognized it.
His father’s notebook.
Bianca had found it.
May you like
And the last page contained one name Raphael never expected.
DORA KESLER.
