Chapter 6 - JULIAN'S FATHER ORDERED THE CRASH
Julian refused to believe it.
Not emotionally.
Logically.
“My father hired Tommy.”
Holloway nodded.
“And then Tommy found something Augustus didn’t want found.”
The ledger had two layers.
Vincent’s revived trafficking network.
And something else.
A reserve account Augustus controlled personally.
Dileia traced it.
Payments to widows.
Children.
Former dock workers.
Medical bills.
Housing.
Hundreds of quiet transfers.
At first, it looked compassionate.
Then she saw the names.
Families of people harmed by Harbor 17.
Augustus had been paying restitution privately for decades.
Not because a court ordered it.
Because he knew what his family had done.
“Why kill Tommy over that?”
Holloway looked at Julian.
“Because Tommy wanted to go public.”
Augustus feared public exposure would destroy legitimate businesses employing thousands and trigger retaliation from Vincent.
So he ordered Holloway to frighten Tommy.
Not kill him.
Dileia closed her eyes.
She already knew where this kind of story went.
“What did you do?”
“I refused.”
Holloway contacted Tommy privately.
Warned him.
Tommy planned to leave Chicago with Dileia and Ruth.
Then someone else sabotaged the car.
Augustus believed Holloway had done it.
Holloway believed Augustus had changed his mind.
Neither knew the truth.
Until recently.
“Who cut the brakes?”
Holloway placed a photograph on the table.
A mechanic entering Tommy’s garage the night before the crash.
Employee of Salenzo Marchetti.
Dileia turned.
Salenzo looked devastated.
“No.”
Julian’s voice became cold.
“Salenzo.”
“I sent him.”
Dileia’s stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“To inspect the car.”
“Before or after somebody sabotaged it?”
Salenzo covered his face.
He had learned Vincent’s people were watching Tommy.
He sent a mechanic to install a tracker and check the vehicle.
The mechanic reported nothing.
Hours later Tommy crashed.
The mechanic disappeared.
Everyone assumed guilt.
Then Dileia remembered something Tommy once told her.
His brakes had felt “soft” for days before the accident.
Not one-night sabotage.
Gradual.
Maybe someone had tampered with service work earlier.
They pulled maintenance records.
Tommy’s car had been serviced twelve days before his death.
Shop owner:
Marchetti Auto.
Salenzo’s nephew.
Another family connection.
But the invoice had been paid by a corporate account.
Thorne Foundation.
Authorized by:
Raymond Thorne.
Raymond stopped breathing.
“I never authorized that.”
Dileia stared.
Another forged transaction.
Then the signature image appeared.
Perfect.
Too perfect.
Someone had been using senior Thorne identities to move money and create false evidence for years.
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Tommy had not been tracing one thief.
He had been tracing a person who could impersonate all of them.
