Chapter 6 - MY SISTER DIED BECAUSE OF MY FAMILY
I found Salvatore at his private club.
He hugged me.
That almost made me kill him.
Instead, I sat.
Whiskey between us.
“Trouble at the estate?”
“Nothing serious.”
He studied me.
Salvatore had survived fifty-seven years by noticing lies before they finished leaving mouths.
“You look tired.”
“I have a three-year-old living in my house.”
He laughed.
“The maid’s kid?”
My expression stayed neutral.
“How do you know?”
His smile paused.
“Dominic mentioned it.”
Of course.
I changed subjects.
“Elena ever speak to you about Evan Carter?”
Silence.
Tiny.
Enough.
“The mechanic?”
“You remember.”
“Your sister asked questions about everybody.”
“What questions?”
He poured himself another drink.
“Murphy, why are we talking about ghosts?”
There.
Fear.
Not grief.
I leaned back.
“Because ghosts keep opening bank boxes.”
His eyes hardened.
I had pushed too far.
“You found the box.”
Not a question.
“Which box?”
He stood.
Conversation over.
“Go home.”
“Did you kill her?”
He froze.
The entire club seemed to disappear.
Slowly, Salvatore turned.
“No.”
“Did you order someone to?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was investigating you?”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“She found missing money.”
“How much?”
“Twenty million.”
I laughed.
“Elena died over twenty million?”
“No.”
He looked suddenly older.
“She found what the money paid for.”
“What?”
Salvatore stared at me.
“Your father’s murder.”
The room tilted.
My father died when I was nineteen.
Warehouse fire.
Rival attack.
That event put Salvatore in charge until I was old enough to take control.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
According to Salvatore, my father had discovered someone inside the family was selling information to federal agents and rival crews.
He prepared to remove them.
Before he could, the warehouse burned.
Years later Elena found payments connecting the arson crew to Moretti accounts.
“Whose accounts?”
Salvatore looked away.
“Mine.”
I stood.
He raised his hands.
“I didn’t authorize them.”
“Convenient.”
“I spent years trying to find who used my access.”
“Dominic?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
I believed him less than I wanted to.
Then the club doors opened.
Dominic entered.
Too early.
He saw me with Salvatore.
Everything changed.
Dominic reached inside his jacket.
I moved first.
Table overturned.
Gunfire.
Glass exploded.
Salvatore fell.
Blood on his shoulder.
Dominic ran through the kitchen.
I followed until my phone rang.
Allie.
I answered while running.
“Murphy!”
Lily was crying in the background.
“What happened?”
“Someone’s in the house.”
I stopped dead.
The club attack was a distraction.
“Where are you?”
“Your office.”
Of all places.
The forbidden room.
“Lock the door.”
“I did.”
“Do not open it.”
Footsteps sounded through her phone.
Then a man’s voice.
“Allie?”
She stopped breathing.
I heard her whisper:
“Evan.”
May you like
Her dead husband had finally come home.
And he was standing outside my locked office.
