Chapter 13 - TWO FATHERS
They returned to the estate after midnight.
Police lights covered the property.
But Lorenzo didn’t approach them.
Instead, he parked half a mile away near the old horse trails.
Sophia looked at him.
“You don’t know which cops belong to Victor.”
“Exactly.”
Mia was asleep beneath a blanket in the back seat.
Valentina had been taken to a private emergency clinic Lorenzo trusted.
She was alive.
Barely.
Sophia should have stayed with Mia.
Every instinct told her to.
But another mother’s child was missing.
And Sophia knew what that terror felt like.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
“No.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“This is my daughter.”
“And Mia was mine. You came.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
Then nodded.
They moved through the woods.
The exchange location was the family cemetery behind the estate.
Of course Victor had chosen it.
Moretti men liked conducting business among ghosts.
Carlo waited beside Lorenzo’s father’s grave.
Emma sat on the stone wall behind him.
Hands tied.
Victor stood farther back.
Alive.
His expensive coat was burned along one sleeve.
“Lorenzo.”
“Emma first.”
Victor smiled.
“The drive first.”
Lorenzo held it up.
“You kill her, I crush this.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
“You always were sentimental.”
“You say that like it’s weakness.”
“It is.”
“No. It’s why you’ll lose.”
Victor laughed.
Sophia hid behind a stone angel twenty yards away.
She watched Emma.
The girl’s eyes moved.
She saw Sophia.
Sophia pressed one finger to her lips.
Emma understood.
Lorenzo stepped forward.
Victor said, “Your father had the same self-righteous look before he died.”
Lorenzo froze.
“My father died of cancer.”
Victor shook his head.
“Your father was recovering.”
Silence.
“I accelerated the process.”
Rage crossed Lorenzo’s face.
Victor smiled.
“There he is.”
Lorenzo took another step.
Carlo pushed his gun against Emma’s head.
“Easy.”
Lorenzo stopped.
Victor held out his hand.
“The drive.”
Lorenzo tossed it.
Victor caught it.
Carlo untied Emma.
“Go.”
Emma ran.
Sophia stepped from behind the statue.
“Emma!”
The girl ran toward her.
Victor looked at Sophia.
Then at the drive.
Then smiled.
“You really think it was that easy?”
Sophia’s stomach dropped.
Carlo raised his weapon.
Not at Emma.
At Lorenzo.
A shot exploded.
Lorenzo fell.
Emma screamed.
Sophia pulled her behind the grave.
Carlo fired again.
Victor turned to leave.
Then his phone began ringing.
So did Carlo’s.
So did Sophia’s.
So did every police officer’s radio near the estate.
Lorenzo, lying in the dirt, started laughing.
Victor stopped.
“What did you do?”
Lorenzo lifted his head.
“I didn’t give you the archive.”
Victor stared at the drive.
Lorenzo smiled through the pain.
“I gave you the trigger.”
And across the country, Victor Moretti’s secrets began sending themselves to the FBI, the Justice Department, Interpol, and every major newspaper in America.
Victor’s face finally showed fear.
Then Carlo grabbed Emma again.
“If I’m going down,” he screamed, “I’m taking somebody with me!”
May you like
And he dragged her toward the cliff behind the cemetery.
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