Chapter 17 - The Cost of the Truth
The evidence clerk was named Samuel Price. He had been scheduled to testify about the port contracts, and he had access to the digital files that could connect Vale to the kidnappings.
Rebecca believed Vale would try to leave the country before dawn.
Lorenzo wanted to find him first.
“You don't get to settle this with a gun,” Rebecca warned.
“I don't intend to.”
“You've spent twenty years making people disappear.”
“And I'm done.”
Luca watched him carefully. “Then prove it.”
Lorenzo handed Rebecca every account number, every property record, and every name he knew. It was the first time he had opened his entire organization to an outside investigator. The move would destroy much of his empire. It might also keep more people alive.
At the safe house, Anna and Mia sat together at the kitchen table. They were learning each other's habits again. Mia liked her toast burned. Anna took tea without sugar. Neither knew what to say when the conversation went quiet.
Lorenzo stood in the doorway.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked Anna.
She nodded.
“I should have found you.”
“You were grieving.”
“I was angry.”
“You were both.”
He looked at Mia. “I don't know how to be around a child.”
Anna smiled sadly. “Then start by being honest.”
Before he could answer, Mia called from the table.
“Mr. Lorenzo?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you still my bodyguard?”
He considered the question.
“No. I think I'm your friend.”
“Friends can still guard people.”
“That's true.”
Her smile appeared, small but certain.
Then the television interrupted them. A breaking-news banner announced that Councilman Vale had been spotted near the harbor. The screen showed a live image of a warehouse and a police blockade.
Rebecca's phone rang.
“Vale has Price,” she said. “He's demanding a car and safe passage.”
Lorenzo looked at Mia.
On the television, a second figure appeared in the warehouse window.
May you like
It was Peter.
And he was holding a white flag.
