Chapter 10 - A Gunshot in the Rain
Aunt Teresa had always smelled like gardenias and disapproval.
At my mother's funeral, she had hugged Claire for a long time and kissed my cheek as if checking a box. Then she vanished from our lives.
Now she sat beside a criminal with a diamond bracelet around her wrist.
"You knew," I said.
Teresa lifted her wine. "I knew your mother had a talent for making dangerous men feel ashamed of themselves. It was exhausting."
Claire looked at me. "Nora, don't give them anything."
Vincent touched her shoulder again.
Stefano's voice went cold. "Move your hand."
Vincent smiled. "Still pretending you're different from your father?"
"No. I'm making sure you understand which mistakes are fatal."
The room went silent.
Vincent gestured to two empty chairs. "Sit. We are civilized people."
"You shot at us twenty minutes ago," I said.
"That was before dinner."
I hated him immediately.
We sat.
Vincent explained it like a family business dispute. My mother, Ruth, had worked as a bookkeeper for a parish charity. She discovered money moving through church accounts. Paula, already running from her father, found proof that Vincent was stealing from Stefano's family and using the same network to pay corrupt officials.
"Ruth could have walked away," Vincent said. "Instead, she became righteous."
Teresa snorted. "She always did love a cause."
"And you?" I asked my aunt.
"I loved your mother. I also loved not being poor."
That sentence hurt more than I expected.
Vincent extended his hand. "The original ledger."
I put the decoy on the table.
He opened it, turned three pages, and smiled.
"You think I don't know Ruth's handwriting?"
Everything exploded at once.
Vincent overturned the table. Stefano pulled me down. Claire grabbed a wine bottle and smashed it into the face of the man behind her. Guests screamed and scattered.
A gun fired.
Teresa shrieked.
Stefano dragged me through a service door into the kitchen. Marco's men flooded the club from two entrances.
"Claire!" I screamed.
"I'm here!" she yelled from behind us.
We ran into the rain.
Then Stefano staggered.
His hand went to his side.
Blood spread between his fingers.
"No. No, no, no."
He leaned against the brick wall.
"It's not bad."
"You are bleeding through a thousand-dollar suit. It is bad."
Claire stared at him, stunned.
A black car screeched into the alley.
Marco opened the door.
As we shoved Stefano inside, he caught my wrist.
"Nora."
"Save your strength."
"The woman at the table. Teresa. She wasn't your aunt."
I froze.
"What?"
May you like
His eyes were already losing focus.
"She was Paula's mother."
