Chapter 5 - Locker 428For years, Mina believed Dennis Harrow’s greatest crime was watering down tomato soup.
He removed his black gloves one finger at a time while security guards watched him from both sides of the foyer.
“Mother.”
His gaze landed on Evelyn.
Then the bandage beneath her robe.
His face changed instantly.
“What happened?”
Evelyn did not answer.
Victor moved toward her.
Marco stepped between them.
Victor stopped.
His eyebrows lifted.
“That’s new.”
“Nobody approaches her without clearance tonight.”
“I’m her son.”
“Tonight, that means less than you think.”
Victor looked at Marco for several seconds.
Then he smiled.
It never reached his eyes.
“Still loyal.”
“Always.”
Mina remained near the stairs.
Victor noticed her.
The smile vanished.
She saw recognition.
Immediate.
Undeniable.
“You,” he said.
Mina’s heartbeat quickened.
“We’ve met?”
“No.”
“Then why do you look like you know me?”
Victor recovered quickly.
“You resemble someone.”
“Who?”
He looked toward Evelyn.
“Anna.”
There it was.
No explanation needed.
Mina came down the final steps.
“You knew my mother.”
Victor stared at the pendant around her neck.
“I knew her well.”
“You knew she was alive?”
Evelyn looked sharply at him.
Victor adjusted his cuffs.
“I suspected.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s convenient.”
“Mina,” Evelyn said.
But Mina was already angry.
Her home was destroyed.
Her job was gone.
Her mother had lied to her.
Her father was murdered.
And this man had arrived before the blood on Evelyn’s coat had dried.
She pointed at his wrist.
“Where did you get that watch?”
Victor’s expression stiffened.
“My brother gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“That’s not what my mother said.”
Silence.
Marco’s attention sharpened.
Victor’s eyes moved toward Mina.
“What did Anna say?”
Mina almost answered.
Then remembered the letter.
Never trust the man who wears Gabriel’s watch.
“Nothing.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Smart.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“How did you know I was attacked?”
Victor’s face changed.
“Marco called me.”
“No, I didn’t,” Marco said.
Victor looked at him.
“Then someone from your security team.”
Marco shook his head.
“All communication was locked down.”
Victor’s jaw moved.
“A rumor, then.”
“At three-thirty in the morning?”
Evelyn’s voice had become cold.
Victor looked at his mother.
“You think I had something to do with this?”
“I think someone knew where I would be tonight.”
“And?”
“Only seven people knew.”
Victor’s smile disappeared completely.
“Careful.”
Mina watched the transformation.
The charming uncle disappeared.
Something harder took his place.
“You come into my house before dawn without being called,” Evelyn continued. “You know I was attacked before the family was notified, and you arrive wearing your dead brother’s watch.”
Victor looked toward Mina.
“You’ve been talking.”
“She has a right to know.”
“To know what? Ancient family gossip?”
“My father was murdered,” Mina said.
Victor turned.
“Your father made enemies.”
“Did you?”
Marco took one step toward Mina.
Not to stop her.
To protect her.
Victor noticed.
“Mina, I understand you’re confused.”
“I’m not confused. I’m suspicious.”
“You should be. Just not of me.”
“Then who?”
Victor hesitated.
“That’s the question your mother destroyed her life trying to answer.”
Mina stared at him.
“You know why she left?”
“Everyone knew why Anna left.”
“Evelyn said she disappeared.”
“She did.”
“Those are different answers.”
Victor looked toward his mother.
“For God’s sake, tell her.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
Victor laughed without humor.
“Still protecting Gabriel.”
“Victor.”
“He wasn’t a saint.”
“I never said he was.”
“He started the war.”
Mina stepped forward.
“What war?”
Victor looked at her.
“The one that killed your father.”
He walked toward the sitting room.
Nobody stopped him.
Perhaps because everyone wanted to hear what he would say.
He poured himself water from a crystal pitcher.
“Twenty-eight years ago, our father built Castellano Holdings from nothing.”
Mina folded her arms.
“Nothing plus organized crime?”
Victor glanced at her.
“You really are Anna’s daughter.”
“Answer.”
“We lived in a different world then.”
“That’s a yes.”
Evelyn sat slowly.
Victor continued.
“Gabriel wanted the family legitimate. No gambling. No protection money. No partnerships with certain unions. Nothing illegal.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
“It was.”
Victor looked at the watch.
“But old alliances don’t disappear because a twenty-seven-year-old decides he has principles.”
“Who opposed him?”
“Several men.”
“Names.”
Victor smiled.
“Still direct.”
“Names.”
“One was Luca Ferraro.”
Marco’s expression shifted.
Mina noticed.
“Who’s Luca?”
“Dead,” Marco said.
“Another?”
“Henry Vale.”
“Dead?”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
Victor looked at Evelyn.
“And one was our father.”
Mina turned.
“My great-grandfather killed Gabriel?”
“No.”
“But he opposed him.”
“Yes.”
“What about you?”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“I supported my brother.”
Mina looked at the watch again.
“Then why did my mother warn me about you?”
The room went silent.
Victor did not move.
Evelyn stood.
“Mina.”
Too late.
Victor’s voice dropped.
“What exactly did Anna write?”
Mina knew immediately she had made a mistake.
Marco stepped closer.
Victor smiled again.
But the warmth was gone.
“Interesting.”
Mina backed toward the stairs.
“You should leave.”
Victor looked at his mother.
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, pain appeared on his face.
“You think I would hurt you.”
“I think I don’t know what you are capable of anymore.”
Victor put on his gloves.
At the door, he turned toward Mina.
“Your mother had a talent for turning fear into certainty. Be careful you don’t inherit that.”
Mina’s stomach twisted.
He walked out.
Marco immediately ordered the gates sealed behind him.
Evelyn sat down.
“You should not have mentioned the letter.”
“I noticed.”
“He’ll assume you have evidence.”
“Do I?”
Nobody answered.
Mina rubbed her forehead.
“Can we go back to the café now?”
Marco shook his head.
“Not without a plan.”
“I have a plan.”
He waited.
“We go in. We find whatever my mother hid. We leave.”
“That is not a plan.”
“That is exactly a plan.”
“That’s a list of actions.”
Mina stared at him.
“You are exhausting.”
One of the younger guards approached.
“Marco.”
He held out a tablet.
“We pulled traffic cameras near the café.”
Mina moved closer.
Video showed the black SUV from earlier.
The same two men.
Then another image appeared.
A sedan parked across the street thirty minutes before Evelyn arrived.
Someone sat behind the wheel.
Marco zoomed in.
Victor.
Mina’s blood ran cold.
“He was there.”
Evelyn whispered, “Before I was attacked.”
Marco nodded.
“He lied.”
Mina looked toward the front doors.
Victor had not come because he heard Evelyn was hurt.
He already knew where she would be.
Maybe even why.
Marco’s phone rang again.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked directly at Mina.
“What?”
“The Midnight Cup is on fire.”
For a second, Mina could not process the words.
Then she ran toward the door.
Marco grabbed her arm.
“Let go.”
“No.”
“My mother hid something there!”
“That’s why they burned it.”
Mina fought him.
“She worked there for nine years. Everything she left me keeps disappearing!”
Evelyn stood behind them.
“Marco.”
“No.”
“Take us.”
“Mrs. Castellano—”
“Take us.”
Twenty minutes later, they stood across the street as flames poured through the roof of the Midnight Cup.
Firefighters attacked the blaze.
Mina watched the windows shatter.
Her job.
Her routine.
The booth where she studied in high school.
The counter where her mother taught her to make hot chocolate.
Gone.
Dennis stood near a fire truck screaming about insurance.
Mina barely heard him.
Then she saw something.
The old wooden plaque behind the counter had fallen outward when part of the front wall collapsed.
It landed near the sidewalk.
Charred.
Broken.
But intact enough.
Mina moved before Marco could stop her.
A firefighter shouted.
She waited until he waved them back.
Then she pointed.
“That.”
Marco followed her gaze.
The plaque had split down the center.
Inside the hollow wood was something metal.
A narrow brass tube.
Marco retrieved it with gloved hands.
Mina opened it.
Inside was a tiny key.
And a strip of paper.
Three handwritten words.
UNION STATION. 428.
Mina stared.
“A locker.”
Marco nodded.
Evelyn looked around the burning café.
“Then we go before Victor does.”
A voice spoke behind them.
“Too late.”
They turned.
Dennis stood there.
His face covered in soot.
In his hand was a pistol.
And beside him stood the same two men who had come to the café hours earlier.
Mina’s stomach dropped.
May you like
Dennis looked at her.
“You always were too curious.”
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