Chapter 6 - Catherine HayesAmelia had one photograph of her mother.
He had experienced difficult mornings before.
This was new.
“Don't move,” a voice said.
Raymond opened his eyes.
Dark concrete ceiling.
Old brick walls.
A single hanging bulb.
His wrists were tied behind a metal chair.
He remembered drinking at a bar in Red Hook.
A man had approached him.
Said he knew Amelia.
Said there was money available if Raymond wanted to “make things uncomfortable” for Castellano.
Raymond had agreed to meet.
Then darkness.
Now this.
Across the room stood a man in a gray wool coat.
Early forties.
Lean.
Almost elegant.
A thin scar crossed his lower lip.
“My name is Gabriel Santoro.”
Raymond swallowed.
“Never heard of you.”
Gabriel smiled.
“That’s intentional.”
He nodded toward the man holding the pistol.
The weapon disappeared.
Raymond exhaled.
“Look, whatever this is, I don't know Castellano.”
“But you know Amelia.”
Raymond’s expression hardened.
“She belongs to me.”
Gabriel’s smile vanished.
“No one belongs to you.”
Even Raymond looked surprised.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I dislike men who confuse cruelty with ownership.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because cruelty is useful when aimed correctly.”
Raymond stared.
Gabriel placed a photograph on the table.
Amelia entering Bellini House.
Another photograph.
Lucian walking behind her.
Another.
Amelia leaving the hospital in Lucian’s jacket.
Raymond’s face twisted.
“That bastard.”
Gabriel watched carefully.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The jealousy.”
Raymond leaned forward.
“You said there was money.”
“There is.”
“For what?”
“To keep Lucian distracted.”
Raymond smiled slowly.
“Through Amelia.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Raymond misunderstood the silence as approval.
“I can do that.”
“I know.”
“How much?”
“Enough to disappear.”
“I don’t want to disappear.”
“You should.”
Raymond frowned.
Gabriel leaned down.
“Because when this is finished, either Lucian Castellano will be ruined or you will be dead.”
Raymond’s smile faded.
Before he could respond, pounding sounded somewhere beyond the wall.
Gabriel straightened.
His security man opened a hidden door.
Whispered urgently.
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“Castellano?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at Raymond.
“Apparently, you’re worth rescuing.”
Raymond grinned.
Gabriel laughed.
“No.”
He picked up his coat.
“He isn't coming for you.”
Above them, Lucian entered Bellini House through the kitchen.
Carlo met him near the pantry.
“Tunnel entrance is open.”
“How?”
“Original locking mechanism.”
“Only three keys existed.”
“Now four, apparently.”
Lucian removed his jacket.
“Where’s Raymond?”
“Thirty yards east.”
“And Santoro?”
“With him.”
Lucian entered the pantry.
Behind a shelving unit, workers had exposed an iron door hidden within brick.
Lucian remembered touching it as a child.
His father had slapped his hand away.
Never open doors you don't understand.
It had been one of Alfonso Castellano’s favorite sayings.
Lucian stepped inside.
Carlo followed with two men.
The tunnel smelled of damp stone and rust.
Old electrical wiring ran along the ceiling.
They moved slowly.
At the first junction, a voice echoed.
“Lucian.”
He stopped.
Gabriel Santoro emerged from darkness.
Lucian stared at him.
The resemblance was faint but unmistakable.
Vincent’s eyes.
Vincent’s long face.
“Gabriel,” Lucian said.
The man smiled.
“So you remember me.”
“I remember a twelve-year-old at a funeral.”
“You were sixteen.”
“Yes.”
“My father hated yours.”
“I remember that too.”
Gabriel spread his arms.
“Look at us now.”
Lucian’s gaze moved past him.
“Where’s Raymond?”
“Why?”
“The police want him.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Still pretending to be respectable.”
“Still pretending to be dead?”
Gabriel’s smile thinned.
Carlo shifted.
Lucian continued.
“Everyone heard you died in Sicily.”
“Everyone hears what they’re told.”
“What do you want?”
“Same thing my father wanted.”
“The tunnel?”
“No.”
Gabriel glanced around.
“This tunnel is worthless.”
“Then Bellini House?”
“Also worthless.”
Lucian’s eyes narrowed.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I want the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one your father stole.”
Lucian’s pulse remained steady.
“I don’t have it.”
“You’ve always been a poor liar.”
“And you’ve always overestimated your family’s importance.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Good.
Lucian wanted him angry.
Angry men revealed things.
“What’s on the ledger?” Lucian asked.
“You know.”
“Humor me.”
Gabriel paced.
“Names. Payments. Judges. Contractors. Shipping companies. Men whose children now sit in city government.”
Lucian’s mind raced.
The page in his safe was only a fragment.
There was more.
“You think my father kept it?”
“I know he did.”
“How?”
“Because Amelia Hayes exists.”
Lucian’s expression sharpened.
“Explain.”
Gabriel smiled again.
“Ask her mother.”
Then he stepped backward.
Lucian advanced.
“What does Amelia’s mother have to do with this?”
Gabriel’s smile widened.
“Everything.”
A sudden metallic crash sounded from the side tunnel.
Carlo shouted.
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Lucian moved instinctively.
A gunshot cracked.
Then another.
Someone slammed into him.
He drove an elbow backward and heard a groan.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Gabriel was gone.
Raymond remained tied to the chair.
Blood ran from his forehead.
“Get me out!”
Lucian ignored him.
Carlo appeared.
“Boss.”
“You hit?”
“No.”
“Anyone?”
“One of ours took a graze.”
Lucian looked toward the passage where Gabriel disappeared.
“Follow?”
Carlo shook his head.
“He knows these tunnels better than we do.”
Raymond started shouting.
“Untie me!”
Lucian finally turned.
Raymond’s face changed.
For the first time, they were alone enough for fear to become personal.
“You promised her,” Carlo murmured.
Lucian clenched his jaw.
He remembered Amelia’s words.
Let the police handle him.
Lucian cut Raymond’s restraints.
Raymond blinked.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Lucian grabbed his collar.
Raymond flinched.
Lucian pulled him close.
“I want you to understand something.”
Raymond tried to look defiant.
Failed.
“You touch Amelia again,” Lucian said quietly, “and I will not hurt you.”
Raymond looked confused.
Lucian continued.
“I’ll hand every piece of evidence about you to every woman you've ever terrorized, every detective who ever suspected you, every employer you ever lied to, and every court willing to hear them.”
Raymond stared.
“I will make sure the truth follows you longer than violence ever could.”
Lucian released him.
“That is worse.”
Ten minutes later, police arrested Raymond near the restaurant’s basement exit.
Detective Ortiz was furious.
“You went into a tunnel where armed suspects were hiding?”
Lucian shrugged.
“I was checking my plumbing.”
Ortiz stared at him.
“I dislike you.”
“You're not alone.”
Amelia called during the argument.
Lucian stepped aside.
“Are you okay?”
Her voice was tense.
“Kevin said there were police cars at Bellini.”
“I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
“I found Raymond.”
A pause.
“You didn't hurt him?”
“No.”
“You swear?”
“Yes.”
She exhaled.
“Thank you.”
Lucian closed his eyes.
Why did that single sentence affect him more than threats ever had?
“Amelia.”
“Yes?”
“We need to talk about your mother.”
Silence.
“My mother died when I was nine.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Gabriel Santoro mentioned her.”
Another silence.
Longer.
Amelia’s voice changed.
“Who is Gabriel Santoro?”
“Someone connected to my father’s murder.”
“And my mother?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Amelia whispered, “Her name was Catherine Hayes.”
Lucian stopped breathing.
Because that name he knew.
Catherine Hayes had testified secretly before a federal grand jury twenty-two years ago.
May you like
Three days before Alfonso Castellano was murdered.
And according to the case file Lucian had hidden in his safe all these years, Catherine Hayes had vanished the very same night.
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