Chapter 5 - THE DEAD DON’T STAY BURIEDVictor did not move.
Neither did Samuel.
For one impossible moment, the entire warehouse fell silent.
Giovanni Romano stood beneath the red emergency lights, looking older than every photograph I had seen but unmistakably alive.
Victor’s father.
Samuel’s brother.
The former boss of the Northern Syndicate.
The man whose funeral had shut down three blocks of Chicago eight years earlier.
“You’re dead,” Victor said.
Giovanni smiled faintly.
“That was the idea.”
Samuel laughed.
“This family has terrible luck with funerals.”
Giovanni aimed his weapon at him.
“Move away from the woman.”
Samuel spread his hands.
“Which woman?”
“Claire.”
Something in Giovanni’s tone made me look at him differently.
He knew me.
Not just my name.
He looked at me as if he had been waiting years to see my face.
Victor noticed.
“How do you know her?”
Giovanni ignored him.
“Claire Bennett.”
My hand tightened around the concrete pillar.
“Yes.”
“Your father sent me.”
I stopped breathing.
“Where is he?”
“Safe.”
“I’ve heard that word too many times.”
“I imagine you have.”
Victor stepped between us.
“You do not speak to her until you explain why you abandoned your family.”
Giovanni looked at him.
“I did not abandon you.”
“You faked your death.”
“To keep you alive.”
“You left Leo.”
“I watched Leo from a distance.”
Victor’s face changed.
“You watched my son?”
“Yes.”
“And Sofia?”
Giovanni’s expression darkened.
“I failed her.”
Victor raised his gun.
Adrian immediately moved closer.
“Boss.”
Victor ignored him.
“You knew about the bomb?”
“I knew there was a threat.”
“And you did nothing?”
“I tried.”
“You failed.”
“Yes.”
The word seemed to cost Giovanni something.
Samuel watched them with amusement.
“This reunion is touching.”
Giovanni fired.
The bullet struck the concrete beside Samuel’s head.
Samuel ducked behind machinery.
Gunfire erupted again.
Victor grabbed my arm.
“Move.”
We ran toward Daniel.
My ribs screamed.
My shoulder burned.
The entire building seemed to shake with gunfire and shouted commands.
Adrian cut Daniel’s restraints.
“Can you walk?”
Daniel grimaced.
“Define walk.”
I dropped beside him.
“You idiot.”
He looked at me.
“You’re the one wearing a mafia engagement ring.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
Then immediately winced.
Daniel’s eyes softened.
“You got shot.”
“Three times.”
“I noticed.”
Victor crouched beside us.
“We need to leave.”
Daniel looked at him.
“So you’re Victor.”
Victor nodded.
“You kidnapped me.”
“I saved you.”
“You kidnapped me politely.”
“I provided steak.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I hate that I kind of like him.”
“Don’t.”
A bullet struck nearby.
Victor shoved both of us lower.
“This conversation continues somewhere bulletproof.”
Adrian led us toward a side exit.
Before we reached it, Samuel appeared above us on a metal staircase.
He held a handgun.
“Claire!”
Victor turned instantly.
Samuel fired.
Victor pushed me down.
The bullet hit him high in the arm.
He staggered.
“Victor!”
Adrian fired back.
Samuel disappeared behind the railing.
Victor clutched his shoulder.
Blood spread through his sleeve.
I stared.
He had taken the bullet meant for me.
Our eyes met.
“Now we’re even,” he said through clenched teeth.
“That’s not funny.”
“It was a little funny.”
We escaped through the loading dock.
Black SUVs rushed toward us.
Victor’s men surrounded the area.
Giovanni emerged moments later.
Samuel did not.
Neither did several of his men.
Back at the Romano estate, Victor’s private doctor stitched his shoulder while I sat across the room with Daniel.
Elena entered.
The moment she saw Giovanni behind her, all color left her face.
She slapped him.
Hard.
Nobody spoke.
Then she slapped him again.
Giovanni accepted both.
“You let me bury you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You let your son bury you.”
“I know.”
“You let Leo grow up without a grandfather.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“You let me mourn alone.”
Giovanni looked down.
“I know.”
Elena turned away.
The anger in the room felt more dangerous than gunfire.
Victor finally spoke.
“Start talking.”
Giovanni sat.
“The organization your grandfather built was never entirely his.”
Victor frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“In the late eighties, your grandfather began working with a network that moved weapons, money, and intelligence.”
“Government?”
“Parts of it.”
“Which parts?”
“People without official names.”
Samuel had said something similar.
Giovanni continued.
“Your grandfather believed he could control them. He was wrong.”
Daniel looked at me.
I squeezed his hand.
“When Thomas Bennett audited Romano Freight,” Giovanni said, “he discovered payments connected to those shipments.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“Was he working for you?”
“No.”
Giovanni looked at me.
“He was working with me.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“I wanted out.”
Victor stared.
“You wanted to dismantle the syndicate?”
“Not the entire organization. The weapons network.”
“Why?”
“Because I discovered children were being used.”
The room went silent.
Giovanni’s face hardened.
“Samuel did not care what was inside the containers as long as the money arrived.”
Elena whispered, “I knew it.”
“He threatened Thomas.”
“So you staged the warehouse fire?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t my parents come back for us?”
Giovanni looked at me with something like pity.
“Because someone reached your aunt first.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Thomas believed you and Daniel were moved.”
“We weren’t.”
“No.”
“Who told him that?”
Giovanni hesitated.
“Your mother.”
I stared.
“My mother lied?”
“Not willingly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She was being watched.”
My pulse accelerated.
“Where is she?”
Giovanni’s silence told me before he spoke.
“Dead.”
I closed my eyes.
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
Daniel turned away.
Pain moved across his face.
We had spent nineteen years believing she died in a fire.
Now we were grieving her again.
“How?”
“She was killed protecting your father.”
I swallowed.
“And he survived?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?”
Giovanni looked at Victor.
“Your father asked me not to tell Claire until Samuel was contained.”
“He kidnapped Daniel,” I said. “I think that condition has passed.”
Giovanni nodded slowly.
“Thomas is in Wisconsin.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Wisconsin.”
I looked at him.
“Our father has been alive in Wisconsin while we were eating canned soup and fighting insurance companies.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
I stood too quickly.
Pain tore through me.
Victor moved.
I held up a hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
I looked at Giovanni.
“Give me the address.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
Giovanni did.
Two hours later, despite everyone’s objections, Victor drove me north.
Daniel stayed behind because his mobility made the trip difficult after the kidnapping.
Victor refused to let anyone else drive.
“You’re injured,” I said.
“So are you.”
“That isn’t an argument.”
“It is in this family.”
The highway stretched into darkness.
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Finally, I said, “You took a bullet for me.”
“You took three for Leo.”
“So we are not even.”
“We are not keeping score.”
“You literally said we were even.”
“I was bleeding.”
I looked out the window.
“You don’t have to marry me.”
Victor’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“You changed your mind?”
“No.”
“That sounded disappointing.”
“It sounded realistic.”
He glanced toward me.
“You do not owe me marriage because I protected you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why say it?”
I hesitated.
“Because everyone keeps deciding things for everyone else.”
Victor went quiet.
“My parents decided we were safer believing they were dead. Giovanni decided you were safer believing he was dead. You decided I’m safer wearing your ring.”
His jaw tightened.
“I see your point.”
“I want choices.”
“You have them.”
“Do I?”
He looked toward the road.
After a moment, he said, “Take the ring off.”
I stared.
“What?”
“If you want a choice, take it off.”
I slowly touched the sapphire.
“And if I do?”
“You remain protected.”
“My brother?”
“Protected.”
“Leo?”
“Will still harass you for candy.”
“And you?”
His expression did not change.
“I will survive.”
Something inside me twisted.
I did not remove the ring.
Victor noticed.
Neither of us mentioned it.
The Wisconsin address led to a cabin beside a frozen lake.
No guards were visible.
No vehicles.
Only one yellow light behind a curtain.
Victor parked fifty yards away.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“That’s my father.”
“And if it’s a trap?”
“Then you can say I told you so.”
“I will be too busy shooting people.”
We approached together.
Victor knocked.
Nothing.
He knocked again.
Footsteps moved inside.
The door opened.
An old man stood there holding a shotgun.
His hair was gray.
His face was thinner.
But I knew him.
My lungs stopped.
He stared at me.
The shotgun slowly lowered.
“Claire?”
I had imagined this moment a thousand times as a child.
I imagined running into his arms.
Crying.
Screaming.
Forgiving him.
Instead, I slapped him.
The sound cracked through the doorway.
My father did not move.
Then I hit his chest.
“You left us!”
“Claire—”
“You left us!”
He reached for me.
I backed away.
“You were alive!”
“I thought you were safe.”
“We were children!”
His face broke.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t!”
Victor remained several feet behind me.
Silent.
My father looked past me.
“Romano.”
Victor nodded.
“Thomas.”
My father’s expression changed.
“You brought her here?”
“She insisted.”
“That sounds like my daughter.”
“Don’t.”
He looked back at me.
“Claire, I need you inside.”
“I need answers.”
“You’ll get them.”
“Now.”
My father scanned the tree line.
“Not outside.”
Victor’s hand moved toward his gun.
“What are you expecting?”
My father looked at him.
“Samuel.”
“He escaped.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because he called me.”
My blood went cold.
“What did he want?”
My father’s eyes moved to my ring.
Then back to Victor.
“The same thing he has wanted for nineteen years.”
He stepped aside.
“The ledger.”
Inside the cabin, Thomas Bennett opened a hidden compartment beneath the floor.
He removed a metal case.
Then he entered a six-digit code.
Inside was a thick black book.
Old.
Worn.
Handwritten.
Victor leaned forward.
“That is what Samuel killed people for?”
My father nodded.
“Names. Accounts. Judges. Police. Senators. Contractors. Every person who profited from those shipments.”
My stomach tightened.
“And Samuel is in there?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
My father turned several pages.
Then stopped.
His face changed.
Victor saw it.
“What?”
Thomas slowly turned the ledger toward us.
One name had been underlined in red.
ADRIAN COLE.
Victor stopped breathing.
“No.”
My father looked at him.
“You trust him?”
“With my life.”
Thomas closed the ledger.
“Then you have a problem.”
Victor reached for his phone.
No signal.
My father looked toward the window.
“They jammed the area.”
“Who?”
The cabin lights went out.
Victor drew his gun.
Thomas grabbed the shotgun.
I heard vehicles outside.
Several.
Then a voice came through a loudspeaker.
Adrian’s voice.
“Boss.”
Victor went completely still.
“I need the ledger.”
The betrayal in his face was worse than anger.
Outside, Adrian continued.
“Give it to me, and Claire walks away.”
I whispered, “He knew.”
Victor looked toward the darkness.
“Yes.”
Adrian had known where Daniel was hidden.
Known my schedule.
Known the estate security.
Known every move Victor made.
Because Victor trusted him.
Outside, Adrian spoke again.
“You have sixty seconds.”
Victor lifted his weapon.
My father looked at me.
And somewhere deep inside the cabin, a tiny red light began blinking.
A bomb.
May you like
Thomas whispered, “Run.”
Then the first explosion shattered the windows.
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