Chapter 9 - The Doctor's BetrayalMercer vanished from Saint Gabriel at 12:42 a.m.
This time Dante was ready.
The FBI had joined the investigation after financial records from Lang's property revealed interstate transfers and federal healthcare fraud.
Detective Kim sat near the ICU door.
Marco stood beside Dante.
Elena remained in the room because Dante refused to take the call without her.
“Why her?” Marco had asked.
Dante answered simply.
“Because she's the only person here who saved me without wanting something.”
Elena pretended the sentence hadn't affected her.
The call appeared.
Carlo's face filled the screen.
“You found Lang's house.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I expected you to.”
“Where's my mother?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Carlo turned the camera.
Maria sat at a dining table.
This time she looked stronger.
She stared directly at Dante.
“Don't give him the key.”
Carlo struck her.
Elena gasped.
Dante surged upright despite his wounds.
“Touch her again and—”
Carlo turned back.
“Control yourself.”
“You hit her again, I will burn every dollar you ever hid.”
Carlo smiled.
“There he is.”
“What?”
“My son.”
“I am nothing like you.”
“Every angry man says that about his father.”
Dante's voice turned cold.
“What does the key open?”
Carlo studied him.
“You truly don't know.”
“No.”
“That means Vincent took it.”
“Vincent's missing.”
A pause.
Carlo's expression changed almost imperceptibly.
“You didn't take him?”
“No.”
“Then we have a problem.”
“You and I already have several.”
Carlo leaned closer.
“Vincent knows where the archive is.”
“What archive?”
“The Phoenix records.”
Elena realized.
“The key opens it.”
Carlo heard her.
“The nurse.”
Elena stiffened.
“You've caused considerable trouble.”
“You tried to kill my patient.”
Carlo chuckled.
“Your patient?”
“Yes.”
“That possessiveness might become dangerous.”
Dante's eyes hardened.
“Speak to me.”
Carlo smiled.
“Protective already.”
Elena ignored the implication.
“Did you order the shooting?”
Carlo's smile faded.
“No.”
Dante stared.
“Then who?”
“Vincent.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Bull.”
Carlo recognized him.
“Marco Bellini. Still loyal.”
“More than you.”
Carlo laughed softly.
“Ask Dante how his convoy route leaked.”
Dante looked at Marco.
Marco's face went white.
“I didn't—”
Carlo continued.
“Six people knew. One was Vincent.”
“That proves nothing,” Dante said.
“He arranged your mother's accident.”
“So Mercer claims.”
“He arranged mine too.”
“Convenient.”
Carlo's eyes narrowed.
“You think I wanted to leave my family?”
“I think you enjoyed controlling us from the shadows.”
For the first time, anger cracked Carlo's composure.
“You inherited a city because I bled for it.”
“I inherited graves.”
Silence.
Carlo recovered.
“Find Vincent. Find the key. Then we can trade.”
“For my mother?”
“For everything.”
The call ended.
Marco paced.
“He's lying.”
“Probably,” Dante said.
Elena looked at the screen.
“But not about everything.”
Dante turned.
“What did you notice?”
“When you said Vincent was missing, Carlo looked surprised.”
“So?”
“He didn't know.”
Kim nodded.
“I saw it too.”
Elena continued.
“And when he accused Vincent of ordering your shooting, he had the answer ready. Too ready.”
Dante stared at her.
“You think he's trying to make us chase Vincent.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Vincent has something he wants.”
“The key.”
“Or the truth.”
They searched Vincent's apartment.
Empty.
His office.
Empty.
A Moretti warehouse.
Nothing.
Then Elena remembered something.
Vincent had been the only person who called Dante “my nephew” instead of “boss.”
Family mattered to him.
Where would he go if he believed everyone else was compromised?
She asked Dante about places from his childhood.
Dante reluctantly gave names.
Restaurants.
A church.
An abandoned boxing gym.
A house in South Phoenix where his grandmother once lived.
They found Vincent there.
Alive.
Bleeding from a gunshot through the shoulder.
He pointed a pistol at Marco when they entered.
“Easy,” Dante said.
Vincent's eyes filled with relief.
“You're alive.”
“You knew that.”
“Not after they took me.”
“Who?”
“Lang's men.”
Dante sat carefully.
“My father says you ordered the ambush.”
Vincent laughed bitterly.
“Of course he does.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“My mother's crash?”
“No.”
“His explosion?”
“No.”
Dante stared.
“Then who?”
Vincent's expression broke.
“Your father.”
Silence.
“He arranged all of it.”
“Why would he try to kill my mother?”
“He didn't.”
Vincent swallowed.
“The crash was staged.”
Dante went still.
“Maria agreed.”
“What?”
“She and Carlo wanted out.”
“Out of what?”
“The organization.”
Dante looked stunned.
Vincent continued.
“Carlo had made promises to people far above us. Politicians. executives. financiers. He couldn't simply retire. So he created the Phoenix system.”
“Fake deaths.”
“Yes.”
“Then why leave me?”
Vincent's eyes lowered.
“That was the part I never forgave him for.”
Dante's voice hardened.
“Why?”
“He needed someone visible to inherit the family.”
Dante stared.
“A decoy.”
Vincent didn't answer.
Dante understood.
His own father had left him at seventeen to become the public face of a criminal empire while Carlo disappeared.
Every rival.
Every investigation.
Every revenge attempt.
They targeted Dante.
Not Carlo.
“He used me.”
“Yes.”
Marco looked sick.
Vincent pulled something from his pocket.
The brass key.
Elena stared.
“You took it.”
“No. Keller took it. I took it from Keller before he went to B4.”
“Why not tell us?”
“Because I didn't know who to trust.”
He handed the key to Dante.
“It opens a deposit vault at First Arizona Trust.”
“What is inside?”
“Carlo's archive.”
“Evidence?”
“Enough to destroy the Phoenix network.”
Dante's fingers closed around the key.
“And my mother?”
Vincent looked toward the floor.
“There is something else you need to know.”
Dante's expression tightened.
“What?”
“Maria isn't being held because Carlo kidnapped her.”
Elena's stomach dropped.
Vincent whispered:
“She stayed with him willingly for fourteen years.”
Dante went perfectly still.
“No.”
“She wanted to come back to you. He convinced her it would get you killed.”
“Then she's still a prisoner.”
“In a way.”
Dante looked at the key.
“Where is the vault?”
Vincent gave the address.
Fifteen minutes later, Marco returned from speaking with FBI agents.
His face was grim.
“The bank called.”
Dante looked up.
“What?”
“Someone accessed the vault twenty minutes ago.”
Dante's hand opened.
The brass key lay in his palm.
Impossible.
Marco continued.
“They didn't use the key.”
“How?”
“Executive override.”
Elena knew the answer before anyone said it.
Stephen Lang.
Dante looked toward the window.
“Find him.”
Marco's phone buzzed.
A bank security image appeared.
A man walking away carrying a metal case.
May you like
Not Stephen Lang.
Dr. Harold Mercer.
