Chapter 4 - THE ARTIFACT IN THE ATTIC
While Dominic Moretti spun his webs of conspiracy in Little Village, Kaya Bennett was fast asleep in a plush, heated bed in the private wing of Northwestern Memorial, her exhausted mother, Elena, keeping vigil by her side, stunned and weeping tears of relief as doctors confirmed Vera’s surgery was fully funded and scheduled for noon.
Back at Thornwood Lane, Daniel Choi sat in his sprawling study, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and glowing computer monitors.
He hadn't slept. He sat in his custom wheelchair, staring at a faded black-and-white photograph resting on his desk. It was a picture taken in 2005, back when he still walked, standing beside Vera Castillo outside a modest union hall on the South Side. In the background, a small metal lockbox sat on a wooden crate.
"Boss," Theo said, stepping quietly into the study and closing the heavy oak door behind him. "We've got eyes on the Little Village crew. Dominic Moretti has been making calls all morning. He’s sniffing around Vera Castillo’s background. He knows she’s in our care."
Daniel didn't look up from the photograph. "Let him sniff. A dog chasing a ghost only ends up lost in the graveyard."
"He might try to dig into her old apartment," Theo warned, his brow furrowed with concern. "The city condemned those brick tenements on 4th Street last month, but the tenants' belongings were moved to a municipal storage facility off Racine Avenue. If Moretti gets his hands on Vera’s archive—old papers, union ledgers, personal notes—he might find something we missed."
Daniel’s gaze sharpened. Twenty-two years ago, when he helped Vera escape the corrupt union bosses, she had entrusted him with a small safety deposit box containing documents detailing kickbacks, political bribes, and illegal land grabs involving the very city officials who later helped build Daniel's early real estate empire. Daniel had locked those documents away, intending to use them as insurance, but had long since forgotten about them as his legitimate wealth eclipsed the underworld entirely.
If Dominic Moretti found those ledgers, he wouldn't just use them to blackmail Daniel; he could tear down the delicate legal architecture protecting the Harbor Crown Corporation.
"Theo," Daniel said, his voice dropping into a chilling register. "Take a team to the Racine storage facility. Clear it out before Moretti's men even cross the river. I want every box, every paper, every scrap of history brought here."
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"And if Moretti's men are already there?" Theo asked, his hand drifting slightly toward his jacket.
"Then show them why people stopped whispering my name twenty years ago," Daniel replied evenly.
