Chapter 4 - THE BLUE FOLDER IN THE COAT
"What blue papers?" Luca demanded, his eyes never leaving Marcus’s gun. Vanessa, still pinned against Marcus’s chest with the barrel at her head, squeezed her eyes shut. "The prenuptial addendum," she choked out, her voice trembling with terror. "Marcus had a lawyer draft it. It transferred ownership of the Southside shipping ports to me upon our marriage. I was supposed to slip it into the stack of wedding documents for you to sign tonight." Luca’s jaw tightened. The Southside ports. The crown jewel of the Moretti empire. The only clean, legitimate billion-dollar asset the family owned. Marcus didn't just want to steal from Luca. He wanted to legally strip him of his greatest asset, using Vanessa as the Trojan horse. "Once you signed it," Marcus sneered, his grip tightening on Vanessa, "she would own the ports. And tomorrow morning, you were going to have a tragic accident on your honeymoon. Vanessa inherits the rest, and I take it all from her." Helen gasped, clutching her chest. "You were going to murder him? You used my daughter to plan a murder?" "Your daughter is a greedy fool," Marcus spat. "She would have done anything to live in this house." "Where are the papers?" Luca asked. I looked down at Lily. The stiff, crackling sound inside the oversized red coat. "They're in the coat," I said aloud. I didn't wait for permission. I unbuttoned Lily's heavy wool coat and pulled it off her shoulders. I turned the coat inside out. There, poorly stitched into the inner lining, was a massive hidden pocket. I tore the seam. A thick, blue legal folder slid out onto the floor. But something else fell out with it. It wasn't a document. It was a heavy, gold pocket watch with a cracked glass face. As the watch hit the hardwood, the back popped open. Helen Bellini looked down at the watch near my feet. Her breath hitched. "Where..." Helen whispered, her voice shaking violently. "Where did you get that watch?" Marcus glared at the elderly woman. "Keep your mouth shut." But Helen couldn't look away. She fell to her knees, reaching out with trembling fingers to pick up the broken gold timepiece. "This is my husband's watch," Helen cried, looking up at Marcus with pure horror. "He lost it the night he was killed in the hit-and-run twenty years ago. The police said they never found the driver." The dining room fell into a stunned, suffocating silence. The reversal was dizzying. Marcus hadn't just manipulated Vanessa. He hadn't just betrayed Luca. "You killed my father?" Vanessa screamed, fighting against Marcus’s grip. "You killed him?" "He was a drunk who owed my crew money!" Marcus roared, struggling to hold her as she thrashed wildly. "I ran him down to collect the debt! I kept the watch to remind me of my first kill. It was poetry, Vanessa! I killed your father, and then I made you my pawn!" Vanessa went feral. She didn't care about the gun at her head anymore. She threw her head back, slamming her skull directly into Marcus's nose with a sickening crunch. Marcus yelled in pain, stumbling backward and dropping his weapon. Luca moved faster than I could track. He closed the distance in two massive strides. He drove his fist into Marcus’s throat, sweeping the underboss's legs out from under him. Marcus hit the floor hard. Luca's knee came down instantly on Marcus’s chest, pinning him to the ground. The two security guards rushed forward, dragging Vanessa away to safety. "Hannah!" Luca shouted, not taking his eyes off Marcus. "Get the gun!" I scrambled across the floor, my hands shaking, and grabbed the heavy black pistol. I held it awkwardly, but I kept the barrel pointed at the floor. Luca grabbed Marcus by the collar, pulling his bleeding face up. "You killed my mother," Luca growled. "You killed Vanessa's father. You used a child to smuggle a fraudulent contract into my house." Marcus coughed, blood staining his teeth. "You can't kill me, Luca," he wheezed. "You kill me, and my men will burn this city to the ground. The police are on my payroll. I have insurance." Helen wrapped her arms around Vanessa, the two women sobbing together on the floor. "You have nothing," Luca said coldly. "I have the ledger," Marcus spat, grinning through the blood. Luca froze. "What ledger?" "The black book," Marcus sneered. "Every bribe, every hit, every offshore account the Moretti family has touched for thirty years. If I don't check in with my lawyer by midnight, that ledger goes to the FBI. You'll spend the rest of your life in a federal penitentiary." The answer was revealed: Marcus had an insurance policy that protected him from Luca's wrath. But the open question was: Where was the ledger? I looked down at the blue folder I had pulled from Lily's coat. I opened it. There were legal documents inside. But tucked behind the heavy cardstock was a strange, faded photograph. I pulled it out. It was a picture of Marcus, standing in a familiar-looking hospital room. He was handing a thick, black leather-bound book to a man in a white doctor's coat. I squinted at the background of the photograph. My blood ran cold. "Mr. Moretti," I whispered. Luca glanced up at me. "I know where the ledger is."
