THE TICKING SHADOWS

Silas froze, the cold steel of Valente’s barrel pressed tight against his throat. The three guards in the room drew their weapons, but they hesitated, guns aimed at the floor. In the Carmine family, drawing on a blood relative was a death sentence.

"You're losing your mind, Valente," Silas sneered, though a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. "You think I tried to kill you? I'm your blood!"

"You left your lighter in Davis’s coat at the restaurant," Valente said quietly. "You sent a busboy to wire C4 to my table. You wanted me dead so you could take the family, and you wanted the blast to cover up the fact that Councilman Davis was about to flip to the feds about your side businesses."

Silas let out a harsh, breathless laugh. "A lighter? Anyone could have planted that. You're going to kill your own brother over a misplaced piece of silver and the word of a frightened waitress?"

Valente did not move his gun. He reached into his pocket and tossed the gold ring he had pulled from Davis's severed hand onto the floor. It hit the hardwood with a dull clink.

"Davis was a coward," Valente said. "When my men found him bleeding out, he didn't protect you. He gave them the ring. Pick it up."

Silas didn't move.

Valente pressed the gun harder. "Pick. It. Up."

Slowly, Silas knelt and picked up the bloody ring.

"Twist the gemstone," Valente ordered.

Silas swallowed hard. His trembling fingers grasped the large onyx stone and twisted. The top of the ring popped open on a tiny hinge.

Inside the hollow cavity was a tightly rolled piece of blue paper.

"Take it out," Valente said.

Silas pulled the paper out and unrolled it. It was a stamped, numbered ticket for a long-term storage locker at the downtown train station.

"Davis knew you were going to betray him," Valente explained, his voice echoing in the silent cabin. "So he kept insurance. He told my men that whatever is in that locker proves you’ve been selling our trade routes to the Morettis for three years. You didn't orchestrate this hit to start a war, Silas. You did it to end one. You promised them my head."

Silas’s eyes darted toward the guards. He was calculating the odds.

"Guards," Valente commanded without looking away from his brother. "Take his weapon and bind his hands."

The men stepped forward, but then, the unimaginable happened.

The lead guard—a man who had eaten at Valente’s table for ten years—raised his weapon and pointed it directly at Valente’s chest. The other two guards mirrored his movement.

"Put the gun down, Boss," the lead guard said, his voice flat.

Valente’s eyes widened slightly. The betrayal ran deeper than his brother. Silas had bought the security detail.

Silas grinned, stepping back from Valente’s gun. He smoothed his expensive camel coat.

"You were always too rigid, Valente," Silas mocked. "You ruled with honor. Honor doesn't pay out. The Morettis offered these men triple their salaries to look the other way tonight."

Silas looked over at the sofa, his eyes landing on Ruby and Lily. His grin widened into something predatory.

"And look what we have here," Silas walked slowly toward them. Ruby shoved Lily behind her, standing up, her fists clenched defensively. "Michael Vance's little girls. Do you know why I've been watching your apartment, Ruby?"

Ruby didn't speak. She glared at him with pure, venomous hatred.

"Twenty years ago," Silas whispered, stopping just out of her reach. "I was nineteen. I wanted to prove to our father that I was a killer. So, I took a contract from the Morettis to put a bullet in his chest."

Valente let out a roar of absolute agony, stepping forward, but the guards racked the slides of their weapons, freezing him in place.

Silas ignored him, keeping his eyes on Ruby. "I hired your father to drive the car. But Michael was a coward. When I shot my father, Michael panicked. He grabbed the rosary from my father's hands to prove he had leverage on me. He hid it. And he hid a tape recording of what happened that night. I've been searching for it for twenty years."

Silas reached out and snatched the wooden rosary from the sofa where Lily had dropped it. He held it up to the firelight.

"And now," Silas smiled, "I have the rosary. Which means all I need to do is kill you, the kid, and my dear brother, and all the loose ends are permanently tied."