Chapter 4 - Blood and Silver
The words hung in the dusty air of the brewery.
Vincent stared at the young woman in the torn waitress uniform. The resemblance was suddenly undeniable. The sharp line of her jaw. The piercing intensity of her eyes. She had Arthur Sterling’s face, but none of his cruelty.
“Your father,” Vincent repeated softly.
“My mother was his assistant thirty years ago,” Harper said, wrapping her arms around herself. “When she got pregnant, he paid her to disappear. We lived quietly in Ohio. But a year ago, my mother got sick. Pancreatic cancer. She reached out to him. Just to ask for help with the medical bills.”
Harper’s voice broke. She looked down at the silver watch in Vincent’s palm.
“He didn’t send money,” she whispered. “He sent Evelyn.”
Leo stepped forward, his face dark. “What did Evelyn do?”
“She forced my mother to sign a nondisclosure agreement on her deathbed,” Harper said, her voice turning hard. “She threatened to destroy my life if my mother didn’t sign. Then, two days later, my mother’s morphine drip was ‘accidentally’ altered. She died in her sleep. Evelyn made sure there was no autopsy.”
Vincent felt a cold, familiar rage uncoiling in his chest. He knew about business hits. He knew about removing enemies. But killing a dying woman to protect a billionaire’s public image? That was a sickness he couldn't ignore.
“I came to Chicago to find proof,” Harper continued. “I got the job at the Onyx Room because I knew Arthur and Evelyn held their private meetings there. I stole Evelyn’s second phone when she left it in the powder room. It has everything. The wire transfers to the Feds. The payoff to the hospital administrator who killed my mother. Everything.”
“The phone in the locker,” Vincent said.
Harper nodded. “But it’s locked. Biometric security. It requires Evelyn’s right thumbprint to open.”
Vincent stood up. The pieces of the puzzle were finally clicking into place.
Evelyn wasn’t just trying to steal the Romano empire. She was trying to eliminate the only person who could destroy the Sterling legacy, and she was framing Vincent to do it.
His phone vibrated. A news alert.
Vincent pulled it out. The headline read: FEDERAL TASK FORCE RAIDS ROMANO SHIPPING. MOB TIES SUSPECTED. CEO VINCENT ROMANO MISSING.
“They’re moving fast,” Leo said, reading over his shoulder. “Boss, your accounts will be frozen in an hour. Warrants will be out by noon. We are out of time.”
“We’re not out of time,” Vincent said. He looked at Harper. “You want to burn their empire to the ground?”
Harper looked up at him, her eyes burning with a sudden, fierce fire. “More than anything.”
“Then we need Evelyn’s thumbprint.”
“How?” Leo asked. “She’s surrounded by private security at the Sterling estate. The place is a fortress.”
“We don’t go to the estate,” Vincent said. He turned to the window, looking out toward the glittering skyscrapers of downtown Chicago. “Today is the Sterling Foundation’s annual charity gala at the Drake Hotel. Two hundred guests. The Mayor. The Governor. The press.”
“She won’t be there,” Leo said. “Not if she thinks you’re dead.”
“She doesn’t think I’m dead yet. She thinks her men are handling it,” Vincent corrected. “She has to play the part of the perfect philanthropist today. She’ll be there.”
Vincent turned back to Harper. He took off his suit jacket and draped it over her trembling shoulders.
“We’re going to the gala,” Vincent said.
Harper pulled the jacket tight around herself. “They’ll kill you the second you walk through the doors.”
Vincent smiled. It wasn’t a warm smile. It was the smile of the apex predator that had kept the Romano family alive for three generations.
“They can try.”
Vincent reached into his pocket and pulled out his own phone. He dialed a number he hadn't called in five years.
The line clicked open.
“Judge Carter,” Vincent said smoothly. “I need a favor. And I need it in exactly two hours.”
A nervous voice echoed through the speaker. “Vincent. You shouldn’t be calling me. The Feds are tearing your operations apart.”
“I know,” Vincent said. “I need a blank federal arrest warrant. Signed and stamped.”
“Are you insane? For who?”
May you like
Vincent looked at the silver pocket watch.
“Arthur and Evelyn Sterling.”
