Chapter 15 - MARGARET’S LAST DEAL
Z
The wind off the Nova Scotia water cut through Claire’s coat.
Lauren stood fifty yards away with a gunman behind her.
Elena Vescari remained beside the lead vehicle.
Vincent stayed one step behind Claire.
“You are not walking out there alone.”
“I know.”
“You were considering it.”
“I was considering several bad ideas.”
“Excellent. Reject them.”
Claire almost smiled.
Elena raised her phone.
“Mrs. Caruso.”
Claire answered.
“My sister first.”
“Ledger first.”
“No.”
Elena tilted her head.
“You have confidence now.”
“I married well.”
Vincent’s mouth twitched.
Elena smiled.
“Margaret would have liked him.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“Stop speaking about my mother as if you knew her better than I did.”
“I did.”
The words hit.
Claire did not react.
“Then tell me what the agreement was.”
Elena’s smile vanished.
“You read it.”
“I read codes.”
A pause.
Then Elena began.
“Margaret came to me after learning Patrick was poisoning her.”
Claire listened.
“She wanted him dead.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Initially.”
“Then what changed?”
“She discovered Patrick was not the person who ordered the poisoning.”
Vincent looked toward Alessandro.
Claire asked, “Who did?”
Elena stared across the yard.
“Salvatore.”
Silence.
Claire stopped breathing.
“But Patrick was giving her arsenic.”
“Yes.”
“Why would Salvatore order it?”
“Because Margaret knew about him.”
Claire thought back.
Salvatore had betrayed her mother’s escape plan.
But apparently that came later.
Elena continued.
“Patrick wanted control of Margaret. Salvatore wanted silence.”
“So Salvatore convinced Patrick to poison her.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother changed the target.”
“She wanted Salvatore killed.”
Claire looked at Vincent.
He was pale with anger.
“What happened?”
“My father intervened.”
Claire turned toward Alessandro.
The old man remained behind the wall.
Elena’s voice changed.
“Alessandro said killing a Caruso would restart the old war.”
“So he stopped you.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother?”
“She begged me.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Elena continued.
“I told her no.”
Claire whispered, “Why?”
“Because family loyalty mattered more to me than justice.”
The bitter words surprised Claire.
Elena looked toward her father.
“And then Margaret died.”
Alessandro lowered his head.
“For years,” Elena said, “I blamed him.”
Claire understood.
“You built your organization afterward.”
“Yes.”
“To become powerful enough that nobody could tell you no again.”
Elena smiled.
“You do understand me.”
“No.”
Claire’s voice hardened.
“I understand the wound. Not what you became.”
Elena’s smile vanished.
Claire continued.
“My father used people as property.”
“Patrick is not—”
“You know what I mean.”
Elena said nothing.
“You did the same thing.”
“Power requires—”
“No.”
Claire held up the ledger.
“This is what every cruel person says right before explaining why their cruelty was necessary.”
Vincent looked at her.
Abigail did too.
Claire took one step forward.
“My father called me merchandise.”
Elena’s eyes flickered.
“You call kidnapped people assets.”
Claire looked at Lauren.
“You are not different enough.”
Elena’s face hardened.
“Give me the ledger.”
“Release Lauren.”
“Now.”
Claire opened the book.
Elena’s expression changed.
Claire tore out one page.
“What are you doing?”
“Demonstrating leverage.”
She held the page over a metal barrel where Daniel had started a small fire.
Elena’s men shifted.
Claire dropped the page.
It burned.
Elena shouted.
“Stop!”
Claire tore out another.
“Lauren.”
Elena stared at her.
Claire held the page above the flames.
Vincent whispered, “You are definitely terrifying.”
Claire did not look back.
Elena raised one hand.
The gunman released Lauren.
Lauren ran.
Abigail sprinted forward and pulled her behind cover.
Claire lowered the page.
Elena’s face had become murderous.
“Now the ledger.”
“No.”
“You gave your word.”
“I said release Lauren.”
“You implied—”
“My father taught me to read contracts.”
For one second, even Elena looked impressed.
Then gunfire erupted from the tree line.
Not Caruso men.
Not Vescari.
A third group.
Vincent shoved Claire down.
Vehicles exploded.
Elena’s men returned fire.
Daniel shouted.
“Marino remnants!”
Claire’s heart dropped.
Enzo Marino was in custody.
But his organization still existed.
The attack turned the harbor into chaos.
Vincent fired from behind the wall.
Elena took cover beside her SUV.
Lauren screamed.
Abigail pulled her inside the warehouse.
Claire crawled toward them.
A round struck concrete near her shoulder.
Vincent grabbed the back of her coat and dragged her behind cover.
“Stay down.”
“Stop pulling me like luggage.”
“Today you are extremely valuable luggage.”
Claire almost laughed.
Then Alessandro fell.
A bullet struck him in the abdomen.
“Elena!” Claire shouted.
Elena turned.
She saw her father collapse.
Everything about her changed.
She ran through gunfire.
Vincent fired over her shoulder, covering her without hesitation.
Elena reached Alessandro.
The old man looked up.
“My daughter.”
“Don’t talk.”
He laughed weakly.
“You never listened.”
Elena pressed her hands against the wound.
Claire crawled closer.
Alessandro looked toward her.
“Margaret.”
Claire froze.
He was confused.
“No. Claire.”
His eyes focused.
“Claire.”
He gripped her wrist.
“I failed her.”
Claire swallowed.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised him.
She continued.
“But you can stop failing people now.”
Alessandro looked at Elena.
“My daughter.”
Elena’s face cracked.
“Papa.”
“End it.”
“No.”
“The routes. The people.”
Elena shook her head.
“End it.”
His hand fell.
Elena screamed.
Alessandro Vescari died on frozen ground beside the harbor he had spent decades trying to forget.
The remaining attack lasted nine minutes.
Caruso and Vescari men fought side by side.
When it ended, six attackers were dead.
Three escaped.
Elena sat beside her father’s body.
Claire approached slowly.
Vincent followed.
Elena looked at the ledger.
“You still have it.”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Elena laughed without humor.
“You are persistent.”
“So was my mother.”
That hurt her.
Claire crouched.
“I will give copies to prosecutors in three countries.”
Elena looked sharply at her.
“You’ll expose families.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll create wars.”
“Maybe.”
“People will die.”
“People already are.”
Elena stared.
Claire continued.
“You wanted power so nobody could ignore what happened to my mother.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“Then use power differently.”
For a long time Elena said nothing.
Finally she looked at Alessandro.
“What do you want from me?”
Claire glanced toward Lauren and Abigail.
“Release everyone your organization is holding.”
Elena laughed once.
“That is not a small request.”
“I’m not making a small one.”
“And after?”
“Disappear if you want. Turn yourself in if you want. Fight prosecutors if you want.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“But the people stop being inventory.”
Elena looked at her.
Then at Vincent.
“Your wife negotiates like a Sicilian.”
Vincent answered.
“My wife negotiates like Claire.”
Elena almost smiled.
She stood.
“You will get your releases.”
Claire waited.
“And the ledger?”
“No.”
Elena nodded.
“I thought not.”
Then she walked toward her father.
Before leaving, she looked back.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“Your mother never stopped trying to get home to you.”
Claire’s throat tightened.
Elena continued.
“She died believing you would become stronger than all of us.”
Claire looked down at the red ledger.
May you like
For once, she did not wish Margaret had been right.
She wished Margaret had lived long enough to see it.
