Chapter 13 - Rosemary at the Grave
They went to the cemetery before sunset.
Vincent hated the decision.
Elena made it anyway.
Detective Donovan placed officers at both entrances.
Tony remained with Sophie and Isabel.
Nico was still missing.
Luca came with Vincent and Elena.
Maria’s grave stood beneath an old maple tree.
Vincent had visited hundreds of times.
He knew every crack in the stone.
Every nearby tree.
Every seasonal flower.
Yet he had never questioned the rosemary.
A patch grew beside the base.
Elena knelt.
“Daniel knew flowers.”
Vincent looked around.
“He came here?”
“Probably many times.”
She carefully moved the soil beneath the rosemary roots.
Her fingers touched metal.
A small tin box.
Vincent’s heart tightened.
Inside was a key.
Another cassette.
And a photograph.
Daniel stood beside Nico.
The photograph had been taken shortly before Daniel died.
Nico looked younger.
Angry.
Daniel had one hand on his shoulder.
On the back were six words.
HE CAN STILL CHOOSE WHO HE BECOMES.
Vincent stared at it.
Even while being hunted, Daniel had seen something worth saving in Nico.
Luca looked toward him.
“He tried to help him.”
“Yes.”
Elena inserted the cassette into a portable player.
Daniel’s voice emerged.
“If this tape is found, Salvatore has probably learned about the cemetery.”
Vincent listened.
“The final records are not in Chicago.”
“They are with a federal investigator I contacted in 1986.”
Donovan frowned.
“Who?”
Daniel named Agent Thomas Keller.
Donovan’s expression changed.
“Keller disappeared in 1986.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Dead?”
“Presumed.”
Daniel continued.
“Keller made copies.”
“If I die, those copies will be released when someone presents this key at Union Trust Bank in Springfield.”
Elena looked at the key.
Another deposit box.
Daniel had built layers.
If one failed, another survived.
The tape continued.
“But the records do not only prove Salvatore’s crimes.”
Vincent’s stomach tightened.
“They prove Vincent Torino’s.”
Elena looked at him.
Daniel’s voice remained calm.
“Mr. Torino, if you ever hear this, I do not know what kind of man you are now.”
“But I know what kind of man your grief helped you become.”
Vincent stared at Maria’s name carved into stone.
“You have hurt people.”
“You have paid officials.”
“You have built fear into businesses that should have been free.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“But you were also used.”
“That does not erase what you did.”
Elena watched him.
Daniel continued.
“If you want the truth to matter, then let it matter even when it hurts you.”
The tape ended.
No one spoke.
Vincent looked at Donovan.
“Get the records.”
She nodded.
Luca stepped closer.
“Uncle.”
Vincent turned.
“You don’t have to hand them everything.”
“Yes.”
“You could negotiate.”
“I will cooperate.”
“With federal investigators?”
“Yes.”
Luca stared.
“You could go to prison.”
Vincent looked toward Maria’s grave.
“Yes.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
She had wanted Vincent to change.
She had not expected how much change might cost.
“Vincent.”
He looked at her.
“You don’t have to decide today.”
“I decided thirty years ago every time I chose power over law.”
His voice was quiet.
“I simply postponed the bill.”
Elena could not argue.
They began walking back toward the cars.
Then a shot cracked through the cemetery.
Stone exploded near Vincent.
Donovan shouted.
Officers moved.
Vincent pulled Elena behind a monument.
Luca dropped beside them.
Another shot struck a tree.
“North ridge,” Donovan yelled.
Police scattered.
Vincent covered Elena with his body.
She pushed him.
“Beside me, remember?”
“This is not the time.”
“It is exactly the time.”
Despite danger, Vincent almost laughed.
Then a figure ran between trees.
Luca saw him.
“Nico.”
Vincent looked.
Nico was chasing the shooter.
“Stop him!”
Nico disappeared over the ridge.
Vincent ran after him.
They reached a maintenance road.
A car sped away.
Nico stood in the middle of the road breathing hard.
Vincent grabbed him.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving your life.”
“By getting yourself killed?”
Nico laughed bitterly.
“Suddenly that matters?”
Vincent released him.
“Yes.”
The word stopped Nico.
“It matters.”
Vincent stared into his son’s face.
“Whether you hate me or not.”
“Whether you call Tony your father and me nothing.”
“It matters.”
Nico looked away.
Vincent lowered his voice.
“I lost you once without knowing.”
“I will not stand quietly while it happens again.”
Nico’s eyes filled.
He said nothing.
Then he handed Vincent something.
A wallet.
“The shooter dropped it.”
Inside was identification.
Not Salvatore’s man.
A Chicago police lieutenant.
One of Donovan’s own officers.
The corruption ran deeper.
Donovan arrived and read the name.
Her face hardened.
“Lieutenant Samuel Reed.”
“You know him?” Elena asked.
“He supervises organized crime intelligence.”
Vincent almost laughed.
Of course.
Bellini knew police movements because Bellini had a man at the top of the unit investigating him.
Donovan called headquarters.
No answer from Reed.
He had disappeared.
Nico looked at the deposit-box key.
“You’re going to Springfield.”
“Yes.”
“Bellini will expect that.”
“Probably.”
Nico looked toward Vincent.
“Let me go.”
“No.”
“I know Bellini.”
“No.”
“I know how he thinks.”
“So do I.”
“No, you know how he thought thirty years ago.”
Nico stepped closer.
“I know him now.”
Vincent hated that the argument was good.
“What do you propose?”
“Let Bellini think I’m still with him.”
Tony arrived moments later and heard the plan.
“No.”
Nico turned.
“Dad.”
The word struck everyone.
Tony’s eyes filled.
Nico seemed to realize he had said it naturally.
He looked away.
Tony stepped closer.
“No.”
“I already lost you once.”
Nico frowned.
“You never lost me.”
“I did.”
Tony’s voice broke.
“When Bellini got into your head.”
Nico swallowed.
Tony held his gaze.
“I will not help send you back.”
Nico looked toward Vincent.
Then Elena.
Then Sophie, who had remained in the car with Isabel and was now watching through the window.
His expression changed.
“I helped destroy Daniel.”
Elena stepped closer.
“You made terrible choices.”
“Yes.”
“You also tried to warn us.”
“Does that fix it?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Nothing fixes the past.”
Vincent heard Maria’s letter in those words.
Live anyway.
Love anyway.
Elena continued.
“You decide what you do next.”
Nico stared.
Then nodded.
They drove back toward Chicago.
At the estate, Sophie ran to Nico.
She had made another drawing.
This one contained four people.
Elena.
Sophie.
Vincent.
And Nico.
Nico stared.
“Why am I there?”
Sophie shrugged.
“You look lonely too.”
Tony laughed.
Nico actually smiled.
Then the telephone rang.
Vincent answered.
Salvatore.
“You found the rosemary.”
Vincent looked around.
Everyone became quiet.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“What do you want?”
“To end this.”
“So do I.”
Salvatore laughed.
“No, Vincent.”
“You want redemption.”
“I want survival.”
“Those are different things.”
Vincent glanced toward Elena.
“Maybe.”
Salvatore’s voice turned cold.
“Tomorrow night.”
“Golden Palm.”
“Come alone.”
“No.”
“Then I release everything I have on Nico.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“What do you have?”
“Proof he helped kill Daniel Martinez.”
Elena went pale.
Nico stared.
Salvatore continued.
“And proof Tony Russo knew who Nico really was.”
Tony shook his head.
A lie.
But a convincing one.
Salvatore laughed quietly.
“I can destroy every family you have left.”
Vincent looked toward Sophie.
“No.”
Salvatore paused.
“No?”
“You already tried.”
Vincent’s voice became calm.
“And that is the mistake you keep making.”
“What mistake?”
“You think fear makes people easier to control.”
Vincent looked at Elena.
“Sometimes it makes them stand together.”
Salvatore hung up.
Luca entered from the security room.
His face was pale.
“What?”
Vincent asked.
“We have movement downtown.”
“Where?”
“The Golden Palm.”
Vincent frowned.
“The restaurant is locked.”
“Not anymore.”
Luca turned the security monitor.
Camera footage showed someone inside.
A man entered the dining room.
White hair.
Dark suit.
Salvatore Bellini.
He sat at Vincent’s usual corner table.
Then another figure entered.
Lieutenant Reed.
Then a third.
Judge Warren Cole.
Then a fourth.
A state senator.
Vincent stared.
Bellini was gathering every major member of his network in one place.
Tony looked toward him.
“Why?”
Vincent understood.
“He’s burning the evidence.”
Elena frowned.
“What evidence?”
Vincent looked at the building plans.
The hidden chamber.
The tunnel.
The archive.
Salvatore did not intend to negotiate.
He intended to destroy the Golden Palm and every record beneath it.
With himself safely gone before anyone understood.
Except the security feed showed him still sitting there.
Vincent narrowed his eyes.
Then realized the truth.
“That isn’t Salvatore.”
Luca enlarged the image.
The white-haired man turned.
A disguise.
Not Bellini.
Tony whispered, “Decoy.”
Vincent looked toward the estate windows.
If Bellini wanted them watching the Golden Palm…
His heart stopped.
He turned.
May you like
“Sophie.”
A scream came from upstairs.
