Chapter 7 - The Nephew Vincent Raised
Luca Torino arrived at Vincent’s estate shortly after midnight as though nothing in the world had changed.
He drove himself.
That alone was unusual.
Luca rarely drove anywhere after dark.
He preferred chauffeurs, schedules, predictable routes, and the appearance of a man whose life had never required him to look over his shoulder.
Vincent watched from the library window as Luca’s Cadillac stopped beneath the front lights.
Tony stood behind him.
“Still want to talk before I search him?”
“Yes.”
“If he has Maria’s key—”
“We talk.”
Tony frowned.
Vincent turned.
“He is Carlo’s son.”
“And?”
“And I will not punish the son for the father before I know which one I am looking at.”
Tony considered that.
“Vincent…”
“What?”
“Sometimes they’re the same man.”
The front door opened.
Luca entered the library two minutes later.
He was thirty-six.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Handsome in the polished, expensive way Vincent never cared to be.
His suit was charcoal gray.
His tie perfectly knotted.
The black Torino ring sat on his right hand.
Sophie had gone to bed.
Elena remained upstairs under guard.
Vincent had asked her to stay there.
She had agreed only after informing him that she did not take orders.
Luca kissed Vincent’s cheek.
“Uncle.”
Vincent did not move.
Luca looked toward Tony.
“Why does this feel like an execution?”
Tony said nothing.
Vincent gestured toward the chair.
“Sit.”
Luca smiled faintly.
“I think I’ll stand.”
“Sit.”
The smile disappeared.
Luca sat.
Vincent placed Daniel’s photograph on the table.
Luca looked at it.
Nothing changed in his face.
“You know him?”
“No.”
Vincent placed a second photograph beside it.
Daniel and Luca outside the Golden Palm.
Luca stared.
Then exhaled.
“All right.”
Tony moved closer.
Vincent remained still.
“Start talking.”
Luca leaned back.
“I found Daniel in Detroit in 1985.”
“Why?”
“Because Bellini was looking for him.”
“You knew Bellini was involved?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Years.”
Vincent stared.
“And you said nothing.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Would you have listened?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
The certainty in Luca’s voice surprised Vincent.
“You never listened when Carlo’s name was involved.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
“Your father stole from this family.”
“That is what you told everyone.”
“It is what happened.”
“You had him killed.”
Tony shifted.
Elena, listening from the upstairs hallway despite her promise, froze.
Vincent’s face became stone.
“I gave an order.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“There.”
“Finally.”
“The great Vincent Torino admits it.”
Vincent did not defend himself.
Luca’s eyes burned.
“I was eleven.”
“My mother was dead.”
“And then you took my father.”
Vincent’s voice remained low.
“Your father betrayed people who trusted him.”
“Did that justify killing him?”
“No.”
Luca stopped.
Tony looked at Vincent.
So did Elena from the shadows above.
Vincent continued.
“I believed it did then.”
He folded his hands.
“I was wrong.”
Luca seemed more disturbed by the admission than he would have been by anger.
Vincent leaned forward.
“Now answer my question.”
“Why did you find Daniel?”
Luca looked away.
“Because I discovered Bellini had lied about my father.”
Vincent’s heart tightened.
“What lie?”
“He told me Carlo was innocent.”
“That you killed him because you wanted control.”
“He fed that story to me for years.”
Vincent nodded slowly.
“Then?”
“I found old financial records.”
“Carlo was stealing.”
“Yes.”
The word seemed to hurt Luca.
“But he was stealing with Bellini.”
Vincent waited.
“Daniel had the same records.”
“So I found him first.”
“Why didn’t you bring him to me?”
Luca laughed.
“Because I hated you.”
The honesty filled the room.
“I wanted evidence against Bellini.”
“I also wanted evidence against you.”
Vincent accepted it.
“Did you turn Daniel over to Bellini?”
Luca’s expression changed.
“No.”
“Daniel said you did.”
“I made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“I trusted someone.”
“Who?”
Luca looked at Tony.
Tony’s face changed.
Luca continued.
“I told Tony’s son Nico where Daniel was hiding.”
Tony stepped forward.
“You told Nico?”
“Yes.”
Tony’s hands curled.
Nico Russo was twenty-nine.
Tony’s only son.
He had worked intermittently around Torino businesses but had never earned Vincent’s trust.
Too impatient.
Too ambitious.
Too eager to inherit respect he had not built.
“Why?” Tony demanded.
“Because he told me he wanted Bellini gone.”
Tony stared.
Luca continued.
“The next night Daniel disappeared.”
Tony looked toward Vincent.
“My son…”
Vincent raised one hand.
“Not yet.”
Tony’s face was pale with rage.
Luca reached beneath his shirt.
Tony moved.
Vincent stopped him.
Luca pulled out a silver chain.
Maria’s key hung from it.
Vincent stared.
“Where did you get that?”
“Carlo’s safe.”
“When?”
“1980.”
“You had it seven years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know what it opened.”
Vincent held out his hand.
Luca looked at the key.
Then placed it in Vincent’s palm.
For a moment, Vincent could almost feel Maria wearing it again.
“Daniel told me it mattered,” Luca said.
“But he would not tell me how.”
Vincent closed his fist.
“You blocked his meeting with me in 1983.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was still working with Bellini then.”
Vincent’s gaze hardened.
Luca continued quickly.
“I thought he was helping me uncover the truth about my father.”
“When did you realize otherwise?”
“When Daniel disappeared.”
“You waited three years.”
“I spent three years trying to find him.”
Vincent looked at Tony.
Tony’s face showed doubt.
Vincent shared it.
“Where is Nico?”
Tony asked.
Luca shook his head.
“I haven’t seen him in two days.”
Tony turned toward the telephone.
Vincent said, “Wait.”
Tony looked back.
“Your son may have delivered Daniel to Bellini.”
“I know.”
“Which means calling his apartment may warn him.”
Tony’s pain was visible.
Vincent had rarely seen it.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing.”
Tony laughed bitterly.
“You’re very fond of that word tonight.”
“For ten minutes.”
Vincent looked at Luca.
“Then we open the chamber beneath the Golden Palm.”
Luca’s face changed.
“You found Daniel’s key?”
“Elena did.”
Luca looked toward the ceiling.
“She’s here?”
Vincent noticed the concern.
“Yes.”
“Does Bellini know?”
“I assume Bellini knows everything we wish he didn’t.”
Luca stood.
“Then she isn’t safe here.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
“Explain.”
“Bellini has people inside your house.”
Tony drew closer.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
Luca looked toward Vincent.
“Last month Bellini quoted a conversation you and I had in this library.”
Vincent went still.
“No one else was present.”
“Exactly.”
Tony scanned the room.
A hidden microphone.
Or a person listening nearby.
Vincent looked toward the hallway.
“Elena.”
No answer.
His heart stopped.
He moved toward the stairs.
“Elena!”
She appeared at the top.
“I’m here.”
Vincent exhaled.
Then he became angry.
“I told you to stay in your room.”
“You told me many things.”
“This is not amusing.”
“I wasn’t laughing.”
Vincent reached the landing.
“We may have surveillance inside the house.”
Elena’s expression changed.
Sophie appeared behind her rubbing her eyes.
“Mama?”
Elena immediately turned.
“It’s okay.”
Sophie looked downstairs.
“Mr. Vincent?”
He softened his voice.
“Everything is fine.”
Sophie studied the room.
Then pointed toward Luca.
“That’s him.”
Every adult froze.
Vincent looked at her.
“What?”
Sophie stared at Luca.
“That’s the man.”
Luca went pale.
Vincent moved slowly toward Sophie.
“What man?”
“The man with Daddy.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“When?”
Sophie pointed at Luca again.
“When Daddy came to our apartment.”
Luca shook his head.
“No.”
Sophie frowned.
“Yes.”
“No, sweetheart.”
Luca stepped forward.
Vincent blocked him.
Luca stopped.
Sophie continued.
“He waited by the door.”
Vincent looked at Luca.
“You were there?”
Luca’s face had changed completely.
“I never went inside Elena’s apartment.”
Sophie shook her head.
“You did.”
Elena pulled her daughter closer.
“When was this, Sophie?”
“I was little.”
“You said Daddy came alone.”
“I forgot.”
Vincent crouched.
“What did Luca do?”
Sophie looked at him.
“He was angry.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he talk to your father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Sophie closed her eyes.
Children’s memories were strange things.
Fragmented.
Color without sequence.
Emotion without explanation.
Then Sophie opened her eyes.
“He said Daddy had to give him the book.”
Luca looked toward Vincent.
Vincent’s face hardened.
Sophie continued.
“Daddy said no.”
“And then?”
“The other man came.”
Vincent frowned.
“What other man?”
Sophie’s expression became frightened.
“The man from yesterday.”
Elena went still.
“Carlos?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Miguel?”
“No.”
Vincent’s heartbeat slowed.
“What did he look like?”
Sophie touched her own white hair ribbon.
“He had white hair.”
Salvatore Bellini.
Vincent knew before she said anything else.
Sophie looked at Luca.
“You left when he came.”
Luca’s face changed.
“I…”
Memory struck him.
“God.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“What?”
Luca looked at Elena.
“I did go to your building.”
“You just said you didn’t.”
“I never entered your apartment.”
He looked toward Sophie.
“But Daniel came downstairs.”
“He had her with him.”
Sophie had likely followed.
Luca closed his eyes.
“I argued with him.”
“Then I left.”
Vincent grabbed Luca’s lapel.
“Why was Bellini there?”
“I didn’t know he was.”
“Think.”
“I left through the front.”
Luca’s breathing quickened.
“Nico was waiting across the street.”
Tony’s face emptied.
“My son.”
Luca nodded slowly.
“I told Nico Daniel was there.”
Vincent released him.
Tony stepped backward as though struck.
Nico had known where Daniel was.
Bellini arrived minutes later.
The chain was becoming clear.
Then a telephone rang downstairs.
Everyone turned.
Tony answered.
“Russo.”
Silence.
His face changed.
“Who is this?”
Vincent watched him.
Tony listened.
Then slowly looked toward Vincent.
He placed the receiver down.
“What?”
Vincent asked.
Tony’s voice was barely audible.
“That was Nico.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Tony stared at his oldest friend.
“He said if we open the chamber beneath the Golden Palm…”
May you like
Tony swallowed.
“Everyone inside the restaurant dies.”
