Chapter 7 – THE DROPPED GUN

Vincent landed heavily on the wet concrete right behind Daniel.

Before the lawyer could even stand up with the laptop, Vincent kicked the back of Daniel’s knee. The older man crumpled with a scream, dropping the gun.

It skittered across the puddles, sliding into the darkness.

“Uncle Vince!” Leo cried out, recognizing him from photographs Anthony must have shown him.

“Run to Mia, Leo! Now!” Vincent roared.

The little boy didn’t hesitate. He scrambled away from Daniel and ran toward me. I dropped to my knees and caught him, wrapping my arms tight around his small, shaking body. I pressed his face into my shoulder so he couldn’t see what was about to happen.

Daniel scrambled backward, clutching his knee. He looked up, terrified, as Vincent towered over him, the barrel of his pistol aimed directly between Daniel’s eyes.

“You used my mother,” Vincent whispered, his voice trembling with a rage so deep it vibrated through the rain. “You killed my father. You tried to steal my family’s legacy. And you put a gun to my nephew’s head.”

“Vincent, wait!” Daniel pleaded, holding up his hands. Blood mixed with rainwater on his face. “I can fix this! I have the ledger! I have the files on Mia’s sister! I brought them!”

Daniel kicked the metal briefcase toward Vincent.

“It’s all in there,” Daniel babbled. “Every payoff, every dirty scholarship. Take it. Let me walk to my car, and I disappear forever. You keep the twenty-eight million.”

Vincent looked down at the briefcase. Then he looked at me, holding a crying Leo in the rain.

I knew what Vincent wanted to do. The Mafia code demanded blood. Daniel had betrayed the family; the punishment was death.

But I also knew that if Vincent pulled the trigger, Leo would hear it. The boy would know his uncle was a murderer. The cycle of violence that had cursed the Caruso family for generations would begin again.

“Vincent,” I yelled over the storm. “Don’t do it! We have what we need! Let the police have him!”

Daniel laughed weakly. “The police? I own the police, Vincent! If you let me live, I’ll be out on bail in an hour. If you kill me, you go to prison. I beat you.”

Vincent stared at Daniel. His finger tightened on the trigger.

Then, headlights pierced the darkness.

Three Chicago Police cruisers slammed into the shipyard, their sirens wailing, blue and red lights fracturing the shadows.

But these weren’t standard beat cops. They were FBI tactical units.

And stepping out of the lead vehicle was a man I never expected to see again.

Richard Mercer.

He was bruised, dripping wet, and pointing a shaky finger directly at Daniel.

“That’s him!” Richard yelled to the federal agents. “He’s the one who forged the loan documents! He forced me to do it! And he has the ledger proving he’s been bribing state officials for twenty years!”

I stared in shock.

The Reversal was complete. Vincent hadn’t just used Richard to find the money. He had used Richard to destroy Daniel’s safety net. When Vincent locked Richard in the trunk, he hadn’t left him there. He had given Richard a choice: take the fall for the twenty-eight million, or turn state’s evidence on the man who orchestrated the largest corruption ring in Chicago history.

Agents swarmed Daniel, pulling his arms behind his back and slapping handcuffs on his wrists.

An FBI agent approached Vincent. He didn’t draw his weapon. He just held out his hand.

“Mr. Caruso. Give me the gun.”

Vincent slowly lowered his weapon. He handed it to the agent.

“The briefcase,” Vincent said quietly, pointing to the metal box on the ground. “Everything you need to put him away for the rest of his life is in there.”

“And the money?” the agent asked.

“Safely secured in a trust,” Vincent lied smoothly. “Awaiting federal seizure.”

The agent nodded and signaled his men to take Daniel away. As they dragged him past us, Daniel locked eyes with Vincent. The smugness was gone. There was only absolute defeat.

Vincent walked over to me. He knelt down in the puddles, ignoring the rain soaking his expensive suit.

He looked at Leo.

“Are you okay, kiddo?” Vincent asked softly.

Leo sniffled and nodded. “Are you really my Uncle Vince?”

Vincent smiled, a genuine, warm smile that broke through the hardness of his face. “Yeah, buddy. I am. And your dad is waiting for you at a safe place where nobody can ever hurt you again.”

Vincent looked up at me.

“Your sister is safe, Mia,” he whispered. “The FBI doesn’t care about a college girl’s tuition when they have the man pulling the strings. You’re free.”

Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the rain. “Thank you.”

“No,” Vincent said, standing up and helping me to my feet. “Thank you.”

As we walked toward the SUV, I thought it was finally over. The nightmare was finished.

But as I placed Leo into the backseat and turned to close the door, my foot hit something metallic on the ground.

It had fallen out of Daniel’s raincoat pocket when Vincent tackled him.

I picked it up.

It was two first-class plane tickets to Rome, departing at 6:00 AM tomorrow.

One was for Daniel Shaw.

I looked at the name on the second ticket.

And my heart stopped cold.

“Vincent,” I gasped, holding out the ticket. “Look at this.”

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