Chapter 4 - The Moretti Sin
Dante lowered the gun.
“Salvatore was my father.”
Evelyn’s face went white.
Ruby stepped between them.
“Mom.”
Evelyn looked at her daughter.
For twelve years, Ruby had imagined this impossible moment.
Her mother alive.
Her mother touching her face.
Her mother explaining everything.
Instead, they stood in a dark bedroom while armed men searched the house and the man Ruby had married carried the name that apparently terrified Evelyn.
“Ruby,” Evelyn whispered.
Ruby moved toward her.
Evelyn opened her arms.
Ruby stopped for half a second.
Then everything inside her broke.
She crossed the room.
Her mother held her.
Ruby buried her face against Evelyn’s shoulder.
She smelled different.
Older.
But the way Evelyn’s hand stroked her hair was exactly the same.
Ruby cried soundlessly.
Evelyn did too.
Dante turned away.
He gave them privacy by facing the hallway.
Ruby finally pulled back.
“You were alive.”
Evelyn’s face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
The words sounded familiar.
Ruby had said almost the same thing to Dante hours earlier.
Evelyn lowered her eyes.
“You’re right.”
Ruby wiped her tears.
“Where is Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were here.”
“Yes.”
“With Serrano?”
Evelyn’s expression sharpened.
“You know Luca?”
“Dante does.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Of course he does.”
Dante turned.
“I knew him fifteen years ago.”
“He knew your father longer.”
“What did Salvatore do to you?”
Evelyn’s mouth tightened.
Ruby waited.
Evelyn walked toward the window.
“Your father and I were not poor when we started Gallagher Shipping.”
Ruby knew that.
“We had investors.”
Evelyn continued.
“Some legitimate. Some not.”
Dante said nothing.
“One investor controlled port unions across three states. Salvatore Moretti.”
Ruby looked at Dante.
He remained still.
“Your father wanted out,” Evelyn said. “Salvatore refused.”
“To my father?”
“To both of us.”
Evelyn faced Ruby.
“I kept the books.”
Ruby’s stomach sank.
“You knew about the criminal business.”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
“Enough.”
Ruby stepped back.
Another truth.
Another missing floor beneath her feet.
“I found evidence Salvatore was moving weapons through Gallagher ships.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“That was never part of Moretti operations.”
Evelyn laughed coldly.
“You were a child.”
“I was twenty.”
“And protected.”
Dante did not argue.
Evelyn continued.
“I copied everything. Cargo logs. Payments. Names. Judges. Customs officials.”
“What happened?” Ruby asked.
“Salvatore found out.”
Ruby looked at Dante.
“He threatened us. Thomas wanted to go to federal authorities.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“Because Salvatore had someone inside.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Evelyn wrapped her arms around herself.
“The night I supposedly died, there was an attack.”
Ruby stared.
“Hospital?”
“No.”
“The aneurysm?”
“Lie.”
Evelyn’s voice cracked.
“I was shot.”
Ruby’s breath caught.
Dante looked sharply at her.
“By whom?”
Evelyn met his gaze.
“One of Salvatore’s men.”
Dante went still.
“Name.”
“I never knew.”
“Describe him.”
“Tall. Blond. Scar beside his left ear.”
Dante’s face changed.
Ruby noticed.
“You know him.”
Dante looked away.
“Dante.”
He remained silent.
“Who?”
“My father’s head of security.”
“Name?”
“Vittorio Kane.”
Evelyn inhaled sharply.
“That name.”
“You remember?”
“I heard Salvatore say it once.”
Dante reached for his phone.
Ruby caught his wrist.
“Is he alive?”
Dante looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
His silence told her enough.
“Where, Dante?”
“He works for me.”
Evelyn backed away.
Ruby released Dante.
“You employ the man who tried to kill my mother?”
“I did not know.”
“Do not say you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t.”
Evelyn watched them both.
“Ruby.”
Ruby turned.
Her mother looked at Dante.
“He may be telling the truth.”
Ruby stared.
“You’re defending him?”
“No.”
Evelyn took Ruby’s hand.
“I am telling you that Salvatore made sure his children knew only what he wanted them to know.”
Dante’s expression tightened.
Ruby looked at him.
For the first time, she saw something other than the man who had deceived her.
She saw a son discovering that his dead father had built an inheritance from blood.
Dante spoke quietly.
“Where is the evidence?”
Evelyn’s expression closed.
“What?”
“The copies.”
She said nothing.
“If you survived twelve years because of those records, they still exist.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I won’t tell you.”
Dante nodded.
“Fair.”
Ruby studied him.
No threat.
No demand.
Just acceptance.
Evelyn looked almost surprised.
A noise came from downstairs.
One of Dante’s men called.
“Boss!”
Dante stepped into the hall.
A guard ran upstairs.
“We found Gallagher.”
Ruby’s heart jumped.
“Where?”
“Basement.”
They hurried down.
The basement door was hidden behind the wine cellar.
Ruby had never known it existed.
Inside, Thomas Gallagher sat against the wall.
Alive.
Bleeding from his forehead.
Ruby ran to him.
“Dad.”
He opened his eyes.
“Ruby?”
She hugged him.
He winced.
“I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
Thomas saw Evelyn.
His face collapsed.
“Evie.”
Evelyn walked toward him.
Thomas began to cry.
Ruby had never seen her father cry.
Not at the funeral.
Not at her wedding.
Not ever.
Evelyn knelt.
“You idiot.”
“I thought they took you.”
“They did.”
Ruby stared.
“Who?”
Thomas looked at Dante.
“Serrano.”
Dante crouched.
“Why?”
Thomas laughed weakly.
“Because he wants the ledger.”
Evelyn froze.
“What ledger?”
Thomas looked at her.
“The one you thought was destroyed.”
Dante’s head snapped toward him.
“You have it?”
Thomas nodded.
Ruby stared at her parents.
“What is in it?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Enough to destroy the Moretti organization.”
Dante did not move.
Evelyn whispered, “Thomas…”
“And enough to destroy Gallagher Shipping too.”
Ruby felt sick.
Dante stood.
“We get everyone out.”
A phone began ringing.
Not Dante’s.
Not Ruby’s.
Thomas’s.
Everyone looked toward his coat.
Ruby pulled the phone free.
Unknown caller.
She answered.
No one spoke.
Then a familiar male voice came through.
“Mrs. Moretti.”
Ruby recognized it.
The missing driver.
“You.”
He chuckled.
“Tell your husband to ask his mother who ordered Evelyn Gallagher’s death.”
Dante went perfectly still.
Ruby looked at him.
“Your mother is alive?”
He did not answer.
The driver laughed again.
May you like
Then said one last thing.
“She’s waiting downstairs.”
