Chapter 5 - They Took the Boy
Salvatore had never experienced panic as other men did.
For him, panic became precision.
The world narrowed.
Sounds sharpened.
Faces lost importance.
Only objectives remained.
Find Leo.
Kill whoever took him.
Everything else could wait.
The driver regained consciousness long enough to describe a dark utility vehicle leaving through the service road.
Salvatore's men flooded the city.
Toll cameras.
Traffic cameras.
Friendly police.
Less friendly police.
Street crews.
Union contacts.
Every person who owed the Moretti family a favor received the same photograph.
Leo Bellini.
Eight years old.
Alive.
Bring information.
Do not approach.
Two hours passed.
Nothing.
Salvatore stood in his security room watching screens until Dominic entered.
Carmine immediately put a hand near his gun.
Dominic ignored him.
"I found something."
Salvatore turned.
Dominic laid a tablet on the table.
Traffic footage.
A dark van crossed an intersection six miles from the estate.
The plate was unreadable.
But through the windshield, the passenger's face appeared briefly.
Carmine leaned closer.
"No."
Salvatore's eyes hardened.
Paolo Rizzi.
One of Vittorio's oldest captains.
A man who had sat at the dining table the night before.
A man Salvatore had known since childhood.
Dominic folded his arms.
"Still think I'm the one Elena warned you about?"
"She named you."
"Then ask why."
Salvatore stared at him.
Dominic's voice became low.
"Your father hated me the last three years of his life."
"You were his consigliere."
"I was yours."
Salvatore frowned.
Dominic continued.
"Vittorio knew where my loyalty had moved. He also knew Elena trusted me."
"Did she?"
"Yes."
"Then why would she say not to trust you?"
"Maybe she wasn't talking about me."
Salvatore's expression darkened.
"What does that mean?"
Dominic walked to an old framed photograph hanging on the security-room wall.
Vittorio Moretti stood in the center.
Beside him were Salvatore, Dominic, Paolo, and several dead captains.
Dominic pointed toward another man near the edge.
"You remember Domenico Russo?"
"My father's accountant."
"My uncle."
Salvatore looked at him.
Dominic nodded.
"Everyone called him Dom."
A sick feeling settled in Salvatore's chest.
"Elena may have said Dominic on the recording."
"Or Domenico."
"He's dead."
Dominic's face tightened.
"According to your father."
Salvatore went still.
"What?"
"My uncle disappeared ten years ago. Vittorio told everyone he had fled to Argentina after stealing money."
"That was true."
"No."
Dominic placed another folder on the desk.
"I've spent six years looking into it. There was no flight. No passport record. No death certificate. Nothing."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because accusing Vittorio of lying was useless while he was alive. Accusing a ghost afterward was worse."
Salvatore looked at Paolo's face frozen on the screen.
"What does Paolo have to do with him?"
"They were partners."
That was enough.
Within forty minutes, Salvatore's men located the abandoned van beneath an overpass.
Blood stained the back seat.
Not much.
But enough to turn Salvatore into something Carmine had not seen in years.
He punched the metal door so hard his knuckles split.
Carmine caught his wrist.
"Boss."
Salvatore glared at him.
"Think."
The word worked.
Barely.
A phone lay beneath the passenger seat.
Disposable.
One number in the outgoing history.
Dominic traced it to a warehouse district near the river.
Salvatore gathered six men.
"No police."
Carmine nodded.
"No sirens."
Dominic loaded his pistol.
"Alive if possible?"
Salvatore looked at him.
"Paolo?"
"Yes."
"No."
Dominic understood.
They reached the warehouse after dark.
One guard outside.
Two inside.
All three went down without shots.
Salvatore entered through the loading bay.
He heard crying.
Not Leo.
A woman.
They found her tied to a chair in an office.
Sister Margaret Hale from St. Vincent's Children's Home.
Leo's orphanage.
Her face was bruised.
Carmine cut the ropes.
"Where is the boy?"
She stared at Salvatore.
"You."
"Where is Leo?"
"They took him."
"Who?"
"I don't know their names."
"Paolo Rizzi?"
Recognition flashed in her eyes.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"I heard them mention Pier 19."
Salvatore turned.
The nun grabbed his sleeve.
"Wait."
He looked down.
"There was another man."
"Who?"
"He was older. Maybe seventy. Walked with a cane."
Dominic's face changed.
"What did he look like?"
"Gray hair. Scar below his right ear."
Dominic whispered, "Domenico."
Salvatore's jaw tightened.
Sister Margaret looked between them.
"He came to the orphanage months ago. After Elena died."
"Why?"
"He wanted Leo."
Salvatore felt his chest constrict.
"You gave him the boy?"
"No."
Her answer was immediate.
"Elena had left instructions. She said nobody claiming to be family could take Leo unless the child himself agreed."
Salvatore looked surprised.
"Leo refused?"
"Leo hid."
For the first time, Sister Margaret smiled faintly.
"That boy can disappear inside a building better than any child I've ever known."
The smile vanished.
"But afterward, he changed. He stopped sleeping. He started asking questions about New York."
"Why didn't you contact me?"
Sister Margaret's face hardened.
"We tried."
Salvatore stopped.
"What?"
"We called the number Elena gave us."
"What number?"
"Your private office."
Dominic swore softly.
Sister Margaret continued.
"A man answered. He told us never to call again. He said Salvatore Moretti had no interest in Elena Bellini or her child."
Salvatore's eyes shifted toward Dominic.
"I never got that call."
"I know."
"How?"
"Because I personally called three days later."
Sister Margaret swallowed.
"The same man answered."
"Did you recognize his voice tonight?"
She nodded.
Salvatore leaned closer.
"Whose?"
Before she could answer, glass exploded behind them.
A bullet tore through Sister Margaret's shoulder.
Carmine pulled her down.
Shots hammered the walls.
Salvatore returned fire.
The lights went out.
Men shouted.
Dominic dragged the nun behind a filing cabinet while Carmine fired toward the upper catwalk.
Salvatore moved through darkness.
One attacker dropped.
Then another.
A third ran for the loading door.
Salvatore caught him outside.
He slammed him against a concrete wall.
"Where is the boy?"
The man laughed despite blood running from his mouth.
Salvatore struck him.
"Where?"
"Too late."
Another punch.
"Pier 19?"
The man's smile widened.
"You think this is about the boy?"
Salvatore froze.
The man spat blood.
"He's bait."
"For what?"
"For you."
A distant boom rolled across the river.
All four men turned.
Flames rose into the sky.
From Pier 19.
Salvatore released the attacker.
Then ran.
The pier burned when they arrived.
A black sedan sat near the water.
Empty.
A warehouse door hung open.
Salvatore entered through smoke.
"LEO!"
No answer.
He moved deeper.
"LEO!"
A weak sound came from beneath the stairs.
Salvatore ripped aside a metal panel.
Leo crouched in a narrow maintenance cavity.
Hands tied.
Face streaked with soot.
Alive.
Salvatore fell to his knees.
Leo stared at him.
For one second, neither spoke.
Then the boy threw himself forward.
Salvatore caught him.
Small arms wrapped around his neck.
It was the first time Leo had touched him willingly.
Salvatore held him so tightly the boy squeaked.
"Can't breathe."
Salvatore immediately loosened his grip.
Leo coughed.
Then whispered against his shoulder.
"I knew you'd come."
Salvatore closed his eyes.
Behind them, Dominic shouted that the building was coming down.
Salvatore lifted Leo and ran.
They reached the parking lot seconds before part of the roof collapsed.
Carmine wrapped a blanket around the boy.
Salvatore checked him for injuries.
"Did they hurt you?"
Leo shook his head.
"Did you hear anything?"
Another nod.
"What?"
Leo looked toward Dominic.
Then toward Salvatore.
"The old man with the cane said he didn't want to kill me."
Salvatore's eyes narrowed.
"He said he needs me alive."
"Why?"
Leo reached into his pocket.
He removed a folded piece of paper.
"They made me read this."
Salvatore opened it.
One sentence.
THE BOY IS VITTORIO'S LEGAL HEIR.
Salvatore stared at the words.
Then at Leo.
And suddenly he understood why Elena had run.
Why someone had searched for the ledger.
Why an old man had returned from the dead.
May you like
Leo wasn't dangerous because he was Salvatore's son.
He was dangerous because somewhere, somehow, Vittorio Moretti had left an empire to a child nobody knew existed.
