Chapter 6 - THE SONG MY FATHER LEFT ME
I hadn’t thought about the song in years.
Maybe decades.
It wasn’t a real song.
Not exactly.
My father made up silly things constantly when I was little.
Songs about burnt pancakes.
Songs about missing socks.
Songs about traffic.
But this one was different.
He sang it only once.
The night before he died.
I had been thirteen.
Too old for bedtime songs.
I remembered rolling my eyes.
“Dad.”
“Humor me, Stell.”
Then he sang.
Seven horses circle home,
Three look east and one stands alone.
Under the lion, behind the blue,
The last good man will tell you true.
My hands started shaking.
Dominic watched me.
“You remember.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
I repeated it.
Anthony immediately wrote the words down.
“Seven horses,” he said. “Carousel?”
“Probably.”
“Three look east.”
Dominic frowned.
“The carousel horses rotate. Direction changes depending on position.”
“Under the lion,” I said.
“There was a lion on the pavilion crest,” Anthony replied.
“Behind the blue?”
I remembered.
“The blue horse.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Number seventeen was white.”
“Yes.”
“But there was another carousel.”
Anthony was already searching.
“Bellini Pavilion had two.”
My pulse jumped.
“The children’s carousel.”
“It was moved when the park closed.”
“Where?”
Anthony’s expression changed.
“Russo estate.”
Dominic stared.
“What?”
“Your father bought it at auction.”
We drove north.
The Russo estate sat beyond iron gates in Westchester.
Unlike Elena’s townhouse, this looked exactly like the home of a man people feared.
Stone mansion.
Long driveway.
Security cameras.
Gardens large enough to disappear inside.
The old carousel stood in a glass pavilion behind the house.
Dominic stared at it.
“I played here as a kid.”
“So did I.”
He looked at me.
“What?”
I stepped inside.
Memory hit me.
My father holding my hand.
Another little boy running between the horses.
Dark hair.
Serious eyes.
I turned slowly toward Dominic.
“Oh my God.”
He understood.
“We met.”
“You knocked my ice cream down.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“That was you?”
“You laughed.”
“I was eight.”
“You were horrible.”
“I’m sure I had redeeming qualities.”
“Not that day.”
For one impossible second, I laughed.
So did he.
Then reality returned.
Maria was missing.
Gabriel was hunting us.
Derek might be dead.
We searched.
Seven horses.
Three facing east.
One separated from the others.
A painted lion decorated the center column.
Behind it stood a blue horse.
I climbed onto the platform.
“Under the lion.”
Dominic crouched.
“There.”
A metal plate.
Anthony unscrewed it.
Inside was a compartment.
My breath stopped.
Dominic reached in.
He pulled out a cassette tape.
And a small black notebook.
The ledger.
Twenty-two years hidden beneath a carousel.
I touched the cover.
“My father put this here.”
Dominic handed it to me.
“You should open it.”
The pages contained numbers.
Names.
Dates.
Initials.
Then handwritten notes.
Daniel Bennett’s handwriting.
I knew it immediately.
My eyes blurred.
Dad.
I turned pages.
Gabriel Voss appeared repeatedly.
Payments.
Offshore accounts.
Police officers.
Port authorities.
Then Carlos Martinez.
Derek’s father.
According to the ledger, Carlos and Gabriel had stolen money from the escape network.
Worse, they sold locations of protected witnesses.
People died.
Dominic read beside me.
“Jesus.”
Then I reached the final page.
DANIEL KNOWS.
Those words were not my father’s handwriting.
Below them:
CARLOS WILL HANDLE ROAD.
I stopped breathing.
Dominic took the ledger.
“Carlos killed your father.”
I thought I would cry.
I didn’t.
I felt empty.
Derek had spent years believing the Russos killed his father.
His father had killed mine.
A cycle built on lies.
Anthony picked up the cassette.
“We need to hear this.”
The mansion still had an old stereo system.
Elena joined us.
When she saw the ledger, she covered her mouth.
Then we played the tape.
Static.
My father’s voice.
“If you’re hearing this, something happened to me.”
I broke.
One sound escaped me.
Dominic moved closer but didn’t touch me.
My father continued.
“Vincent, if this is you, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”
Elena began crying.
“Stella, if somehow you’re hearing this…”
I pressed both hands over my mouth.
“You’re probably grown now.”
His voice cracked.
“I hope you’re happy.”
Tears ran down my face.
“I hope you became exactly who you wanted to be.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Then his tone changed.
“Gabriel Voss and Carlos Martinez are responsible. I have proof.”
He described the ledger.
The payments.
The witness murders.
Then:
“Carlos told me tonight that if I don’t give him the ledger, he’ll make sure Stella grows up without a father.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
Dominic finally touched my hand.
I let him.
For the first time, I didn’t flinch.
Anthony’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then looked at us.
“We found Maria.”
I stood instantly.
“Where?”
“Warehouse in Queens.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Relief nearly knocked me down.
“And Gabriel?”
“Gone.”
“Derek?”
Anthony hesitated.
“Alive.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Police?”
“Not yet.”
I grabbed the ledger.
“We’re going.”
At the warehouse, Maria ran into my arms.
We both cried.
Derek sat against a wall, one shoulder bloody.
Dominic’s men surrounded him.
I walked toward him.
Derek looked up.
For the first time since I’d known him, there was no charm left.
No performance.
Just exhaustion.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
“Was my father in there?”
“Yes.”
He swallowed.
“Tell me.”
“Carlos killed my father.”
Derek closed his eyes.
I expected denial.
Instead, he whispered:
“I know.”
I froze.
“What?”
His eyes opened.
“I found out tonight.”
My anger exploded.
“You knew?”
“Gabriel told me after he shot me.”
“Why?”
“Because he thought I was dying.”
I stepped closer.
“You spent years terrorizing me over something your father did.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You put your hands around my throat.”
His face twisted.
“I know.”
“You made me afraid to sleep.”
“I know.”
“You made me leave my home.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that!”
My voice echoed.
Derek looked at the floor.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I don’t deserve it.”
“No.”
He looked at Dominic.
“Gabriel is going after your mother.”
Dominic went still.
“What?”
“He thinks Elena knows where Vincent kept the names of everyone still alive from the network.”
Elena was at the estate.
Dominic reached for his phone.
Before he could dial, mine rang.
His mother.
I answered.
“Elena?”
Nothing.
Then Gabriel’s voice.
“You found the ledger.”
I closed my eyes.
“Yes.”
“Bring it to me.”
“Where’s Elena?”
A faint sound came through.
Then Elena’s voice.
“Don’t you dare give this bastard anything!”
A slap.
Dominic took the phone.
“If you touch her again—”
Gabriel laughed.
“Midnight. Pier Forty-Seven.”
“And if we call police?”
“You’ll be planning your mother’s funeral.”
The line went dead.
Dominic stared at me.
I looked at the ledger.
Then at Derek.
He was smiling faintly.
Not because anything was funny.
Because he knew something we didn’t.
“What?” I demanded.
Derek looked at me.
“Gabriel just made his first mistake.”
May you like
“What mistake?”
“He thinks that ledger is the only copy.”
