Chapter 9 - THE LAST MAN INSIDE BLACK CROWN
Gabriel locked the bedroom door.
“Back stairs?”
Nicholas pointed.
“Through my bathroom.”
Claire took his hand.
Gabriel crouched.
“Nicholas, go with Claire.”
The boy looked frightened.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be behind you.”
“You promise?”
Gabriel hesitated only a fraction.
“I promise.”
They moved.
Outside, a voice came through a loudspeaker.
“Gabriel Moretti, this is Special Agent Keene. We need to speak.”
Gabriel looked toward Marco.
“How many?”
“Eight.”
“Ours?”
“Six outside. Two inside.”
“Tell them do not fire unless fired upon.”
Claire glanced back.
“You're trusting them?”
“No.”
Gabriel handed her a small pistol.
She stared.
“I've never used one.”
“Then don't unless there's no other choice.”
Claire took it reluctantly.
They moved through the bathroom into a narrow back stairway.
Nicholas whispered, “Is Grandpa trying to hurt us?”
Claire looked down.
She hated what children inherited from adults.
“Your grandfather made bad choices.”
“Is that yes?”
Claire sighed.
“Yes.”
Nicholas nodded as though confirming something he already knew.
At the bottom, Teresa waited with Lucy.
Lucy immediately ran toward Claire.
Nicholas stared at her.
Lucy stared back.
“Who are you?”
“Nicholas.”
“I'm Lucy.”
“I know.”
Lucy frowned.
“How?”
“Grandpa showed me your picture.”
Claire felt cold.
“What?”
Nicholas looked at her.
“He said you were the reason I couldn't go home.”
Gabriel entered behind them.
“Nicholas, listen to me.”
The boy looked guilty.
“I didn't believe him.”
Gabriel knelt.
“None of this is your fault.”
Nicholas nodded.
A knock sounded upstairs.
Keene again.
“Gabriel!”
Marco looked at the security tablet.
“They're entering.”
Gabriel moved everyone toward the garage.
Then Nicholas stopped.
“My letters.”
“What?”
“My mom’s box.”
“Nicholas, we need to go.”
“She said if something happened to Grandpa, give it to my dad.”
Gabriel stared.
“Where?”
“Under my bed.”
Gunfire erupted upstairs.
Not theirs.
Keene’s team.
Gabriel swore.
Marco spoke into his radio.
“They fired first. Fall back.”
Nicholas tried to run upstairs.
Gabriel grabbed him.
“No.”
“But the box—”
“We'll get another time.”
“No!”
Nicholas struggled.
“My mom said it proves who killed her.”
Everyone froze.
Gabriel stared at him.
“What?”
Nicholas’s eyes filled.
“She said she was sick because somebody poisoned her.”
Gabriel felt as though the air had been pulled from the house.
Elena’s death had been ruled pancreatic cancer.
Gabriel whispered, “Where is the box?”
“Under the bed.”
Gabriel looked at Marco.
Marco nodded.
“I’ll get it.”
“No.”
Gabriel stopped him.
“You take them out.”
Claire understood.
“Gabriel—”
“I promised Nicholas.”
“That doesn't mean—”
“It does.”
He looked at his son.
“I’ll get it.”
Gabriel went upstairs.
Claire hated him for about three seconds.
Then she herded the children into the garage.
Marco opened the rear door.
A black SUV waited.
Teresa climbed in.
Lucy followed.
Nicholas hesitated.
“My dad—”
“He's coming,” Claire said.
The word dad made Nicholas look startled.
Claire gave him a tiny smile.
“Get used to it.”
They drove toward the beach road.
Behind them, gunfire continued.
Claire stared through the rear window.
“Where is he?”
Marco spoke into his earpiece.
No response.
“Gabriel.”
Still nothing.
Nicholas began to panic.
Claire grabbed Marco’s arm.
“Turn around.”
“We can't.”
“Turn around.”
“My orders are—”
“I don't care.”
Teresa leaned forward.
“Claire.”
She looked at the older woman.
Teresa’s eyes were wet.
“He’ll come.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
Teresa looked toward the disappearing house.
“But I know my son.”
Then the house exploded.
Lucy screamed.
Nicholas shouted, “Dad!”
Claire felt her entire body go numb.
Flames shot through the upstairs windows.
Marco slammed on the brakes.
“No.”
He turned the SUV.
They raced back.
Federal vehicles burned near the driveway.
Several agents had fled.
Claire jumped out before the SUV stopped.
“Gabriel!”
Marco grabbed her.
“You stay here.”
“Let go!”
A figure appeared through smoke.
Marco raised his gun.
Then lowered it.
Gabriel emerged.
His shirt was torn.
Blood covered one side of his face.
In his hand was a metal box.
Nicholas ran.
“Dad!”
Gabriel stopped.
That single word nearly brought him to his knees.
Nicholas crashed into him.
Gabriel wrapped both arms around the boy.
Claire looked away, crying.
Lucy slipped her hand into Claire’s.
“Is Uncle Gabriel okay?”
Claire laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
Then paused.
“Uncle Gabriel.”
That was going to take some explaining.
Inside the SUV, Gabriel opened Elena’s box.
There were letters.
Medical records.
Photographs.
And an audio recorder.
Elena’s voice came through.
“If Nicholas is hearing this, I'm sorry.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“I did terrible things before he was born.”
Elena confessed to working for Richard.
Passing information.
Helping track Teresa.
Believing Gabriel’s family had destroyed her own father’s business.
Then she discovered Richard had lied.
“He killed Vittorio.”
Everyone became still.
“He arranged Margaret’s death.”
Gabriel looked at Teresa.
“He ordered Teresa taken.”
The recording continued.
“And when I tried to leave, he poisoned me slowly enough that doctors would see cancer.”
Gabriel clenched his hands.
“I won't survive.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“But Richard isn't the top of Black Crown.”
Gabriel looked toward Marco.
Elena continued.
“Thomas Keene is.”
Silence.
“Richard handles money. Keene handles police, prosecutors, investigators.”
Gabriel understood.
That was how crimes disappeared.
Why Teresa could never safely contact authorities.
Why Elaine lived in fear.
Why Richard had escaped the hospital.
Elena continued.
“There is one person Keene is afraid of.”
The recording paused.
“Arthur Moretti.”
Claire frowned.
Arthur?
“Because Arthur kept the original Crown ledger.”
Teresa whispered, “He told me it was destroyed.”
Gabriel looked at her.
Elena continued.
“The ledger can expose judges, agents, politicians, and every payment Black Crown has made for thirty years.”
Gabriel grabbed his phone.
He called Arthur.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Marco called the estate.
A guard answered.
His words made Marco turn pale.
“What?”
Gabriel demanded.
Marco lowered the phone.
“Arthur’s gone.”
Gabriel stood.
“Taken?”
“No.”
Marco swallowed.
“He left voluntarily.”
Teresa’s face changed.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“He took Vittorio’s old car.”
Claire frowned.
“Why?”
Gabriel stared toward the highway.
Because he suddenly understood.
“The cemetery.”
They drove back toward Philadelphia.
At Vittorio’s grave, they found Arthur standing alone.
He held the original Crown ledger.
Across from him stood Agent Keene.
Richard Crowley was beside Keene.
Alive.
Free.
Gabriel’s men surrounded the cemetery perimeter but could not shoot.
Keene held a gun to Arthur’s head.
Gabriel stepped out.
“It ends here.”
Keene smiled.
“No.”
He looked toward Lucy.
“It ends with the heir.”
Gabriel moved in front of her.
Keene laughed.
“Always protecting everyone.”
Arthur looked at Gabriel.
“Your father did the same.”
Keene’s face hardened.
“Give me the child.”
“No.”
“The ledger for the child.”
Gabriel stared.
“You don't have Lucy.”
Keene smiled.
“I don't need her yet.”
Claire realized the mistake.
Keene was buying time.
For what?
Then Richard looked toward Nicholas.
Claire saw it.
His eyes.
Not Lucy.
Nicholas.
“Gabriel!”
Richard raised a gun.
Claire pushed Nicholas down.
The shot missed.
Gunfire erupted.
Arthur dropped.
Teresa screamed.
Gabriel fired.
Richard fell.
Keene ran toward the mausoleum.
Marco chased him.
Claire crawled toward Arthur.
Blood stained his shirt.
“Arthur!”
He looked at her.
“Not mine.”
She frowned.
Then saw Keene’s blood on Arthur’s coat.
Arthur had stabbed him.
Gabriel reached them.
Marco shouted from the mausoleum.
“Keene’s gone!”
“How?”
“Tunnel!”
Arthur weakly laughed.
“Moretti cemeteries.”
Gabriel glared at him.
“Not funny.”
“Little funny.”
Then Arthur shoved the ledger into Gabriel’s hands.
“Finish it.”
Gabriel opened it.
The names inside could destroy Black Crown permanently.
Then Claire saw something written on the final page.
One last payment.
Dated that morning.
$5,000,000.
Recipient:
M. MORETTI.
Gabriel stared.
“No.”
Teresa looked at the page.
Her face lost all color.
Claire whispered, “Who's M. Moretti?”
Gabriel looked toward his mother.
Teresa said nothing.
“Mom?”
Her lips trembled.
“There is one more Moretti.”
Gabriel went still.
May you like
Teresa whispered:
“Your father had a brother.”
