Chapter 5 - Aunt Victoria's Table.
For several seconds, Luca said nothing.
Emily expected rage.
Instead, he looked almost embarrassed.
"Victoria Cafalli?"
"My aunt."
"The woman whose foundation paid for the hospital wing downtown?"
"The same woman."
Emily looked at Noah, then back at him.
"Why would she send men after a baby?"
"Because my family has never done anything without money behind it."
Luca copied the message thread to his private phone and erased the engineer's device.
Then he led Emily toward the freight stairwell.
They reached street level through a loading dock that opened onto an alley behind the building.
Cold night air hit them.
A black sedan waited at the curb.
Emily stopped.
"You said not to use your car."
"It isn't mine."
An elderly man stepped from the driver's seat.
Thomas Grady had been Antonio Cafalli's chauffeur before Luca was old enough to drive.
He looked at Emily, the baby, and the ledger beneath Luca's jacket.
"Your father told me this night might come."
Luca stared at him.
"My father has been dead for eleven years."
"He was worried even then."
"About what?"
"About Victoria."
They got into the sedan.
Thomas drove without using the main avenues.
As they crossed Midtown, Luca opened the envelope marked FOR LUCA ONLY.
Inside was a handwritten letter from Antonio.
Luca read silently at first.
Then his hands began to shake.
Emily noticed.
"What does it say?"
He handed her the letter.
Antonio had written that the Cafalli fortune was built partly through legitimate construction and partly through a hidden alliance known as the Scorpion Circle.
Years earlier, he had tried to dismantle the illegal side of the organization after discovering that Victoria was using company security teams to intimidate witnesses and steal from family-controlled trusts.
Margaret Hart, Emily's mother, had been Antonio's accountant and secret witness.
She had copied records that could destroy the Circle.
Before Antonio could deliver them to federal investigators, someone leaked the plan.
Margaret vanished with her daughters.
Antonio never found out whether she escaped or betrayed him.
The final paragraph made Emily gasp.
IF THE HART GIRLS RETURN WITH THE KEY, PROTECT THEM BEFORE YOU ASK WHY.
Luca read that sentence again.
"He knew you might come."
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"My mother never told us any of this."
"What did she tell you?"
"She said the Cafallis killed my father and forced us to disappear."
Thomas looked at them through the rearview mirror.
"Your mother was not wrong about everything."
Emily leaned forward.
"What do you mean?"
Thomas hesitated.
"Ask Victoria who ordered the car crash that killed Antonio's oldest son."
Luca's face hardened.
"Gabriel died in an accident."
Thomas did not answer.
"Thomas."
"Your brother was investigating the Circle before he died."
Emily suddenly looked down at Noah.
Luca noticed.
"Why did you look at him?"
"I didn't."
"You did."
Emily turned toward the window.
Luca's suspicion returned with full force.
"Who is Noah?"
"Not now."
"There may not be a later."
"Please."
The sedan turned toward the East River.
Ahead, police lights flashed around the block where the old Cafalli townhouse stood.
Thomas immediately slowed.
"That's not good."
Luca called Naomi.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then Emily's phone, which had been powered off for hours, suddenly turned on inside her pocket by itself.
A single video appeared on the screen.
Naomi Reed was sitting in the townhouse living room with her hands bound behind a chair.
Victoria Cafalli stood beside her in an elegant cream suit.
She smiled directly into the camera.
"Luca, darling."
May you like
"Bring me the baby and the ledger."
"Or your lawyer dies before midnight."
