Chapter 6 - THE TESTIMONY THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Marco Castellano gave his statement from a hospital bed.
It lasted four hours.
By the time he finished, two detectives had stopped treating Vincent like a monster and started treating the entire case like an explosion they were afraid to touch.
Marco told them everything.
The false evidence.
Joey Barone sparing his life.
Samuel Vieri’s money network.
The threats.
Elena.
The years under another name.
The investigation.
Sophia’s kidnapping.
And finally, the warehouse.
Vincent was still taken into custody.
Because one fact could not be erased.
Fifteen years ago, Vincent had signed the order authorizing Marco’s execution.
Marco surviving did not make the order legal.
For the first time since he was nineteen, Vincent spent a night behind bars.
He expected humiliation.
Instead, he felt something almost like peace.
Consequences had finally caught him.
The next morning, his attorney arrived.
“The prosecutor is willing to discuss a deal.”
Vincent stared through the glass.
“How much?”
“Depends on cooperation.”
“With?”
“Everything.”
The attorney leaned closer.
“They want Maronei financial records. Names. Accounts. Old operations.”
Vincent smiled faintly.
“They want the empire.”
“Yes.”
Vincent thought of Sophia.
Marco.
The tattoo on his wrist.
Family Never Dies.
For years, Vincent had misunderstood it.
Family did not mean protecting every dirty secret bearing the same last name.
It meant refusing to destroy the people you claimed to love.
“Give them everything.”
His attorney froze.
“Everything?”
“Every illegal account. Every shell business. Every payment.”
“You understand what that does?”
“Yes.”
“It could collapse half your organization.”
“Good.”
The attorney stared.
“Who are you?”
Vincent almost laughed.
“Still figuring that out.”
Meanwhile, Marco became the prosecution’s most important witness.
Tony turned over records.
Several Maronei captains fled.
Two were arrested.
Three accepted immunity agreements.
Samuel disappeared again.
But his options were narrowing.
Sophia stayed with Marco once he was released from the hospital.
Vincent did not see her for eighteen days.
He told himself that was appropriate.
She belonged with her father.
Then one afternoon, his attorney entered holding an envelope.
“A child delivered this to my office.”
Vincent opened it.
A drawing.
Three figures.
Sophia in the middle.
Marco on one side.
Vincent on the other.
Above them, a badly drawn black crown.
Below it:
FAMILY NEVER DIES EVEN WHEN THEY ARE STUPID.
Vincent laughed so unexpectedly the guard outside looked through the glass.
Inside was a note in Marco’s handwriting.
She insisted.
Then underneath:
I didn’t disagree.
Vincent folded the paper carefully.
Three days later, he was released on bond after prosecutors acknowledged his full cooperation.
The world waiting outside had changed.
Reporters surrounded him.
Business partners abandoned him.
Politicians who once returned calls pretended they had never met him.
Vincent should have cared.
He didn’t.
Marco waited beside the car.
Vincent stopped.
Neither man spoke for a moment.
Then Marco said:
“You look terrible.”
Vincent smiled.
“You already used that line.”
“I’ve had fifteen years to save them.”
Vincent got into the car.
Marco joined him.
For ten blocks, they sat in silence.
Then Vincent asked:
“Where’s Sophia?”
“School.”
“She went back?”
“She made me.”
Vincent nodded.
“Good.”
Marco looked out the window.
“She likes you.”
“That seems irresponsible.”
“She’s seven.”
“Exactly.”
Marco almost smiled.
Then became serious.
“Samuel contacted me.”
Vincent turned.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“What did he want?”
“Meeting.”
“Where?”
“Your father’s old country house.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
The abandoned Maronei estate in upstate New York.
His father had loved the property.
Samuel had too.
“What did he say?”
“That he has proof you were never meant to inherit.”
Vincent stared.
Marco continued.
“He claims your father planned to remove you.”
“That sounds like Samuel.”
“There’s more.”
Marco pulled out a photograph.
Vincent took it.
His father stood beside a woman Vincent recognized as his former secretary.
Between them was a boy of perhaps sixteen.
On the back was written:
ANTHONY VIERI-MARONEI.
Vincent frowned.
“Tony?”
Marco nodded slowly.
Vincent looked again.
Tony Rini.
His lieutenant.
His most trusted man for the last twelve years.
The boy in the photograph looked different.
But not that different.
“No.”
Marco’s voice was careful.
“Samuel says Tony is your father’s illegitimate son.”
Vincent’s stomach tightened.
“My half-brother?”
“Potentially.”
“And Samuel’s nephew.”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at Marco.
“If it’s true, why hide it?”
“Because Samuel claims your father intended Tony to inherit everything.”
Vincent almost laughed.
“Tony was seventeen when my father died.”
“So were you when Marco disappeared.”
Vincent’s smile faded.
Then his phone rang.
Tony.
Vincent answered.
“Where are you?”
Tony’s voice came low and urgent.
“Boss, don’t trust Marco.”
Vincent glanced at the man sitting beside him.
Marco heard every word.
Tony continued.
“I found proof Samuel has been paying someone close to you.”
Vincent’s heart slowed.
“Who?”
A pause.
Then Tony said:
“Marco.”
Vincent and Marco stared at each other.
Fifteen years ago, forged evidence destroyed them because Vincent chose suspicion over trust.
Now someone was trying to do it again.
May you like
And this time, Vincent had one chance to prove he had learned something.
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