Chapter 2 - THE LAST MAN ELIAS SPOKE TO
“I hope you won’t consider this disrespectful,” Dominic Baron said.
Detective Raina Ortiz glanced at the silver-haired man standing beside Luca Ferretti’s ruined kitchen.
“Depends what comes next.”
Dominic folded his hands behind his back.
“I would like to know whether Miss Whitaker is free to leave.”
Ortiz studied him.
“She’s not being detained.”
“Good.”
Hope, standing near the side entrance with her wet delivery jacket folded over one arm, looked immediately suspicious.
“I can speak for myself.”
Dominic inclined his head. “I’m sure you can.”
“Then why are you speaking for me?”
“Because Mr. Ferretti would like five minutes of your time before you go.”
Hope looked toward Luca.
He had not changed clothes. Dried blood marked the side of his face. His white shirt was streaked where Marta had grabbed him during the paramedics’ examination.
He looked less like a crime boss now.
More like a man waiting outside an operating room.
“No,” Hope said.
Luca’s eyes hardened slightly.
Dominic only nodded. “Understood.”
That answer surprised her.
No threats.
No pressure.
No armed men blocking the door.
Hope put on her jacket.
Then Luca spoke.
“My brother’s name was Elias Ferretti.”
Her hand stopped on the zipper.
The kitchen seemed to become colder.
Hope did not turn around.
“I heard you the first time.”
“You knew him.”
It was not a question.
Hope closed her eyes.
Three years vanished.
Dust.
Smoke.
A burning vehicle tipped against concrete.
Someone screaming for morphine.
Someone else screaming for his mother.
And Elias Ferretti laughing through blood because the alternative was screaming too.
Hope opened her eyes again.
“I knew a Sergeant Elias Ferretti.”
Luca stepped closer.
“He wasn’t a sergeant.”
“He was over there.”
That silenced him.
Luca’s younger brother had vanished from Newport at twenty-six after a violent argument with their father. Elias had joined a private security contractor attached to humanitarian evacuation operations in northern Syria.
To Luca, he had still been the impulsive kid who stole his cigarettes at fourteen.
To the people overseas, apparently, Elias had become something else.
“What was he like?” Luca asked.
Hope turned.
The question had changed him.
Not what happened?
Not how did he die?
What was he like?
Hope looked at the feared Luca Ferretti and saw, for one dangerous second, only an older brother.
“Annoying.”
Luca blinked.
Dominic’s mouth almost moved.
Hope continued.
“He talked too much. He cheated at cards badly. He carried hot sauce packets everywhere because he claimed military food was designed by people who hated happiness.”
A strangled sound escaped Luca.
Almost a laugh.
Almost grief.
“He did that as a kid.”
Hope nodded.
“He also gave half his food away whenever he thought somebody hadn’t eaten enough. Pretended he wasn’t doing it.”
Luca looked down.
“He hated people noticing when he cared.”
“Yes.”
The single word landed harder than anything else.
Luca dragged a chair upright and sat.
“Tell me how he died.”
Hope’s face closed again.
“No.”
His head lifted sharply.
“I have spent three years—”
“I said no.”
Teddy took a step forward.
Luca raised a hand, stopping him.
Hope’s voice lowered.
“Not tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because three men just broke into your house wearing a symbol I haven’t seen since Syria.”
Every person in the kitchen froze.
Ortiz, who had been walking toward the foyer, stopped.
She slowly turned around.
“What did you say?”
Hope cursed under her breath.
Ortiz came back.
“You recognize the tattoo?”
Hope looked toward the unconscious attackers, now being prepared for transport under police guard.
“I recognize the design.”
“From where?”
Hope hesitated.
Luca watched her carefully.
“Hope.”
She flinched at the use of her first name.
“The group called themselves Janus.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Tiny.
But Hope noticed.
“So you do know it,” she said.
Dominic remained silent.
Ortiz stepped between them.
“What is Janus?”
“A contractor network,” Hope said. “At least that’s what they pretended to be. Security, extraction, logistics. They moved people and supplies through places where governments didn’t want fingerprints.”
“And actually?”
Hope looked at Luca.
“They sold access.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“To whom?”
“Anyone who paid enough.”
Ortiz opened her notebook again.
“Weapons?”
“Yes.”
“People?”
Hope waited too long.
Ortiz’s eyes narrowed.
“People?”
“Yes.”
The word came out quieter.
Luca stood.
“Elias knew?”
Hope looked directly at him.
“Elias found out.”
A pulse jumped near Luca’s temple.
“What happened?”
“He found evidence that Janus was rerouting evacuation convoys. Refugees disappeared. Medical supplies disappeared. Witnesses disappeared.”
“And he reported it?”
“He tried.”
“Then the vehicle exploded.”
Hope said nothing.
Luca’s face went still.
The stillness was worse than anger.
“My brother’s death was reported as an improvised explosive device.”
“That’s what the report said.”
“You don’t believe it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Hope’s gaze dropped toward her scarred hands.
“Because I was inside the vehicle.”
Silence.
Even Ortiz stopped writing.
Hope breathed carefully.
“There were five of us. Two medics. Elias. A driver. An interpreter named Samir.”
“You survived.”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
Hope looked at him.
“No one.”
Luca’s hand closed around the back of the chair.
“Then you were the last person to see my brother alive.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Hope’s breathing changed.
Luca saw it.
The room was disappearing from her again.
He stepped toward her and stopped himself before touching her.
“What did Elias say?”
Hope stared beyond him.
“There was fire everywhere. My hands were burned getting through his harness. He was trapped.”
Luca went pale.
“I couldn’t get him out.”
Her voice cracked for the first time.
“I tried.”
“Hope—”
“I tried until the ammunition started cooking off.”
Luca said nothing.
“I told him I wasn’t leaving.”
Hope swallowed.
“He made me.”
“How?”
“He pulled the sidearm from my holster.”
Luca stared.
“He pointed it at you?”
“He threatened to shoot my boot.”
A broken laugh escaped Dominic.
Hope’s mouth trembled.
“He said, ‘If you make my brother find out I let the best medic in Syria die because I was too stubborn to admit I was finished, Luca will come all the way over here just to kill me again.’”
Luca lowered his head.
Hope continued, barely above a whisper.
“Then he gave me something.”
Luca looked up.
“What?”
“A key.”
Hope reached beneath her shirt.
From a thin cord around her neck, she pulled a small brass key no longer than her little finger.
Luca stared at it.
“I’ve carried it for three years.”
“What does it open?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca stepped closer.
Hope curled her fist around it.
“He told me one thing before I ran.”
Luca’s voice failed once before returning.
“What?”
Hope looked into his eyes.
“He said, ‘Don’t give this to Luca until he learns who betrayed us.’”
The entire room changed.
Dominic Baron went completely motionless.
Teddy slowly turned his head toward him.
Detective Ortiz noticed both reactions.
So did Hope.
Luca stared at the man who had served his family for thirty years.
“Dominic?”
The older man’s face had gone gray.
Luca’s voice became very soft.
“You know that key.”
Dominic took one slow breath.
“Yes.”
Hope stepped backward.
Ortiz’s hand moved toward her weapon.
Luca did not blink.
“What does it open?”
Dominic looked at the brass key hanging from Hope’s fist.
Then at Luca.
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
Dominic hesitated.
That was his mistake.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Where?”
“The Newport Federal Trust.”
Luca approached until only inches separated them.
“And how would you know that?”
Dominic’s eyes filled with something Luca had never seen there.
Shame.
“Because I gave Elias the box.”
Teddy whispered a curse.
Hope moved nearer the exit.
Ortiz said, “Nobody leaves.”
Luca ignored her.
“You helped Elias investigate Janus.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he thought someone had betrayed him.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“No.”
Luca grabbed him by the lapels.
Teddy stepped forward.
“Boss.”
“Give me one reason.”
Dominic did not resist.
“Because Elias made me swear.”
“He was dead!”
“He was trying to keep you alive!”
Luca shoved him away.
Dominic struck the counter but remained standing.
“He believed Janus had someone inside your family,” Dominic said.
Luca went still.
“Inside my family?”
“Your organization. Your businesses. Possibly this house.”
Ortiz looked toward the broken side door.
Hope understood before anyone said it.
“The men tonight weren’t here to kill Luca.”
Luca turned to her.
Hope looked toward the hallway.
“They came after the key.”
“But they didn’t know you were coming,” Teddy said.
Hope shook her head.
“No.”
Then her expression changed.
She reached into her delivery jacket.
Her phone was gone.
“I had it when I arrived.”
Ortiz looked toward the attackers.
“Maybe one of them took it.”
Hope’s face drained.
“No.”
“What?”
“My delivery app.”
She ran toward the pantry where the first attacker had fallen.
Police had already removed him.
Hope searched the floor.
Nothing.
“My route. My address. My customer history.”
Luca understood.
“You said you had nowhere to disappear to.”
Hope slowly looked at him.
Her exhaustion suddenly seemed deeper.
“I sleep in my car.”
For the first time that night, Luca’s anger vanished completely.
Hope pushed past him.
“I have to go.”
Luca caught her arm.
Hope spun so quickly his back hit the counter.
Her fist stopped one inch from his throat.
Teddy reached for his gun.
“Don’t,” Luca ordered.
Hope released him.
“I don’t like being grabbed.”
“I noticed.”
She headed toward the door.
Luca spoke behind her.
“If they have your phone, they know where your car is.”
She stopped.
“They know your name,” he continued. “They know you survived Syria. And now they know you still have Elias’s key.”
Hope slowly faced him.
Luca picked up her abandoned food bag from the floor.
Tomato sauce had leaked through the bottom.
It was ridiculous.
Forty-two dollars of ruined Italian food in the center of a conspiracy that had already killed his brother.
“You came here to deliver dinner,” Luca said.
Hope folded her arms.
“Yes.”
“Instead, you saved Marta, stopped three men, and brought my dead brother home for five minutes.”
Something shifted in her expression.
“I didn’t bring him home.”
“You remembered him.”
Luca looked at the key.
“That’s more than I’ve had in three years.”
Hope said nothing.
“You can hate me tomorrow,” Luca continued. “You can leave after we open that box. But tonight, you stay somewhere Janus cannot reach you.”
“I don’t take orders.”
A faint trace of the Luca Ferretti everyone feared returned.
“Then consider it an extremely aggressive invitation.”
Despite herself, Hope almost smiled.
Almost.
Ortiz sighed.
“I hate every person in this kitchen.”
Dominic straightened his jacket.
“That seems excessive, Detective.”
“I’m including you twice.”
A paramedic called from outside.
Teddy went to help.
Hope stared at Luca.
“One night.”
“One night.”
“And nobody enters my room.”
“No one.”
“No guards inside.”
“Outside only.”
“No locked doors.”
Luca nodded.
Hope pointed at him.
“And if you ever order me to take off my clothes again, I break your nose.”
For the first time since hearing his brother’s final words, Luca Ferretti laughed.
It surprised everyone.
Especially Luca.
“Understood.”
Hope headed toward the stairs with Marta’s blood still beneath her fingernails.
Behind her, Luca looked at Dominic.
The laughter disappeared.
“At sunrise,” he said, “we open that box.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“If the bank still has it.”
Luca’s eyes turned cold.
“What does that mean?”
Dominic looked toward the broken doorway.
“It means Janus has been waiting three years for Hope Whitaker to come back.”
And somewhere beyond the estate gates, hidden inside a dark sedan overlooking the ocean, a man lifted Hope’s stolen phone to his ear.
“She still has the key,” he said.
A voice on the other end answered.
May you like
“Then finish what Elias Ferretti interrupted.”
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