Chapter 5 - Diesel Chose a Side
Marco moved first.
The guard never managed to draw his weapon.
Within seconds, he was on the floor.
His name was Anthony.
He had worked for Vincent for eleven years.
Vincent had attended his wedding.
Paid for his mother's surgery.
Trusted him near his home.
Now Anthony refused to meet his eyes.
"How long?"
No answer.
Vincent crouched.
"How long have you worked for Vescari?"
"Three years."
Elena looked sick.
"Where is the music box?"
Anthony laughed.
"Gone."
Vincent's expression remained calm.
That frightened Anthony more than shouting would have.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Diesel growled.
Anthony looked toward him.
Sofia stood behind the dog.
Vincent noticed Anthony's eyes move toward the child.
He stepped between them.
"Don't look at her."
Anthony swallowed.
"Vescari wants the ledger."
"He doesn't have it."
"He thinks the box leads to it."
"Does it?"
Anthony said nothing.
Vincent had Marco remove him.
Then Vincent turned toward Sofia.
"Tell me about your music box."
"It plays a song."
"What else?"
"There's a little drawer."
Arturo frowned.
"What drawer?"
"Underneath."
Nobody knew about it.
Sofia explained that one night the drawer had become stuck. She had pushed a pencil through a small hole and discovered something metallic inside.
"What?"
"A little silver thing."
"A key?"
"Maybe."
Vincent looked at Elena.
The music box wasn't the container.
It held another key.
The next morning, Vescari called.
Vincent answered on speaker.
"I believe you have something I need," Vescari said.
Vincent glanced at Sofia.
"You broke into my home."
"Your security isn't what it used to be."
"What do you want?"
"The documents."
"In exchange?"
"The music box."
Elena whispered, "No."
Vescari heard.
"Elena. I'm sorry we never met under happier circumstances."
"You murdered my husband."
A pause.
"Your husband murdered himself the moment he decided morality was more important than survival."
Elena's face crumpled.
Vincent's hand tightened around the phone.
"Where?"
Vescari named an abandoned train depot.
Midnight.
Vincent agreed.
After the call, Elena confronted him.
"We're not giving him anything."
"We're not."
"Then why agree?"
"Because now we know where he'll be."
"What about the box?"
"We take it back."
"And if this goes wrong?"
Vincent looked toward Sofia.
"It won't."
But Sofia was listening.
Children always heard more than adults believed.
Later that evening, she found Vincent alone with Diesel.
"Are you going to fight the bad man?"
Vincent looked at her.
"I'm going to fix a problem."
"Adults say that when they don't want kids to know they're scared."
Vincent almost smiled.
"Who taught you that?"
"Mommy."
She sat beside Diesel.
"Are you scared?"
Vincent considered lying.
"No."
Sofia frowned.
"That's not true."
Vincent sighed.
"Yes."
"Good."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Good?"
"Mom says being scared helps you remember what you don't want to lose."
Vincent looked at the child.
Then toward Elena standing unnoticed in the doorway.
Their eyes met.
Something shifted between them.
At midnight, Vincent went to the depot.
Marco accompanied him.
Dominic insisted on coming.
Vescari waited with six men.
The music box sat on a table.
Vincent carried Gabriel's documents in a briefcase.
"Exchange," Vescari said.
Vincent placed the case down.
Vescari opened it.
Blank paper.
He looked up.
Vincent smiled.
Chaos erupted.
Marco's team entered from both sides.
Dominic tackled one man.
Vincent reached the table.
Vescari grabbed the music box.
Then sirens sounded.
Vincent had done something nobody expected.
He had contacted federal investigators.
Gabriel had died trying to bring the evidence to them.
Vincent intended to finish what Gabriel started.
Vescari ran.
He escaped through a maintenance tunnel.
But he dropped the music box.
Vincent recovered it.
Back at the estate, Sofia opened the secret compartment.
Inside was a tiny silver key.
Attached to it was a paper tag.
There were three handwritten characters:
B-17.
Arturo stared.
"I know what that means."
"What?"
"Central Station."
Elena frowned.
"Locker?"
Arturo nodded.
"Old storage vault."
Vincent looked at the key.
The real ledger had been sitting in a public station for seven years.
They went at dawn.
Locker B-17 opened.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
Vincent removed it.
Gabriel's ledger.
Enough evidence to dismantle everything Vescari had built.
But underneath the ledger was another letter.
This one was addressed to Elena.
She read it silently.
Then began crying.
Vincent touched her shoulder.
"What does it say?"
She handed it to him.
Gabriel had known he might die.
His final request wasn't revenge.
It was that Sofia grow up without inheriting the fear that had consumed his life.
At the bottom, he had written one last sentence:
If Dee is still alive, let Sofia know her father once trusted that dog with the most precious thing he ever had—her.
Vincent looked at Diesel.
The dog sat beside Sofia.
Seven years had passed.
Yet somehow he had remembered.
Then Marco's phone rang.
His expression changed.
"Vincent."
"What?"
"Vescari knows we found the ledger."
Vincent waited.
Marco continued.
May you like
"And he's coming for Sofia."
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