Chapter 5
We drove to Denver before dawn.
Mark came because I ordered him to.
Claudia stayed at the lodge under guard.
Noah remained with my doctor and a woman he trusted.
I kissed his forehead before leaving.
He woke just enough to whisper, “Grandpa likes plane?”
I held the toy where he could see it.
“Best gift I got.”
He smiled.
Then slept again.
The storage facility still existed.
Box 27 was a narrow private unit behind a steel door. The brass key turned on the first try.
Inside were three shelves.
No money.
No weapons.
No family jewels.
Only records of a life.
Ellen’s journals.
Photographs.
Cassette tapes.
A sealed wooden box.
And one envelope with my name.
RICHARD — IF MARK FINALLY GIVES YOU THE KEY.
I stared at my son.
He could not look at me.
I opened it.
Ellen’s handwriting.
Richard,
If you are reading this, either Thomas is dead or Mark finally stopped being afraid of what I asked him to carry.
My throat tightened.
She knew exactly what she had done to him.
The letter continued.
Thomas has been using your crews to build something separate from you. He says you are too loyal to family and not loyal enough to power. I think he is preparing for the day he can replace you without ever sitting in your chair.
I stopped.
Mark whispered, “Dad?”
I kept reading.
Do not confront him until you hear the tapes.
I looked toward the cassettes.
Mark shook his head.
“I never opened this.”
“I know.”
He looked miserable.
That mattered.
Then I opened the wooden box.
Inside were six family rings.
Not Bellacorte rings.
Copies.
Almost identical.
Each engraved with a different set of initials.
Mark stared.
“What are those?”
I knew.
Counterfeit authority.
My brother had been giving selected men something that looked close enough to my signet to carry my name where I had never sent it.
Then I found one final object beneath the rings.
A photograph.
Thomas.
Claudia.
Together.
Fifteen years earlier.
She would have been fifteen.
I looked at Mark.
May you like
He looked as shocked as I felt.
Claudia had known Thomas long before she ever married into my family.
