Chapter 10
Nolan had not kidnapped Elliot.
Celeste confirmed it.
She had taken the music box willingly.
Not because she trusted Nolan.
Because Elliot recognized him.
Marcus Vale Junior had shown Elliot photographs before he died.
“If an old man named Nolan ever comes,” Marcus had told his son, “go with your mother and listen before you run.”
Celeste looked at Gavin.
“I should have told you.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You’re in a crowded room for that confession.”
She accepted it.
Nolan placed Brenna’s music box on the table.
Untouched.
Rocco looked at it.
“Where is Enzo?”
“Close.”
“Bring him.”
“No.”
Rocco’s eyes hardened.
Nolan did not flinch.
“You still think ordering people into rooms creates truth.”
Rocco almost smiled.
“You always did enjoy irritating me.”
“It kept me alive once.”
Nolan looked toward Gavin.
Then Brenna, who had arrived with Anthony.
“I owe all of you the whole story.”
Sybil was not there.
Gavin refused to bring her.
Not yet.
Nolan continued.
“Twenty-six years ago, Enzo, Marcus, and I learned Aldo Caruso answered to someone inside Moretti.”
“Who?” Rocco asked.
“We didn’t know.”
“You still don’t.”
“No.”
“Then twenty-six years accomplished nothing.”
Nolan looked at him.
“It kept Gavin alive.”
Gavin laughed.
“Did it?”
Nolan absorbed that.
Fair.
“We created the foxes because Domenico Moretti asked us.”
Rocco frowned.
“My father.”
“He suspected the same betrayal.”
“Why involve you?”
“Because he trusted no Moretti captain.”
“Not even me.”
“You were thirty-one and furious at everyone.”
Rocco looked away.
Accurate.
Nolan continued.
“Domenico hid a recording in Brenna’s music box before she was born.”
“How?”
“Elena.”
Brenna’s mother.
Rocco went still.
“My wife knew.”
“Yes.”
Brenna stared.
“Mom?”
Nolan nodded.
“Elena was the only person Domenico trusted to keep the box away from Rocco.”
Rocco laughed softly.
“Everyone trusted my wife to keep secrets from me.”
Nolan looked at him.
“There was a reason.”
Rocco’s face darkened.
“What?”
“You were already becoming what Aldo wanted.”
Silence.
Rocco stared.
Nolan continued.
“A boss who saw doubt as betrayal.”
“A brother who treated Enzo’s questions like challenges.”
“A husband who believed Elena’s silence meant obedience.”
Brenna looked toward her father.
Rocco said nothing.
Nolan was not entirely wrong.
“What did Aldo want from me?”
“Control.”
“Through fear?”
“Through predictability.”
Rocco understood.
If enemies knew exactly what would make him angry, they could move him anywhere.
Nolan pointed toward the music box.
“Domenico’s recording names the first Moretti he suspected.”
“First?”
“He wasn’t sure.”
Rocco stepped forward.
“Play it.”
“Not yet.”
Rocco’s expression hardened.
Gavin almost laughed.
Nolan continued.
“Enzo’s fox opens the compartment.”
“Where is Enzo?”
A voice came from the rear doorway.
“Still making you ask twice.”
Rocco turned.
Enzo Moretti stood there.
Sixty-three.
Gray beard.
Scar across his forehead.
Third fox in his hand.
Rocco did not move.
Neither did Enzo.
Twenty-six years lived between them.
Then Rocco crossed the room.
Enzo raised his chin, expecting a punch.
Rocco embraced him.
Everyone went still.
Enzo’s arms remained at his sides for two seconds.
Then wrapped around his brother.
Rocco whispered:
“You bastard.”
Enzo laughed against his shoulder.
“You got old.”
“So did you.”
They separated.
Rocco hit him.
Enzo staggered.
Nolan smiled.
“There it is.”
Rocco looked at him.
“Shut up.”
Enzo wiped his mouth.
“I deserved one.”
“More than one.”
“Later.”
He placed the third fox beside the music box.
Nolan added his token.
Celeste placed Marcus’s.
Three foxes.
The music box clicked.
A hidden bottom opened.
Inside was a tiny reel.
Rocco stared.
Enzo looked at Brenna.
“This belongs to you.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Because every man in this room spent his life deciding what women and children were allowed to know.”
He pushed the reel toward her.
“You decide if we hear it.”
Brenna looked at Rocco.
Her father said nothing.
Good.
She inserted it into the small player built inside the music box.
Domenico Moretti’s voice emerged.
“Brenna, if you exist when this plays, forgive an old man for using a child not yet born.”
Brenna’s eyes filled.
Then:
“Rocco, if you are listening, I failed you before you failed anyone else.”
Rocco went still.
“Aldo Caruso did not begin the betrayal.”
“He learned it from someone closer.”
Static.
Then Domenico said:
“The first person I suspected was Elena.”
Rocco stopped breathing.
May you like
His wife.
Brenna’s mother.
