Chapter 7 - Molly Walked Into Vittorio’s Trap Without Telling GerardoVittorio called her two days later.
Molly was alone in her apartment.
The number was blocked.
“Hello?”
“Your father begged less than I expected.”
Molly went cold.
“Vittorio.”
“Good morning.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“The FBI has copies.”
A pause.
“You’re lying.”
“Try me.”
“I prefer negotiation.”
“You murdered my father.”
“Yes.”
The casual answer made her vision blur.
“You admit it?”
“To you.”
“Why?”
“Because you need closure.”
“No. You need something.”
Vittorio laughed.
“Perhaps Gerardo’s fascination with you is justified.”
“What do you want?”
“Come alone.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I’ll tell you where your father’s body really is.”
Molly stopped.
The grave she had visited as a child contained remains recovered from the house.
But identification seventeen years ago had been incomplete.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Where?”
“Come alone.”
He gave her an address.
Then disconnected.
Molly knew it was a trap.
She also knew she was going.
She left Gerardo a message.
Not the truth.
Just:
I need a few hours alone.
She hated lying to him.
That was how she knew the relationship had become dangerous.
The address was an abandoned church in Queens.
Molly entered through the side door.
Vittorio waited near the altar.
No visible guards.
“You came.”
“Where is my father?”
“Direct.”
“You killed him. You don’t get small talk.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Gerardo has changed you.”
“No.”
“Then you changed him.”
“Where is my father?”
“Potter’s Field.”
Molly stared.
“He was buried anonymously.”
“Why?”
“Because Salvatore needed the official story to remain that James died in the house.”
“You moved his body.”
“Yes.”
Her knees nearly failed.
For seventeen years, she had placed flowers at the wrong grave.
Vittorio watched her pain.
Enjoyed it.
That ended something inside Molly.
Not her restraint.
Her fear.
“You’re pathetic.”
His smile vanished.
“What?”
“You spent your entire life frightening people because without fear, nobody would choose to stand near you.”
Vittorio’s face hardened.
“You know nothing about me.”
“I know Gerardo’s men would die for him.”
“Because he pays them.”
“Some.”
She stepped closer.
“But nobody loves you.”
Vittorio struck her.
Molly fell against a pew.
Blood filled her mouth.
Then armed men appeared from behind the columns.
Trap confirmed.
Vittorio grabbed her hair.
“You should have brought the ledger.”
Molly smiled through blood.
“I brought something better.”
She opened her coat.
A wire was taped beneath her blouse.
Vittorio froze.
Sirens erupted outside.
Gerardo had known.
Not because Molly told him.
Because he had placed security on her apartment after the attempted kidnapping.
The moment she left unexpectedly, Luca followed.
Gerardo arrived before the police.
He entered the church like judgment.
Vittorio dragged Molly upright and pressed a gun against her head.
Gerardo stopped.
His face emptied of emotion.
That terrified everyone except Molly.
“Let her go.”
Vittorio laughed.
“There’s the king.”
“You want me.”
“I want what belongs to me.”
“Nothing belongs to you.”
“The organization.”
“Take it.”
Vittorio blinked.
Gerardo spread his hands.
“Take every restaurant. Every warehouse. Every account I haven’t already surrendered.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“For her?”
Gerardo looked at Molly.
“No.”
Molly felt something inside her fall.
Then Gerardo continued.
“I’m giving it up for me.”
His eyes never left hers.
“She just made me understand I could.”
Vittorio’s grip tightened.
“You’ve become weak.”
“No.”
Gerardo’s voice was almost gentle.
“I became free.”
Police surrounded the building.
Vittorio understood.
There was no empire to steal.
No ledger to recover.
No nephew to control.
Nothing.
His entire life’s pursuit of power had ended with an old man holding a gun in an abandoned church.
“You did this,” he whispered to Molly.
“No.”
She looked directly at him.
“You did.”
Vittorio pushed her away and raised the gun toward Gerardo.
Molly screamed.
A shot exploded.
Vittorio fell.
Luca stood behind Gerardo with his weapon raised.
Silence.
Molly crawled backward.
Vittorio was alive.
Shot through the shoulder.
Police rushed forward.
They handcuffed him.
As officers dragged him past Molly, he stared at her.
“You think this is justice?”
Molly wiped blood from her mouth.
“No.”
He waited.
“This is consequence.”
For the first time, Vittorio looked afraid.
Gerardo crossed the church.
He stopped in front of Molly.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You went alone.”
“Yes.”
“That was unbelievably reckless.”
“Yes.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“A little.”
He stared at her split lip.
Then his anger disappeared.
His hand hovered beside her face.
He waited.
Molly understood.
Permission.
She nodded.
Gerardo gently touched her cheek.
“You could have died.”
“So could you.”
“That is different.”
“Why?”
“Because…”
He stopped.
Molly waited.
Gerardo Romani, who had threatened judges and faced gunfire, suddenly looked terrified.
“Because I love you.”
Molly forgot the church.
The police.
Vittorio.
Everything.
Gerardo stepped back.
“I don’t expect anything from you.”
She stared.
“You choose now.”
“What?”
“Me. Not me. New York. Somewhere else. Whatever comes after this.”
He swallowed.
“But you choose it.”
Molly’s eyes filled.
Her entire life had been choices made by other people.
Her father’s enemies.
Her mother’s fear.
Debt collectors.
Poverty.
Survival.
Now Gerardo stood before her offering the one thing his family had stolen from hers.
Choice.
Molly reached for his shirt.
She pulled him closer.
May you like
And kissed him.
This time, she did not stop.
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