Chapter 9 - Carlton BayCarlton Bay Hotel had been abandoned for twelve years.
It stood against the Indiana shoreline like a decaying monument to another era.
Broken windows faced Lake Michigan.
Wind pushed through empty corridors.
The ballroom roof had partially collapsed.
Harper watched the property through binoculars from inside an armored SUV parked nearly a mile away.
“Six visible guards,” Enzo said.
“More inside.”
Dominic studied the building.
“No police.”
Harper lowered the binoculars.
“Why?”
“Lorenzo will kill your mother if he sees law enforcement.”
“And he will not if he sees twenty armed Russo soldiers?”
“He expects them.”
“That is comforting.”
Dominic looked toward her.
“You remain here.”
Harper laughed.
“No.”
“We discussed this.”
“You discussed it.”
“He wants you.”
“He wants information from my mother.”
“He will use you to control her.”
“Then I am useful.”
“That is precisely why you remain here.”
Harper turned toward him.
“Dominic.”
“No.”
“My mother may respond to me when she will not respond to Lorenzo.”
“No.”
“She has dementia.”
“No.”
“You are being irrational.”
“Yes.”
The admission stopped her.
Dominic leaned closer.
“I almost watched you die at the St. Regis.”
His voice was low.
“I watched federal agents place you inside another vehicle knowing I could do nothing. I spent two days inside a cell imagining every possible way Warren could reach you.”
Harper’s anger softened.
“I cannot voluntarily walk you into Lorenzo’s hands.”
“You are not walking me anywhere.”
“Harper.”
“I am walking myself.”
He closed his eyes.
Enzo stared out the window.
Harper continued.
“If this were only about me, I would listen.”
“That would be a remarkable new experience.”
“But it is my mother.”
Dominic opened his eyes.
“I know.”
“You would do the same for yours.”
That ended the argument.
Isabella Russo had been dead for twenty years.
Yet Harper knew exactly what Dominic would sacrifice for one chance to save her.
Dominic looked toward the hotel.
Then back toward Harper.
“You remain beside me.”
“Yes.”
“You do exactly what I say if shooting begins.”
“Within reason.”
“Harper.”
“Fine.”
“Say it.”
“I will do exactly what you say if shooting begins.”
Dominic studied her.
“You are lying.”
“Probably.”
He muttered something Italian.
They approached the hotel with six men.
The remaining team surrounded exits.
Lorenzo’s guards allowed Dominic and Harper inside after taking their visible weapons.
They did not find the small ceramic blade Harper had secured beneath her sleeve.
Dominic knew about it.
He disapproved.
But he had also taught her where to place it.
The contradiction represented their entire relationship.
Lorenzo waited inside the old ballroom.
Evelyn sat in a chair near him.
Maria stood behind her.
Unharmed.
Harper almost ran toward her mother.
Dominic caught her hand.
Lorenzo smiled.
“Touching.”
Harper glared.
“Let her go.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When she tells me where Antonio placed the original policy file.”
Harper frowned.
“We already have the policy.”
“Copies.”
Lorenzo’s expression became impatient.
“I need the original.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother wrote something upon it.”
Harper looked toward Evelyn.
“What?”
Evelyn stared toward the broken windows.
She appeared calm.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Your mother was extremely inconvenient twenty years ago.”
Harper’s body became tense.
“She refused to alter Isabella’s risk file.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He smiled.
“Then you know she discovered the beneficiary structure.”
“Yes.”
“But that was not what frightened Warren.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What did?”
Lorenzo looked toward him.
“The secondary insured.”
Harper felt confusion.
“What secondary insured?”
“The policy covered Isabella.”
He paused.
“And Dominic.”
Silence.
Dominic stared.
“I was twelve.”
“Yes.”
Harper’s stomach turned.
“Why would a twelve-year-old be covered by a hundred-million-dollar policy?”
Lorenzo smiled coldly.
“Exactly.”
Harper understood.
It was not ordinary insurance.
It was financial motive attached to murder.
“If Isabella and Dominic both died…”
“The trust received one hundred eighty million dollars.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“My mother was not the only target.”
“No.”
Lorenzo looked pleased.
“The bomb was supposed to kill both of you.”
Harper looked toward Dominic.
He had said he remembered his mother removing the sapphire pendant that morning.
“What happened?”
Dominic’s voice was barely audible.
“I was supposed to go with her.”
Harper stopped.
“Why did you not?”
“My mother told me to stay home.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“She knew.”
Dominic’s hands closed into fists.
“She knew about the bomb?”
“Perhaps not the bomb.”
Lorenzo shrugged.
“But she knew someone intended harm.”
Harper looked toward Evelyn.
“Mom found the policy and warned Isabella.”
Lorenzo’s smile disappeared.
There.
Truth.
Evelyn Hayes had saved Dominic Russo’s life twenty years earlier.
Dominic looked at Harper’s mother with an expression she could not describe.
Evelyn finally looked toward him.
Her eyes narrowed.
“You.”
Dominic became still.
“You have Antonio’s eyes.”
Harper whispered.
“Mom?”
Evelyn’s clarity had returned.
She looked toward Lorenzo.
Fear entered her face.
“You were there.”
Lorenzo moved quickly.
Maria stepped between them.
A guard grabbed Maria.
Harper shouted.
“Do not touch her!”
Lorenzo ignored her.
“You remember.”
Evelyn began shaking.
“You came to my office.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted the report.”
“Where is it?”
“I burned it.”
Lorenzo’s face twisted.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Where is the original policy?”
Evelyn looked confused again.
Lorenzo grabbed her shoulders.
Dominic moved.
Three guards raised weapons.
Harper caught his arm.
“Stop.”
Lorenzo looked toward Harper.
“Ask her.”
“Let her go first.”
“No.”
“You need her calm.”
He hesitated.
Harper continued.
“If you frighten her, she disappears.”
Lorenzo knew dementia poorly.
Harper knew it intimately.
“You want a twenty-year-old memory? Then let me talk to her.”
Lorenzo released Evelyn.
Harper approached slowly.
She crouched.
“Mom.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Harper?”
“Yes.”
“You should not be here.”
“I know.”
“You have work tomorrow.”
Harper nearly cried.
“I need your help.”
Evelyn smiled.
“With numbers?”
“Yes.”
“Always check the assumptions.”
“I remember.”
Harper took her hand.
“Do you remember Isabella?”
Evelyn’s smile faded.
“The beautiful woman.”
“Yes.”
“She was kind.”
“What happened to the policy?”
Evelyn looked toward Lorenzo.
Her hand tightened.
“He wanted it.”
“I know.”
“Mr. Warren wanted it too.”
“I know.”
“Antonio came.”
Dominic stepped forward slightly.
“My father?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“He was angry.”
“What did he do?”
“He took the file.”
Lorenzo cursed.
“Where?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I do not remember.”
Lorenzo raised his gun.
Harper stood between them.
“Then you are not listening.”
He stared.
“She said Antonio took it.”
“We know Antonio is dead.”
“Yes.”
“But you know where he put it.”
“No.”
Lorenzo aimed at Harper.
Dominic’s voice became lethal.
“Lower that weapon.”
Lorenzo laughed.
“You really do love her.”
Dominic did not deny it.
Harper looked toward him.
The words had never been spoken between them.
Not directly.
Lorenzo continued.
“Your father made the same mistake.”
Dominic stared.
“Did you kill him?”
Lorenzo’s smile weakened.
Finally.
The central question.
“Did you kill my father?”
“I helped.”
Harper felt Dominic become completely still.
“Who else?”
Lorenzo looked toward the broken windows.
“Warren.”
“And?”
No answer.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Who is the Architect?”
Lorenzo laughed.
“You still think you can kill one person and end this?”
“Names.”
“The Architect began before any of us.”
“Names.”
“Judges. Police. Politicians. Families. Businessmen.”
“Names.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Your father wanted out.”
Dominic froze.
“Out of what?”
“The agreement.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“He discovered that organized crime was not controlling Chicago.”
Harper understood.
“The criminal families were sharing control with officials.”
“Yes.”
“Protection in exchange for money.”
“More than money.”
Lorenzo became almost proud.
“Elections. Contracts. prosecutions. Territory. Who rises. Who falls.”
“And Isabella?”
“She discovered enough to threaten the arrangement.”
“Because of the insurance?”
“That was only the beginning.”
Lorenzo pointed toward Evelyn.
“Your mother discovered that several murdered people had identical policies. Politicians. Witnesses. Business owners.”
Harper felt sick.
Insurance policies used as murder incentives.
Deaths converted into money distributed through hidden trusts.
“Who controlled the trusts?”
Lorenzo smiled.
“The Architect.”
Harper’s mind raced.
There had to be records.
Hundreds of millions.
Perhaps billions.
“Original policy numbers would link the trusts.”
Lorenzo’s eyes sharpened.
That was it.
He needed Isabella’s original file because it contained identifiers connecting the entire system.
Harper looked toward her mother.
Evelyn was humming softly.
Then Harper remembered something.
Old boxes.
When Harper moved Evelyn from her Ohio house into care, she had stored her mother’s professional papers.
Not in Chicago.
Not with Dominic.
In a storage unit outside Columbus.
“Mom.”
Evelyn looked toward her.
“Your blue boxes.”
“Yes.”
“From work?”
Her mother smiled.
“My insurance.”
Harper’s blood became cold.
“You kept copies.”
Lorenzo heard.
His face transformed.
“Where?”
Harper stood.
“I do not know.”
He aimed at her.
“Where?”
“I said I do not know.”
“You moved her belongings.”
“Yes.”
“Storage facility.”
Harper said nothing.
Lorenzo smiled.
“Thank you.”
He looked toward one guard.
“Call Ohio.”
Harper had made a mistake.
Dominic saw it.
Then Maria moved.
She drove her elbow into the guard holding her.
He stumbled.
Dominic attacked the nearest armed man.
Everything exploded.
Harper pulled Evelyn down.
Gunfire tore through the ballroom.
Enzo’s teams entered through side windows.
Dominic fought Lorenzo.
Not with guns.
Lorenzo’s weapon had been knocked away.
The two men crashed through an old table.
Harper covered her mother.
Maria crawled toward them.
“Go!”
They moved behind a stone column.
Enzo reached Harper.
“Exit east!”
“What about Dominic?”
“He will follow.”
Harper looked.
Dominic had Lorenzo against the floor.
His fist struck his uncle’s face.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Lorenzo laughed through blood.
“You think killing me gives you answers?”
Dominic lifted him.
“Who else?”
Lorenzo spat blood.
“Ask your fiancée’s mother.”
Dominic froze.
Lorenzo reached for a hidden blade.
Harper saw it.
“Dominic!”
Too late.
Lorenzo drove the knife toward Dominic’s side.
Dominic caught his wrist.
They struggled.
Then a shot sounded.
Lorenzo stopped.
His eyes widened.
Blood appeared across his chest.
Everyone looked toward the shooter.
Evelyn Hayes held a fallen pistol in both trembling hands.
Harper stared.
Her mother looked horrified.
“He was hurting the boy.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
The boy.
In Evelyn’s mind, Dominic was twelve again.
The child she had once helped save.
Lorenzo collapsed.
Dominic knelt beside him.
“Names.”
Lorenzo coughed.
“Too late.”
“Names.”
“One already lives inside your house.”
Then he died.
Dominic looked toward Harper.
Inside your house.
A traitor at Lake Forest.
Someone closer than Harrison.
Closer than guards.
Closer than Lorenzo.
Harper looked toward Maria.
Enzo.
The men surrounding them.
Any of them could be part of the Architect.
Dominic crossed the ballroom and took Evelyn’s weapon gently.
She looked at him.
“Antonio?”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice broke slightly.
“I am Dominic.”
She touched his face.
“Little Dominic.”
His eyes closed.
“Yes.”
Evelyn smiled.
“You grew up.”
Harper began crying.
Dominic lowered himself beside her mother.
“Yes, Mrs. Hayes.”
Evelyn patted his cheek.
“Your mother loved you very much.”
Dominic could not answer.
Harper watched the most feared man in Chicago bow his head while her confused, elderly mother touched the scar along his jaw.
Twenty years of violence had begun with Isabella Russo’s death.
Twenty years later, the woman who tried to save Isabella had saved her son again.
But Lorenzo’s final words remained.
One already lives inside your house.
May you like
The Architect had a spy within Lake Forest.
And they had no idea who it was.
