Chapter 7 - The Man Beside HimLorenzo read the document three times.
Not because the numbers were complicated.
Because betrayal made simple things difficult to believe.
Vincent Moretti had been beside him for fourteen years.
When Lorenzo buried his mother, Vincent stood behind the casket.
When Lorenzo took control of the organization at twenty-three, Vincent was the first captain to swear loyalty.
When rivals attempted to kill Lorenzo outside a courthouse six years later, Vincent took a bullet through the shoulder and fired back while bleeding onto the pavement.
He was not an employee.
He was not even a friend.
He was structural.
A wall.
A foundation.
Something Lorenzo had stopped imagining could collapse.
Nora remained across the desk.
“I could be wrong.”
“You aren’t.”
“You haven’t checked.”
“I know the company.”
Lorenzo placed the paper down.
“Moretti Protective Services belonged to Vincent’s father.”
“Vincent inherited it.”
Nora sat.
“Maybe Patrick used the company without him knowing.”
“No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because any transfer above five thousand requires Vincent’s approval.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“So what happens?”
Lorenzo reached for his phone.
Then stopped.
He looked at the closed door.
Vincent was somewhere inside the estate.
Armed.
Trusted by every guard.
Connected to the security system.
If Vincent had betrayed him, Nora was sitting inside a trap designed by the traitor.
Lorenzo stood.
“Do not leave this room.”
Nora immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“Nora.”
“You don’t get to lock me away every time the story changes.”
“This is not an argument.”
“Then stop making it sound like one.”
Lorenzo’s eyes darkened.
“He controls half the men inside this house.”
“So?”
“So if he has been working with Dante, you are the primary target.”
Nora stood.
“And if I stay here alone?”
Lorenzo stopped.
She had a point.
He disliked that.
“Fine.”
He opened a locked cabinet.
Removed a compact pistol.
Nora stared.
“No.”
“You wanted choices.”
“Learning to shoot in the middle of a possible coup was not one of them.”
Lorenzo checked the magazine.
“You do not need to learn.”
He handed it grip-first.
“You need to point toward a threat and pull this.”
Nora did not take it.
“I’ve never held a gun.”
“Then tonight is educational.”
“Lorenzo.”
“Nora.”
Their eyes locked.
She took the pistol.
It felt heavier than expected.
Cold.
Wrong.
Lorenzo adjusted her fingers without touching more than necessary.
“Keep your finger outside the trigger guard until you intend to fire.”
Nora looked at him.
“What if I shoot you?”
“Then Vincent becomes the second-largest problem in the room.”
Despite herself, she almost smiled.
Lorenzo did not.
“Stay behind me.”
They left the office.
The hallway seemed different.
Every guard became suspicious.
Every camera represented possible betrayal.
Lorenzo moved toward the security room.
Two men stood outside.
Both straightened.
“Boss.”
“Where is Vincent?”
“West wing.”
“Call him.”
One guard reached for his radio.
Lorenzo watched his hand carefully.
Nora noticed.
The guard spoke.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Lorenzo entered the security room.
Three monitors were dark.
“When did those feeds die?”
A technician turned pale.
“Ten minutes ago.”
“Which cameras?”
“North gate.”
“Garage.”
“Guest corridor.”
Nora’s heartbeat accelerated.
Her room was in the guest corridor.
Lorenzo turned.
“Lock every exterior door.”
The technician typed.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
“System isn’t responding.”
Lorenzo drew his pistol.
Nora gripped hers with both hands.
Then the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Someone shouted.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Gunfire erupted in the hallway.
Lorenzo grabbed Nora’s wrist and pulled her behind the server rack.
“Down.”
She crouched.
Shots slammed into metal.
One guard screamed.
Lorenzo fired twice through the doorway.
Silence followed.
Then footsteps retreated.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
Nora’s breathing shook.
“I’m not being left in the dark.”
Lorenzo studied her face.
Then nodded once.
They moved together.
Outside, one guard lay injured.
The second was dead.
Lorenzo checked the living man.
“Who?”
The guard coughed.
“Ramos.”
Lorenzo’s face changed.
Ramos had apparently been trusted too.
“Which direction?”
“Garage.”
Lorenzo called Thomas.
No response.
Maria.
No response.
Then Vincent’s voice came through the emergency radio.
“Lorenzo.”
Both froze.
The voice crackled from speakers throughout the corridor.
“I know what you found.”
Nora looked at Lorenzo.
His face became stone.
“Then come explain it.”
Vincent laughed quietly.
“I’ve explained enough for fourteen years.”
“Where is Thomas?”
“Alive.”
“Maria?”
“Kitchen.”
“You hurt her and I burn everything you ever loved.”
Silence.
Then Vincent answered.
“You really are your father’s son.”
Nora felt Lorenzo change beside her.
Not visibly.
Internally.
A wound opening.
Vincent knew exactly where to cut.
“I wondered when you’d use that.”
Lorenzo’s voice remained calm.
“You think I didn’t know?”
Vincent continued.
“You think nobody remembers what happened in that office?”
“You shot your father and suddenly became a king.”
“Your father deserved worse.”
“Yes.”
“But you enjoyed becoming him.”
Lorenzo’s finger tightened slightly around the pistol.
Nora watched him.
Vincent continued.
“The suits.”
“The restaurants.”
“The rules.”
“You tell yourself you’re different because you don’t hit women.”
A bitter laugh.
“You still own everyone around you.”
Nora’s anger rose.
Not because she knew Vincent was entirely wrong.
Because she knew why he had chosen the words.
He wanted Lorenzo emotional.
Careless.
She leaned closer.
“He’s trying to make you move.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
The radio remained open.
Nora continued quietly.
“He wants you angry.”
Lorenzo’s breathing steadied.
Vincent spoke again.
“You listening, Nora?”
Her blood chilled.
“Yes.”
“You should leave while you can.”
Lorenzo looked toward the ceiling speaker.
Vincent laughed.
“He won’t let you.”
“He doesn’t know how.”
“Men like Lorenzo don’t protect women.”
“They collect them.”
Nora raised the radio.
“Funny.”
Vincent went quiet.
“The Bertinellis tried to collect me.”
Nora continued.
“Lorenzo gave me a door.”
She looked at the man beside her.
“I stayed.”
Silence.
For the first time, Lorenzo’s composure cracked.
Only slightly.
Nora saw it.
Vincent did not.
“You don’t know him.”
Vincent replied.
“Neither do you anymore.”
Nora handed the radio back.
Lorenzo stared at her.
“What?”
She whispered.
“He expected me to doubt you.”
“You should.”
“Maybe.”
She tightened her grip on the pistol.
“But I hate being manipulated more.”
A sound came from the far stairwell.
Lorenzo reacted immediately.
He pushed Nora behind the wall.
A man appeared.
Gun raised.
Nora saw him first.
“Lorenzo.”
He turned.
The attacker fired.
Lorenzo moved.
The bullet tore through his upper arm.
He returned fire.
The attacker fell.
Nora’s ears rang.
Lorenzo leaned against the wall.
Blood spread quickly across his sleeve.
“You’re hit.”
“Observation skills remain impressive.”
“Shut up.”
Nora grabbed his arm.
Blood coated her fingers.
The wound looked like a through-and-through.
She remembered nothing useful from first-aid training except pressure.
She pressed hard.
Lorenzo hissed.
“Good.”
“You’re insane.”
“Probably.”
He looked toward the stairwell.
“We need the garage.”
“Why?”
“Backup weapons.”
Nora kept pressure on his arm as they moved.
Halfway downstairs, a door opened.
Thomas appeared with blood on his forehead.
Nora nearly shot him.
“Easy.”
He raised both hands.
“Friendly.”
Lorenzo lowered his gun.
“Maria?”
“Safe.”
“Vincent?”
“Garage.”
Thomas looked at Lorenzo’s arm.
“You’re hit.”
Nora gave him an irritated look.
“Apparently everyone has observation skills.”
Thomas blinked.
Then almost smiled.
They reached the lower level.
Three loyal guards joined them.
The garage door was open.
Rain blew across polished concrete.
Vincent stood beside a black SUV.
Two men with him.
Ramos.
And another guard Nora recognized from breakfast.
Vincent held no weapon.
That was almost worse.
Lorenzo walked forward.
Blood continued to run down his hand.
“You had fourteen years.”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at him.
“And I gave you fourteen.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“Lie.”
Vincent smiled.
“You always hated simple answers.”
“Three million is too little.”
Lorenzo’s voice hardened.
“You have access to more than that legally through our businesses.”
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
“Why?”
A long silence.
Then Vincent looked at Nora.
“His father killed mine.”
Lorenzo went still.
“What?”
“You didn’t know.”
Vincent laughed without humor.
“My father discovered Antonio Costa was laundering money through union accounts.”
“He threatened to expose him.”
“Two weeks later, his car went through a barrier.”
Lorenzo’s face remained blank.
“Accident.”
“No.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Your father ordered it.”
“Who told you?”
“Patrick found records eight years ago.”
“And you stayed.”
“I wanted to take everything.”
Vincent’s voice finally broke.
“Not kill you.”
“Not quickly.”
“I wanted to watch the Costa name collapse from inside.”
Lorenzo stared at the man who had once taken a bullet for him.
“And the assassination six years ago?”
“I didn’t arrange it.”
“You saved me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vincent looked almost angry at himself.
“Because I forgot I hated you.”
The answer hurt more than betrayal.
Nora saw it.
Lorenzo did not react.
Vincent continued.
“Then you stood over me in the hospital and called me brother.”
His eyes turned red.
“And I remembered why I was there.”
Nobody spoke.
Rain hissed across the driveway.
“Dante offered a partnership.”
Vincent said.
“I gave him security access.”
“He gave me pressure.”
“We weakened you together.”
“And Nora?”
Lorenzo’s voice changed.
Vincent glanced at her.
“She was leverage.”
The garage seemed to become smaller.
“You let men onto my property to take her.”
“Yes.”
Lorenzo raised his pistol.
Vincent’s men raised theirs.
Nora’s heart stopped.
Thomas aimed.
Everyone froze.
Vincent looked at Lorenzo.
“There he is.”
A sad smile.
“Antonio Costa’s son.”
Lorenzo’s finger rested against the trigger.
Nora understood.
If he fired, everyone fired.
Lorenzo might die.
Thomas might die.
She might die.
Vincent wanted the final proof.
That Lorenzo solved pain the way his father had.
Nora stepped forward.
Lorenzo’s free arm blocked her.
“No.”
“Vincent.”
She ignored him.
The underboss looked at her.
“You spent fourteen years making Lorenzo pay for something his father did.”
Nora’s voice shook, but she continued.
“How is that different from the Bertinellis making me pay Greg’s debt?”
Vincent’s face changed.
“Not the same.”
“It’s exactly the same.”
“You inherited pain.”
Nora stepped another half-step forward.
“And decided someone else owed it.”
Vincent looked at Lorenzo.
For a second, exhaustion replaced hatred.
Then sirens sounded far beyond the gates.
Vincent’s head turned.
Thomas moved.
Gunfire exploded.
Nora dropped.
Lorenzo covered her with his body.
Two shots.
Three.
A scream.
Then silence.
When Nora looked up, Ramos was dead.
The other guard had surrendered.
Vincent stood against the SUV with blood spreading across his abdomen.
His weapon lay on the floor.
Thomas had fired.
Lorenzo moved toward him.
Vincent slid slowly down the vehicle.
“You always did choose terrible friends.”
He coughed blood.
Lorenzo crouched.
“Who else is working with Dante?”
Vincent laughed weakly.
“Still business.”
“Who?”
Vincent’s eyes moved toward Nora.
Then back.
“Dante doesn’t want her anymore.”
Lorenzo became still.
“What does he want?”
Vincent smiled.
“The same thing I wanted.”
A breath.
“To destroy what your father built.”
“Where is he?”
Vincent’s eyes began losing focus.
“Le Clovis.”
Lorenzo froze.
Vincent whispered.
“While you were protecting the house…”
His head dropped.
May you like
“…he took the restaurant.”
And somewhere across the city, the only place Lorenzo Costa had ever considered peaceful began to burn.
