22. Kara #2
"Vincenzo didn't plan the hit on Commerce Street," I say, my tone as level as a flatline.
"Vincenzo was supplied with the cash, given the flatbed truck from Bernardo's Newark depot, and told exactly when our sedan would leave The Crown.
Bernardo gave him the weapon and told him to pull the trigger. "
"You lying little bitch!" Bernardo roars, half-rising from his chair, pointing a thick finger straight at my face. "Roberto! Are you going to sit there and let Antonio's daughter throw mud on my name?!"
"Sit down, Bernardo," Don Roberto rumbles.
His voice isn't loud, but the terrifying authority in it makes Bernardo freeze mid-stride and slowly sink back into his leather chair, his forehead slick with sweat.
Roberto sets the bank ledgers down on the wood, looking up at Bernardo. "Is this your account, Bernardo?"
"It's a commercial account for harbor maintenance, Don Roberto!" Bernardo lies frantically, his voice shaking slightly. "Vincenzo asked me for a short-term cash loan for dock security! I didn't know he was going to use it for a street hit!"
"Vincenzo didn't ask you for anything," I interrupt, opening the second tab in my binder. "Because Vincenzo doesn't know how to access secondary offshore ledgers. But you do."
I pull out the final document, the yellowed police intake report from fifteen years ago and slide it directly in front of Don Roberto.
"What is this?" Roberto asks, his brow furrowing as he looks down at the faded paper.
"That is the original title deed and police report for the apartment building on Fourth Street," I tell him. "The apartment where Leander's mother lived fifteen years ago."
Leander stays silent beside me, his frame standing like an iron pillar, his eyes fixed entirely on Bernardo's pale face.
"Apex Properties owned that building," I explain to the room, letting my words fall into the quiet space like deliberate blows.
"Apex Properties was a subsidiary of Maritima Holdings.
Bernardo owned the building, Bernardo tracked your visits, Roberto, and Bernardo leaked her address to the southern enforcers fifteen years ago to trigger a territorial war that would clear his path to the north docks. "
Silence descends on the study like a suffocating blanket.
Valenti stops smiling. He looks at the yellowed deed, then turns a cold, disgusted glare toward Bernardo. Vincenzo sits frozen in his wheelchair, his eyes wide with sudden, sickening realization as he looks between Bernardo and his father.
Don Roberto doesn't move. He stares down at the police report for five long seconds, his face carved out of stone.
"Bernardo," Roberto says softly. His gravelly voice is so quiet it barely carries across the table. "Look at me."
Bernardo trembles. Sweat is pouring down his temples now, soaking his collar. He looks at Roberto, then looks at Leander standing three feet away, and realizes that the entire board he built over fifteen years has completely shattered in front of his eyes.
"Roberto... listen to me..." Bernardo gasps out, his hands coming up in a defensive gesture. "The girl is fabricating documents! She's a lawyer! She's trying to divide the family—"
"She didn't fabricate anything, Bernardo," Leander says.
His raspy voice is low, steady, and stripped of all human warmth.
Leander steps forward, stopping right beside Bernardo's chair. He reaches out, catches Bernardo by his silk necktie, and pulls the two-hundred-pound capo up out of his seat until their faces are barely three inches apart.
Bernardo lets out a whimpering, terrified gasp, his hands grabbing uselessly at Leander's wrists.
"Fifteen years," Leander whispers softly, his dark eyes burning with absolute, lethal certainty. "For Fifteen years I thought my father's noise killed her. But it was just a greedy rat looking for shipping docks."
"Leander... please..." Bernardo whimpers out, tears mixing with the sweat on his face.
Leander looks sideways at Don Roberto. "He's yours, Roberto. Or he's mine. Choose right now."
Don Roberto slowly stands up from his high-backed chair. He looks old, cold, and entirely done with stories. He adjusts the cuffs of his bespoke suit and looks at Capo Valenti.
"Valenti," Roberto says quietly. "Take Bernardo down to the basement holding room. Strip his accounts, take his keys, and call the commission."
Valenti stands up immediately. "With pleasure, Don."
Valenti steps up, grabs Bernardo by his collar, and yanks him away from Leander's grip, dragging the sobbing capo out through the study doors.
The doors swing shut behind them, leaving the room in absolute silence.
Vincenzo sits in his wheelchair, looking small, broken, and completely pathetic in the corner. He looks at Leander, then looks at me, the look in his eyes is intense hatred and he lowers his head toward his lap knowing his standing in this house is finished forever.
Don Roberto stands at the head of the table. He looks at the paper trail spread across his mahogany desk, then looks up at me.
A slow, quiet tilt touches the corner of his aged lips, a rare, genuine acknowledgment of the woman standing beside his son.
"You're very thorough, Miss Rossi," Roberto says softly.
“I go all out for the people I love, Don,” I reply, looking at Leander as he smiles down at me.
Leander takes my hand, and we turn to walk towards the door. We get to the car, and I expect Leander to enter the car with me, but he doesn’t.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“I have unfinished business, you go ahead. By the time you’re back from court, I will be back at the hospital.” He doesn’t need to tell me what the ‘unfinished business’ is, I already know.
Bernardo.
“See you at the hospital. I love you.”
“I love you.” He says as he kisses me and steps back from the car, and the driver drives away.