Chapter 8 - The Ghost of the Brooklyn Bridge
The basement of the Moretti mansion was not a dungeon, but it felt like one. It was a cold, concrete room beneath the old wine cellars, illuminated by a single, buzzing fluorescent light.
Victor was tied to a heavy steel chair, his face bruised but his eyes still defiant.
Lucas stood opposite him, holding a small, silver tape recorder he had recovered from Isabella’s old piano bench in the Manhattan apartment they had shared before her death.
“I found this yesterday, Victor,” Lucas said, pressing play.
A static-filled recording began to play. It was Isabella’s voice, laughing as she tried to teach Daniel a simple scale. But in the background, a second voice could be heard—a man’s voice, speaking on a burner phone near the kitchen window.
“The brakes are cut. Do it on the bridge. Make sure the boy is in the car. If the boy lives, Lucas won't let go of the keys.”
The voice belonged to Victor.
The silence that followed the recording was heavier than the concrete walls around them.
“She was recording Daniel’s practice sessions,” Lucas said, his voice barely a whisper. “She didn't even know she had caught you. She died because she trusted you to watch her son while I was in Chicago.”
Victor looked down, his arrogance finally cracking under the weight of his own voice. “I had no choice, Lucas. The Detroit families were going to squeeze us out. If I didn't take the reigns, we would have all ended up in a ditch.”
“My family is already in a ditch, Victor,” Lucas said. He turned and walked toward the heavy steel door. “And now, you’re going to join them.”
“Lucas!” Victor screamed as the door began to swing shut. “You can't do this! The captains won't let you! I have the contracts! I have the New York families behind me!”
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“The New York families answer to the man who pays them,” Lucas said, his face half-shadowed by the door frame. “And starting tonight, that man is no longer a Moretti. It’s a clean slate, Victor. Just like Isabella wanted.”
He closed the door. The lock clicked into place with a heavy, final sound.
