Chapter 8 - The Nursery Safe
I limped back through the shattered front doors of the mansion, taking the stairs three at a time despite the throbbing pain in my knee.
When I burst into the nursery, the bright overhead lights were on. Rosa was kneeling beside the white velvet rug, wringing her hands, while Valentina and Mia sobbed quietly in the corner of the room. Lucia was curled into a tight ball inside the walk-in closet, her small hands clamped over her ears, rocking back and forth while repeating a single, horrifying phrase over and over again.
"He's coming... Daddy's coming..."
"Lucia," I whispered, my voice breaking as I dropped heavily to my knees, crawling slowly across the floor so as not to frighten her further. "Sweetheart, look at me. Uncle Nick is gone. He's never coming back."
Lucia lowered her hands slowly. Her tear-streaked face was pale, her wide, terrified eyes staring past me toward the open toy chest behind where I knelt.
Inside the chest, resting on top of a pile of stuffed animals, sat a heavy, brown manila envelope sealed with red wax—bearing the exact crest of the Mendoza cartel.
My heart stopped.
I reached out, my fingers trembling, and picked up the envelope. I broke the wax seal and pulled out the contents. It wasn't just a document. It was a digital voice recorder and a stack of signed confessions, bearing Nicholas's signature alongside the signature of the late regional Mendoza boss.
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“Dominic Russo is a blind fool,” Nicholas's voice echoed from the recorder the moment I pressed play, his recorded words filling the silent nursery with a sickening clarity. “He thinks he rules New York, but he couldn't even protect his own wife from his own blood. When the truck hits her SUV at the intersection, make sure she knows who ordered it. Make sure she knows her brother-in-law traded her life for a seat at the table.”
Lucia stared at me, her small lip quivering. "Is it true, Daddy? Did Uncle Nick make you do it?"
