Chapter 4 - The Shadow on the Phone Screen
Nico snatched Sophie's phone from the counter before the screen could time out.
His thumb swiped across the display, reading the two messages with predatory focus.
"Leo!" Nico shouted toward the hallway.
Within three seconds, his head of personal security, a hulking man in a tailored charcoal suit, stepped through the kitchen doors.
"Boss?"
"Run this number through the local cell tower logs right now," Nico ordered, handing him the phone.
"Triangulate the transmitter."
"I want the IMEI number, the point of sale for the SIM card, and the exact coordinates of the signal."
Leo glanced at the screen, nodded once, and pulled his own tablet from his jacket.
"On it, Boss."
"And lock down the outer perimeter," Nico added, his voice steadying into absolute command.
"Nobody leaves the estate grounds."
"Nobody enters through the main gates."
"If a delivery van shows up, hold the driver in the gatehouse until I personally clear him."
"Understood, Boss."
Leo turned on his heel and disappeared into the corridor, barking orders into his earpiece.
Sophie stood frozen against the counter, her arms wrapped around her ribcage as if trying to keep herself from shattering.
"Who has that number?" Nico asked, turning to face her with dark, calculating eyes.
"Nobody," Sophie cried, her voice trembling.
"Only the staffing agency and my mother's hospice accountant."
"I don't have friends in this city."
"I don't have family."
"I came here on a bus two weeks ago with two suitcases and that recipe card."
"She's telling the truth, Nico," Margaret said softly from her chair.
"The people who sent that message have been watching this house for twenty-four years."
"They didn't find Sophie today."
"They followed her here."
Nico turned back to his grandmother, the tension in his shoulders coiled tight enough to snap.
"You told me my mother died of heart disease, Grandma."
"You stood by my father's side at her memorial service."
"You let me lay white roses on an empty marble tomb in Queens."
"Why did you lie to me my entire life?"
Margaret reached out, her trembling fingers searching the air until they touched Nico’s forearm.
He didn't pull away, but his muscle remained hard as stone beneath her touch.
"Salvatore loved your mother more than his own life, Nico," Margaret said, her voice heavy with grief.
"When Elena found out who was really running the narcotics ring inside the city administration, she went to the police."
"She believed in the law."
"She didn't want you raised in a house built on protection rackets and street violence."
"She thought she could broker a peace between the state and the Romano family."
"She went to the one law enforcement officer she trusted."
"A man who had sworn an oath to protect the public."
"A man who promised to keep her safe."
Thomas Grant took a deep breath, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"That man wasn't interested in justice, Nico."
"He was interested in leverage."
"He used Elena to get inside Salvatore's operation."
"He promised her full immunity, a clean identity, and a new life for her and her child."
"Instead, he locked her in that Syracuse safe house alongside Rebecca Lane."
"Rebecca was the only one who realized what he was doing."
"Rebecca saw that none of the witnesses in that house were ever meant to testify."
"They were being collected like livestock to be slaughtered before the federal trial began."
Nico’s eyes darted between Thomas and his grandmother.
"Who was he, Thomas?"
"Give me the name."
Thomas looked at the floor, his silence answering louder than words.
"Give me his name, Thomas!" Nico roared, slamming his fist onto the island so hard the antique silver spoons rattled.
"Marcus Vance," Thomas whispered.
The name dropped into the room like a live grenade.
Sophie gasped, recognizing the name immediately.
Marcus Vance was the current Deputy Police Commissioner of the city.
He was a decorated hero, a regular on evening news broadcasts, and the leading candidate for the upcoming mayoral election.
Every billboard along the expressway bore his handsome, smiling face beneath the slogan: Restoring Law and Order to Our Streets.
"Vance was just a lieutenant in ninety-eight," Thomas continued, his voice barely audible.
"He ran the intelligence unit that set up the Syracuse perimeter."
"He made a deal with Salvatore Romano to eliminate his rivals inside the syndicate in exchange for fifty percent of the waterfront revenues."
"When Elena discovered the pact between Vance and Salvatore, she realized her husband had sold out his own family."
"And she realized something even worse."
Nico stepped closer to Thomas, his breathing shallow and rapid.
"What did she realize, Thomas?"
Margaret bowed her head, her tears dripping onto the wooden tabletop.
"Tell him, Thomas," Margaret whispered.
"He has the right to know before Vance sends his wolves to finish what he started."
Thomas looked Nico directly in the eye, his expression filled with profound sorrow.
"Elena wasn't running from Salvatore to protect him, Nico."
"She was running because she had discovered the truth about your birth certificate."
"Salvatore Romano was sterile, Nico."
"He couldn't have children."
"A childhood illness had left him incapable of continuing the Romano bloodline."
Nico stopped breathing.
The room seemed to tilt beneath his feet.
"What did you say?"
"Salvatore needed an heir to maintain his control over the five families," Thomas said, every word hitting like a hammer.
"Without a son, the council would have carved up his territory the moment he showed weakness."
"Elena wanted a child."
"Before she met Salvatore, she had a relationship with a young, ambitious undercover detective."
"A detective who used her to infiltrate the families."
"A detective named Marcus Vance."
Nico’s face went completely bloodless.
The gold family signet ring on his finger, bearing the ancient Romano crest, suddenly felt like a branding iron burning through his bone.
"You're lying," Nico choked out.
"I am not lying, Nico," Margaret said, her voice breaking into a ragged sob.
May you like
"Marcus Vance is your biological father."
"And he has spent the last twenty-four years trying to kill every living person who knows his blood runs through the Romano syndicate."
