Chapter 5 - The Clue in the Toy Box
By mid-afternoon, the sun shone brightly through the high arched windows of the east wing library.
Lily sat on a plush velvet rug, surrounded by a mountain of new colored pencils and drawing pads that Lucas had sent up. She was drawing a picture of her cat, using a bright orange pencil, her small tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.
At the far end of the long room, Lucas sat at a small glass table, reviewing financial ledgers with Julian Vance.
Julian was gesturing animatedly at a spreadsheet on his laptop. "The Falcone territory in Queens is ripe for takeover, Lucas. Their Capos are disorganized after last night’s confusion. If we strike now—"
"We do not strike yet," Lucas said flatly, without looking up from his paper. "We consolidate our internal security first."
Julian let out a small sigh, leaning back in his chair. He pulled an expensive silver cigar case from his breast pocket, flicked open a golden lighter, and lit a thick Cuban cigar.
"You've become overly cautious since last night, Boss," Julian said softly. "The men are starting to wonder why we're on lockdown over a fake fire in Jersey."
Lucas raised his eyes slowly. "Let them wonder."
Across the room, Lily suddenly stopped drawing.
She turned her head, her little nose twitching. She looked toward the glass table where Julian sat.
The sharp scent of rich tobacco smoke drifted across the room—not vanilla pipe tobacco, but the deep, heavy scent of fermented Cuban leaves.
Lily put her pencil down. She stood up, her small pink slippers silent on the thick carpet, and walked toward the glass table.
Rosa, who was sitting near the book window pretending to read a magazine, stood up instantly, panic flaring in her eyes. "Lily, come back here—"
"It's fine, Rosa," Lucas said, waving a hand to quiet the mother. He looked down at Lily as she approached his chair. "What is it, Lily?"
Lily didn't look at Lucas. She looked at Julian Vance.
More specifically, she looked at Julian’s right hand, which was holding the lit cigar. On his middle finger sat a heavy silver signet ring featuring a dark red ruby carved in the shape of a crest.
Lily stared at the ring. Then her eyes drifted down to Julian’s polished leather shoes—black dress shoes with a small, distinctive silver buckle on the outer side.
Julian smiled at her—a practiced, oily smile that didn't reach his sharp eyes. "Hello there, little girl. Aren't you supposed to be resting?"
Lily didn't answer him. She looked up at Lucas, her big brown eyes filled with an unspoken, terrifying recognition.
She leaned close to Lucas’s ear and whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the air conditioner:
"He has the silver shoe buckle," Lily whispered. "The one that kicked the silver tube under the table."
Lucas’s body went completely, utterly still.
The world around him seemed to freeze.
The silver tube. His inhaler.
The person who had kicked his inhalers away hadn't been Dr. Vance. Dr. Vance had supplied the fake medicine, but the man who had stood over his dying body in the hallway, watching him suffocate, had been Julian Vance—his second-in-command, the man he had trusted with his life for ten years.
Sweet smoke. Julian smoked heavy cigars. Dr. Vance smoked pipe tobacco. They both used rich tobacco. Lily had confused the two scents last night because they smelled similar to a six-year-old child, but the shoes—the silver buckle—belonged to Julian.
It was a brotherhood of treason. The doctor provided the poison; the brother ensured the execution.
Julian was still smiling, tapping the ash from his cigar into a crystal tray. "What did she say, Lucas? Is she asking for more drawing paper?"
Lucas looked at Julian.
For three seconds, every instinct in Lucas’s body demanded that he draw the 9mm pistol hidden beneath his left armpit and blow Julian’s brains across the velvet carpet.
But Lucas was a master of the long game. Killing Julian here would only cause his loyal factions to fracture and run into hiding. He needed the entire network—the men who had helped kill his wife three years ago, the men who had aided the Falcone syndicate, the men who were planning to seize his empire the moment his heart stopped.
Lucas reached down and patted Lily’s head gently.
"She says she wants to draw a picture of your ring, Julian," Lucas said, his voice entirely calm, entirely smooth, carrying not a single tremor of the rage burning in his gut.
Julian laughed—a dry, satisfied sound. "Ah! A young lady of taste. It’s the Vance family crest, little one. Red ruby from Burma." He extended his hand so Lily could see it.
Lily shrank back slightly, hiding behind Lucas’s chair.
"Go back to your mother, Lily," Lucas said quietly.
Lily ran back to Rosa, who pulled her into her lap, her eyes darting nervously between the men.
Lucas stood up, buttoning his suit jacket. "Julian. Pack the financial ledgers. We are holding an emergency council meeting tonight at the Brooklyn docks warehouse."
Julian frowned slightly. "The docks? Tonight? Why not here?"
"Because," Lucas said, looking Julian straight in the eye with a gaze that could cut through solid steel, "the traitor in our house thinks he succeeded in weakening us. Tonight, I am going to show our family exactly what happens to men who break their vows."
Julian’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second. A shadow of unease crossed his fox-like face.
"Of course, Boss," Julian said, closing his laptop. "Whatever you command."
As Julian walked out of the library, his silver shoe buckles clicking against the marble threshold, Lucas turned to Rosa and Lily.
He walked over to them, kneeling down in front of the sofa.
"Rosa," Lucas said gravely. "In two hours, a helicopter will land on the private roof pad of this house. My most trusted men will take you and Lily to a private estate in Vermont. You will stay there until I call you."
Rosa grabbed his arm, her eyes filled with tears. "Mr. Moretti... what is going to happen tonight?"
May you like
Lucas looked at Lily. He reached out and gently touched the little girl’s cheek with his thumb.
"Tonight, Lily," Lucas said softly, "I am going to finish the work you started when you gave me your last inhaler. I am going to clean this house once and for all."
