Chapter 11 - The Union Boss—The Thug—The Debt

The downtown First Fidelity Bank was a massive stone fortress. At 3:00 AM, the streets were deserted.

Eleanor and I stood in the pouring rain in the back alley, near the reinforced steel doors of the night depository. Briggs stood behind us, nervously scanning the shadows.

A fleet of three black SUVs pulled into the alley, their headlights blinding us.

Heavy doors slammed. A dozen men in dark coats stepped out, holding suppressed submachine guns.

Frank Moretti walked to the front of the pack. He was a terrifyingly calm man, wearing a trench coat, chewing on an unlit cigar.

Two of his thugs dragged a battered, bleeding man out of the back of the SUV and threw him onto the wet asphalt.

It was Marcus.

“Jules! Mom!” Marcus sobbed, coughing up blood. “Please, they broke my other leg! Tell them I didn't take the money!”

Eleanor flinched but didn't take a step toward her son. She stayed firmly behind Briggs.

Frank looked at me, then at Eleanor.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Eleanor,” Frank rumbled, his voice like grinding stone. “You steal my pension fund, murder your husband, and then send this little accountant to bargain with me?”

“I didn't steal it, Frank!” Eleanor panicked, her aristocratic facade crumbling. “It was Thomas Vance! He faked his death to frame me!”

Frank chuckled darkly. “I don't care about Thomas Vance. I care about my thirty million. Julianne here says she has the laptop.”

I held up my father’s briefcase.

“I have the laptop,” I said clearly. “But I can't unlock the crypto wallet without my father’s thumbprint.”

Frank’s smile vanished. “Then why the hell did you call me here?”

“Because,” I said, stepping backward toward the heavy steel door of the bank, “I knew if I told you I didn't have the money, you would kill me. I needed you to bring Marcus and your men here. As a distraction.”

“A distraction from what?” Frank growled, gesturing for his men to raise their weapons.

Before the thugs could aim, a blinding spotlight illuminated the alley from the roof of the adjacent building.

“FBI! DROP YOUR WEAPONS! DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW!”

The next chapters are on the left side of your screen.

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