Chapter 11 - Twelve Minutes
Evelyn reacted first.
The cathedral emptied in under three minutes.
No screaming.
No crowd.
Only fast movement and clipped instructions.
Judge Hayes tried to leave with everyone else.
Two agents stopped him.
Salvatore did not resist evacuation.
Dominic did.
“Teresa is downstairs.”
“So are we.”
Luca answered.
I said, “I’m coming.”
“No.”
Three men said it at once.
I stared at them.
“Teresa called me.”
Luca stepped closer.
“And if that timer is real—”
“She is down there because she trusted me.”
He held my gaze.
Then nodded once.
“Stay behind me.”
The entrance to the crypt was beneath the sacristy.
Stone stairs descended into darkness.
Dominic carried a flashlight.
Evelyn had called the bomb squad, but twelve minutes was not a generous timeline.
We were not trying to dismantle anything.
Only find Teresa and get out.
“Teresa!”
I shouted.
A weak answer came from the far corridor.
“Here!”
We found her behind an iron gate.
Pale.
Wrists marked by restraints.
Alive.
I reached through.
She grabbed my hand.
“Claire.”
Luca examined the lock.
Dominic found a maintenance key ring hanging nearby.
Third key worked.
Teresa stumbled out.
“Where’s Angelo?”
Evelyn asked.
“He went deeper.”
“Why?”
“The ledger.”
Teresa pointed toward an old family vault.
“He thinks I hid it here.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
She looked at me.
“Safe-deposit box.”
Luca said, “Then why come here?”
“He brought me.”
“He was supposed to trade me to Salvatore after the wedding.”
“But he started getting calls from Judge Hayes.”
Dominic cursed.
“What did Hayes want?”
“The same ledger.”
Teresa looked at Luca.
“Everyone wants it.”
Then a digital beep echoed down the stone corridor.
Teresa flinched.
“That’s the timer.”
Evelyn shouted, “Out.”
We ran.
Halfway up the stairs, Luca stopped.
“What?”
Dominic yelled.
Luca looked back.
“Angelo.”
“Forget him.”
“If he dies down there, we lose answers.”
I grabbed Luca’s sleeve.
“If you go back, you could die with him.”
He looked at me.
Then toward the crypt.
Another beep.
Finally, he came with us.
We reached the street.
Evelyn pushed us behind a federal vehicle.
Seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
One minute.
Two.
Still nothing.
A bomb technician approached.
“No detonation.”
Evelyn frowned.
“Timer?”
“Fake.”
We all stared at one another.
Diversion.
Luca looked toward the cathedral.
“He wanted us out.”
Dominic understood.
“The wedding.”
“No.”
Teresa whispered.
“The vault.”
We ran back inside.
The crypt gate was open.
The family vault door stood wide.
Inside, a wall safe had been emptied.
Luca stared at the bare shelves.
“What was stored here?”
Salvatore had followed us down.
He answered from the stairs.
“Original trust documents.”
Daniel arrived behind him.
“And?”
Salvatore hesitated.
“Anthony’s private confession.”
Luca turned.
“The recording?”
“Not the one you found.”
Salvatore’s face tightened.
“The full one.”
“What was on it?”
Salvatore looked at Claire.
“Names.”
My heart sank.
“Whose?”
“Everyone who helped bury Daniel Dawson’s death.”
I understood.
Angelo had never wanted Teresa’s ledger.
He wanted the recording that connected him directly to my father.
Evelyn checked the safe.
“Anything else missing?”
Salvatore nodded.
“One envelope.”
“Contents?”
He did not answer.
Luca stepped closer.
“Uncle.”
Salvatore finally spoke.
“Your mother’s letter.”
Luca froze.
“To me?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
“I never opened it.”
“Where did she write it?”
“Three days after Daniel Dawson died.”
Luca looked toward the empty vault.
Angelo now possessed the only message Isabella Moretti had ever left her son.
And possibly the proof of who killed my father.
Teresa suddenly grabbed the stone wall.
I caught her.
“What?”
She looked faint.
“They injected me with something.”
Evelyn called for medics.
Teresa shook her head.
“No.”
“Listen.”
Her voice was weakening.
“The safe-deposit box.”
“What about it?”
“The ledger isn’t under my name.”
“Whose?”
Her eyes found mine.
“Yours.”
I stared.
“What?”
“I opened it three weeks ago.”
“Why my name?”
“Because you were the only person Salvatore wasn’t watching yet.”
My mind went to the folder in the secret security room.
“He was watching me.”
“Not then.”
Teresa squeezed my wrist.
“The key.”
“What key?”
Her eyes closed.
“The thing your father left you.”
My pulse jumped.
“My father never left me a key.”
Teresa opened her eyes.
“Yes.”
May you like
“He did.”
“He just didn’t tell you what it opened.”
