Chapter 14 - The Veterinarian
Rachel Monroe contacted me directly.
“Emma, I need you to listen.”
I nearly hung up.
“Where are you?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to the police.”
“I’m not working for Carlo.”
“Then why did you disappear?”
“Because someone is killing everyone connected to Salvatore’s evidence.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
She told me Bruno’s medical records contained coded references Salvatore had placed years earlier.
Bruno had been brought to her father’s veterinary clinic as a puppy.
Rachel inherited those files.
Recently she discovered handwritten numbers.
She started investigating.
That was why she had been watched.
The tracking device had been planted on Marco when he visited her clinic.
Not by her.
Then she said:
“Bruno is in danger.”
“He’s protected.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“His microchip contains something.”
I looked toward the garden.
Bruno slept beside Luca.
“What?”
“Salvatore replaced the standard chip years ago.”
“With what?”
“A storage device.”
I almost laughed.
“Inside the dog?”
“Yes.”
The evidence everyone had searched for existed under Bruno’s skin.
Rachel had discovered it during treatment.
She never extracted it because doing so without proper surgery could injure him.
Carlo’s men wanted Bruno not only because of the route.
They wanted his chip.
I told Luca.
Dr. Monroe returned under protection.
She removed the device safely.
Inside was a list of accounts.
Not criminal accounts.
Emergency funds.
Money Salvatore had hidden to compensate families harmed by the Moretti organization.
Thirty-eight million dollars.
Luca stared at the total.
“My father was trying to repay people.”
I looked at him.
“Then finish it.”
He did.
That decision made enemies.
Money people had expected to inherit disappeared into restitution trusts.
Threats increased.
But so did something else.
People came forward.
Former employees.
Families.
Witnesses.
The wall around the old Moretti empire began collapsing.
Then Rachel decoded one final file.
Audio.
Salvatore speaking to Michael.
“If Luca refuses to change, Emma must inherit the legal companies.”
Luca stared at me.
“What?”
I laughed.
“No.”
The file continued.
“If they find each other, perhaps one will remind the other who they were supposed to become.”
Luca looked offended.
“My father is manipulating us from the grave.”
“Apparently both our fathers are.”
Then Bruno stood.
He walked toward us.
His legs were weaker now.
He placed his head against Luca.
Then against me.
And for the first time, I understood.
May you like
Bruno had not been carrying only evidence.
He had been carrying Salvatore’s last attempt to bring his children home.
