Chapter 4 - My Father’s Wedding Gift
Harley drove to her parents’ house in silence.
Cassian sat beside her.
Marco drove.
No one spoke.
That helped.
At the curb, Harley finally said, “If you tell me this is going to be okay, I’ll get out of the car.”
Cassian looked at her.
“I don’t know if it will.”
“Good.”
“I know what I can do.”
“What?”
“Make sure no one reaches you before you decide what comes next.”
She looked at him.
“That sounded almost respectful.”
“I’m improving.”
“Slowly.”
Her father opened the front door before they knocked.
Robert looked from Harley to Cassian.
Then to Marco.
“Where’s Peter?”
Harley walked past him.
“Sit down.”
Her mother came from the kitchen.
“Harley?”
“Both of you.”
They sat.
Cassian stayed near the doorway.
Harley put the printed remote-chat screenshot on the coffee table.
Her father read the last line.
ASK ROBERT WHAT HE HID IN THE CHURCH.
He closed his eyes.
Her mother whispered, “Robert?”
Harley’s anger arrived quietly.
That frightened her more than shouting would have.
“Tell me.”
Robert rubbed both hands over his face.
“Fifteen years ago, I handled claims audits for waterfront insurers.”
“I know.”
“There was a fire at Pier Twelve.”
Cassian shifted.
Harley noticed.
“You know it?”
“My uncle died there.”
Robert looked at him.
“Antonio Vale?”
Cassian’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
Harley stared between them.
Robert continued.
“The official report said electrical failure. But the loss records didn’t match the cargo manifests. Containers listed as destroyed had been removed before the fire.”
“What was in them?” Harley asked.
“Weapons. Cash. Pharmaceuticals. I never knew everything.”
Cassian’s jaw tightened.
“My uncle was blamed for the shipment.”
Robert nodded.
“I know.”
“Was he involved?”
“I don’t know.”
Cassian took that answer without flinching.
Harley respected him for it.
Robert stood and went to the mantel.
He removed a wooden box containing family photographs.
Beneath them was a small brass key.
“I copied the original claim ledger before I resigned.”
Harley stared.
“You kept evidence from a criminal case in your house?”
“I kept evidence because two investigators disappeared within a year.”
Her mother whispered, “You told me those papers were destroyed.”
“I lied.”
The word hung there.
Harley suddenly understood why her father had always overreacted to unknown cars outside the house.
Why he refused to store records digitally.
Why he hated port authority reunions.
“Where are they?”
Robert looked at Harley.
“St. Jude’s.”
The church.
Her ruined wedding.
“Where?”
“Your grandfather donated a memorial box beneath the old sacristy floor. After he died, the parish forgot what it was for.”
Cassian said, “Dominic knows.”
Robert shook his head.
“He knows I have something. He doesn’t know the location.”
“The message says church.”
“Then he knows enough.”
Harley stood.
“We go now.”
Her mother grabbed her hand.
“No.”
Harley looked down.
“You have already lost one wedding today.”
“I didn’t lose it.”
Her mother’s eyes filled.
Harley softened.
“I found out what it was before it became my marriage.”
Cassian looked away, as though the sentence belonged to her alone.
They returned to St. Jude’s after dark.
The priest was furious until Robert explained the memorial box.
Then he became nervous.
“That room hasn’t been opened in years.”
Cassian’s men checked the building first.
No one inside.
The sacristy floor contained a brass plate beneath an old cabinet.
Robert’s key opened it.
Inside lay a sealed metal case.
Harley almost laughed.
“Please tell me there are not more binders.”
Robert opened it.
There were.
Cassian actually sighed.
Harley looked at him.
“Mafia boss defeated by paperwork.”
“Paperwork causes more damage than bullets.”
She stopped smiling.
He was right.
The ledgers showed port claims, container numbers, insurance payouts, company owners.
Cassian read one page.
His face changed.
“What?”
He pointed.
VESCARI MARITIME.
Dominic’s family company.
Another line:
VALE IMPORTS.
Cassian’s family.
Harley watched him carefully.
“Your people were involved.”
“My father’s people.”
“That distinction matters to you?”
“Yes.”
“Will it matter to everyone else?”
“No.”
Good answer.
Robert pointed to a series of initials.
A.V.
Antonio Vale.
Cassian’s uncle.
Payments appeared beside his name.
Cassian’s hand tightened around the page.
Harley expected denial.
Instead he said, “He was involved.”
Robert nodded.
“Looks that way.”
Cassian closed his eyes for one second.
When he opened them, he looked older.
The story he had believed about his uncle had changed.
Harley understood that feeling.
Then Marco called from the nave.
“Boss.”
They stepped out.
Peter stood at the far end of the church.
He had escaped whatever arrangement Marco had made to hold him at the warehouse, but he was not alone.
Dominic Vescari stood beside him.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
Smiling.
Three men flanked them.
Dominic applauded softly.
“A bride, a boss, and a buried ledger.”
His gaze settled on Harley.
“You really did ruin everything, sweetheart.”
Cassian moved in front of her.
Harley stepped sideways.
“No.”
Cassian looked at her.
“I can stand beside you.”
Something passed through his expression.
Approval, maybe.
Dominic smiled wider.
“That’s what Peter liked about you.”
Harley looked at Peter.
He could not meet her eyes.
Dominic held up a phone.
“Give me the case, and Mr. Grant’s mortgage disappears.”
Harley’s heart kicked.
Her father whispered, “Don’t.”
Dominic continued.
“Keep it, and by morning every lender, reporter, and investigator in the city receives documents naming Harley as the architect of the modern freight scheme.”
Cassian said, “You already tried that.”
Dominic looked pleased.
“That was the practice version.”
Harley stared at him.
“What do you actually want?”
“The original ledger.”
“Why?”
“Because old crimes become new leverage when the wrong children inherit them.”
Cassian’s expression hardened.
Dominic had just admitted the truth.
This was not about $2.5 million anymore.
It was about control over everyone whose family name appeared in that box.
Harley lifted the case.
Peter finally looked at her.
“Don’t.”
Dominic turned on him.
Peter swallowed.
Then did the first brave thing Harley had seen him do all day.
He moved between Dominic and the case.
“No.”
Dominic struck him across the face.
Peter fell against a pew.
Harley flinched.
Cassian moved.
One of Dominic’s men reached inside his jacket.
Harley shouted, “Stop!”
Everyone froze.
She held up the case.
“You want this?”
Dominic smiled.
“Yes.”
“Then come get it.”
She turned and ran toward the sacristy.
May you like
Dominic’s men followed.
Exactly as she hoped.
