Chapter 7 - The Room Behind St. Agnes
St. Agnes had been closed for renovation for six months.
At 2:40 a.m., it looked abandoned.
Leo wanted Mina nowhere near it.
Mina refused.
“My mother worked there eleven years.”
“Exactly why you shouldn't come.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It makes perfect sense to me.”
“Because you like controlling things.”
“Yes.”
She blinked.
His direct admission temporarily derailed her argument.
Leo continued.
“And right now I am controlling whether you walk into a building where my uncle may be waiting with armed men.”
Mina folded her arms.
“Do I get a vote?”
“No.”
She looked at Thomas.
Thomas became intensely interested in checking his weapon.
“Coward.”
“Frequently.”
Helen Ward arrived with two federal investigators she trusted.
Leo looked irritated.
“You invited federal agents onto Moretti property?”
Helen shrugged.
“Former federal agents.”
“One is wearing a badge.”
“Technicality.”
Mina smiled.
Leo sighed.
They entered through the clinic's rear service door.
The halls smelled of drywall dust and old antiseptic.
Mina remembered visiting her mother there after school.
Room 214.
Nurses’ station.
Coffee machine that never worked.
Every corner contained a ghost.
She walked toward the old records wing.
“My mother kept her office here.”
Leo remained close.
Too close.
She chose not to complain.
Elaine’s office had been stripped.
Only built-in cabinets remained.
Mina touched a section of wall.
“There used to be a framed picture here.”
“What picture?”
“Lake Michigan.”
She frowned.
“My mother hated lake pictures.”
Leo looked at her.
“That matters?”
“She used to say every Chicago office had the same three photographs because nobody had imagination.”
Mina ran her fingers along the wall.
A faint rectangular outline remained.
Behind it, one drywall panel sounded hollow.
Thomas removed it.
A steel door appeared.
Leo looked at Mina.
“Your mother was full of surprises.”
“You have no idea.”
The key from Union Station fit.
Inside was a narrow room.
Shelves held paper files.
Hundreds.
Patient records.
Corporate transfers.
Bank statements.
And a video camera.
Victor had not reached it yet.
Or so they thought.
A slow clap came from the hallway.
Leo turned.
Victor Moretti stood beside the open office door.
Three armed men behind him.
“Beautiful.”
Leo shifted in front of Mina.
Victor smiled.
“My nephew finally learned to bring law enforcement to family gatherings.”
Helen raised her gun.
“Former law enforcement.”
Victor looked at her.
“Helen Ward. Still irritating.”
“Victor. Still committing felonies.”
Leo's eyes stayed on his uncle.
“It's over.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
He pointed toward the files.
“Those papers destroy you too.”
“I know.”
That surprised him.
Victor frowned.
“You're willing to burn the family?”
“If that's what it takes.”
“For her?”
His eyes moved toward Mina.
Leo's jaw tightened.
Victor smiled.
“There it is.”
Mina stepped out from behind Leo.
“Don't make me the excuse for choices you're afraid to understand.”
Victor looked amused.
“You sound like Elaine.”
“Good.”
His smile vanished.
“My mother found you.”
“She found numbers.”
“She found a thief.”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“I built half the money this family enjoys.”
“By stealing from sick people.”
“By using systems already designed to steal from sick people.”
Mina stared.
“That is your defense?”
“It's reality.”
“No. It's cowardice dressed as economics.”
Leo almost smiled despite the guns.
Victor looked at him.
“She's going to get you killed.”
Leo answered quietly.
“No.”
He looked at Mina.
“She’s the reason I finally understand what staying alive is for.”
Mina stopped breathing.
Victor's expression darkened.
Then everything moved.
One of Victor’s men lowered his gun.
Thomas had recruited him hours earlier.
Helen shouted.
Another man surrendered.
Victor grabbed Mina.
A pistol pressed against her ribs.
Leo froze.
Every muscle in his body locked.
Victor backed toward the hallway.
“Drop your weapon.”
Leo did.
Instantly.
Thomas stared.
Leo never surrendered weapons.
Victor noticed too.
“Interesting.”
“Let her go.”
“You sound emotional.”
“I am.”
Mina remained frighteningly calm.
Victor tightened his arm.
“Where's the drive?”
“What drive?”
“Elaine copied account keys.”
Mina laughed.
“You think my mother trusted digital storage?”
Victor frowned.
That distraction was enough.
Mina drove her heel backward into his shin and dropped her weight.
Victor's grip loosened.
Leo crossed the space.
He tore the gun away and slammed Victor against the wall.
Victor fell.
Leo stood over him.
For several seconds, murder was an option.
Everyone knew it.
Victor smiled weakly.
“Do it.”
Leo breathed hard.
“Prove you're still Moretti.”
Leo looked at Mina.
She said nothing.
She did not beg.
She did not command.
She let the decision remain his.
Leo lowered the gun.
“No.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
Leo handed the weapon to Helen.
“You spend the rest of your life telling strangers how powerful you used to be.”
Helen cuffed Victor.
As they searched the hidden room, Mina found one final envelope.
Her name.
Inside was a letter from Elaine.
Not evidence.
A goodbye.
Mina, debt is not inheritance. Fear is not inheritance. You do not owe anyone the life they tried to hand you.
Mina sat on the floor and cried.
May you like
Leo sat beside her.
This time, when he reached for her hand, she took it.
