Chapter 9 - The Confession
I stared at the silver flash drive resting inside the clear plastic evidence bag.
It was the master ledger containing every illegal transaction, bribe, and murder the Castalano family had ever committed.
If I told the agent the truth, Vincent would spend the rest of his life rotting in a federal supermax prison.
I thought about Vincent crouching down to eye level with my daughter instead of yelling at her.
I thought about him throwing his body over mine when the grenade exploded in the study.
I looked the federal agent right in the eye and shook my head slowly.
“I have never seen that thing before in my life,” I lied smoothly.
The agent nodded, clearly uninterested in pressing a traumatized maid for more information, and walked away.
Weeks turned into months, and the entire criminal underworld of the city was completely dismantled by the authorities.
Marcus Falcone was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Because the master ledger mysteriously disappeared from the evidence locker before trial, the government had no solid case against Vincent.
I went back to working small cleaning jobs to pay the rent, struggling to make ends meet just like before.
One rainy Tuesday afternoon, a sleek black town car pulled up outside my rundown apartment building.
Vincent Castalano stepped out, looking entirely healed and wearing a sharp, custom-tailored navy suit.
He walked up the crumbling concrete stairs and knocked softly on my peeling wooden door.
Mia answered it, her eyes lighting up instantly.
“It's the angry man!” she cheered, pulling him inside by his expensive silk sleeve.
Vincent crouched down once again, producing a brand-new, extremely expensive doll from behind his back.
“I promised I would come back to check on you both,” Vincent said, looking up at me with a soft smile.
I wiped my hands on a towel, entirely speechless as the former mafia boss stood in my tiny kitchen.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a heavy envelope, placing it gently on my scratched counter.
“I sold off all my illegal assets and went completely legitimate with a new real estate firm,” he explained.
May you like
He slid a heavy gold key across the counter toward my hand.
“I need a smart, fiercely loyal executive assistant to help me run it, and it comes with a penthouse in the safest building in the city.”
