CHAPTER 5 – THE MAN WHO WANTED HER ERASED
CHAPTER 5 – THE MAN WHO WANTED HER ERASED
Marco didn't speak for nearly a full minute.
The silence inside the SUV was heavier than shouting.
Luca waited.
He had seen this look before.
It was the look Marco wore before entire criminal organizations disappeared.
"Say it again," Marco said quietly.
Luca glanced at the file.
"Harold Benson wasn't acting alone. The eviction order came from Hawthorne Property Management."
"And?"
"Hawthorne is owned through three shell companies."
Marco already knew what that meant.
"Who owns the last company?"
Luca slid a photograph across the seat.
Richard Ashford.
Forty-six years old.
Technology billionaire.
Philanthropist.
Leading candidate for governor.
Beloved husband.
Father of two daughters.
Public image: spotless.
Private history...
Far from it.
Marco studied the smiling face on the campaign poster.
"So this is the man."
Luca nodded.
"He had a relationship with Jenny eight years ago while she worked as a private nurse for his late father."
"He left her."
"Worse."
Luca opened another folder.
"When Jenny told him she was pregnant, he offered her half a million dollars."
Marco's eyes darkened.
"To raise the child?"
"No."
Luca hesitated.
"To make the pregnancy disappear."
The temperature inside the SUV seemed to drop.
"And when she refused?"
"He married someone else six weeks later."
Marco slowly leaned back.
"So Noah is his son."
"The DNA records were sealed."
"Sealed by whom?"
"A judge."
Marco looked up.
"The judge?"
"Now sits on Ashford's campaign advisory board."
Corruption.
Money.
Power.
Everything Marco hated wearing a different suit.
"What else?"
Luca took a slow breath.
"Three days ago, a reporter contacted Ashford's office asking about rumors of an abandoned child."
Marco immediately understood.
"The eviction."
"They wanted Jenny gone before the story broke."
"And Benson?"
"He was promised fifty thousand dollars if the apartment was empty before Monday."
Marco smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.
"Call Dante."
Within seconds, Dante answered.
"Boss."
"Bring Benson to Warehouse Nine."
"Alive?"
Marco looked out the window.
"That depends on whether he tells me the truth."
That evening...
Harold Benson woke tied to a metal chair.
A single light hung above him.
Water dripped somewhere in the darkness.
His breathing became frantic.
"I don't know where I am!"
A familiar voice echoed through the warehouse.
"You know exactly where you are."
Marco stepped into the light.
Benson immediately began shaking.
"Mr. Vitelli... please..."
"You threatened a sick child."
"I was only collecting rent."
"You lied."
"I..."
Marco tossed a stack of documents onto the floor.
Bank transfers.
Phone records.
Campaign payments.
Text messages.
Benson stared in horror.
"You were paid fifty thousand dollars."
"I can explain."
Marco walked closer.
"No."
He stopped inches away.
"You can answer."
Benson's voice cracked.
"They told me she had to disappear."
"Who?"
"A lawyer."
"Name."
"Edward Collins."
"For whom?"
Benson squeezed his eyes shut.
"I never met the client."
Marco nodded toward Dante.
Dante calmly placed a hammer on the table.
Benson nearly fainted.
"I swear!"
Marco never looked at the hammer.
"Then tell me why a governor's campaign fears a waitress and her asthmatic son."
Benson finally broke.
"The boy!"
Marco remained silent.
"The boy looks exactly like Richard Ashford."
Another pause.
"They were afraid someone would notice."
Marco's jaw tightened.
"And if Jenny refused to leave?"
Benson whispered,
"They said... accidents happen."
The warehouse fell silent.
Even Dante looked disturbed.
Marco slowly turned away.
When he spoke again, his voice was colder than ice.
"No one threatens children."
He looked at Dante.
"He's yours."
Benson screamed.
"Please! Please!"
Marco kept walking.
He never looked back.
The screams behind him echoed through the warehouse long after the doors closed.
Across town...
Jenny tucked Noah into bed.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Will the man in black come back?"
She smiled faintly.
"I don't know."
"I hope he does."
"Why?"
"He makes bad people afraid."
Jenny kissed his forehead.
"So do good mothers."
Noah laughed softly before falling asleep.
Jenny remained beside the bed, unaware that two black SUVs had quietly taken positions at opposite ends of the street.
Marco had posted guards.
Not because she belonged to him.
May you like
Because someone wanted her dead.
And he intended to find out who gave that order.
