Chapter 6 - the syndicate's shadow
By ten o'clock that night, Marco’s team had traced the raid on Clara Montgomery’s safehouse in Cicero.
Marcus stood in the center of the penthouse study, holding a secure satellite phone.
"Talk to me, Marco," Marcus commanded.
"We found the safehouse," Marco reported from the field, the sound of heavy rain pattering against his vehicle over the speaker. "The front door was kicked in. Signs of a struggle. Clara was taken, Boss. We found drag marks leading to an unmarked white van that left the scene three hours before you found Emma in the park."
"Who took her?"
"The Moretti crew," Marco answered grimly. "Specifically, Dominic Moretti’s cleanup crew. Boss... Moretti has been trying to move into your South Side shipping routes for five years. What if Arthur Vance didn't steal Emma for money? What if she was stolen as leverage?"
Marcus’s fingers gripped the phone so hard the casing groaned. The Morettis were an old rival faction—ruthless, desperate, and losing ground in the Chicago underworld for a decade.
"If Moretti had Emma for seven years, why didn't he use her against me?" Marcus questioned sharply.
"Because Clara stole her back," Marco said. "We found records in the basement. Clara worked as a nurse at the St. Jude Birthing Pavilion seven years ago under a fake name. When Vance took the baby on Moretti’s orders, Clara intercepted the child and fled. She’s been running from safehouse to safehouse for seven years, keeping Emma hidden, surviving on the hush money Vance was forced to send her to keep her from coming to you."
The pieces fell into place with terrifying precision.
Grace hadn't hidden a secret child. Grace had died thinking both her daughters were safe, or perhaps she died fighting to protect them. Vance had betrayed the Blackwell family for Moretti cash, but Clara had run with the child, knowing that revealing Emma to Marcus earlier would have ignited an all-out war that might have gotten the little girl killed in the crossfire.
"Clara realized Moretti’s men finally found her trail this morning," Marcus deduced, his voice razor-sharp. "She sent Emma to the park with the clipping and the locket, knowing I walked Lily through Grant Park every Sunday afternoon."
"Exactly," Marco confirmed. "Clara sacrificed herself so Emma could reach you."
Marcus closed his eyes. Respect, deep and begrudging, flared in his chest for a woman he had never met. Clara Montgomery had lived like a ghost for seven years, enduring poverty and terror, just to keep his daughter breathing.
"Marco," Marcus said, opening his eyes. They burned with a cold, terrifying fire.
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"Yes, Boss?"
"Tell Moretti that Marcus Blackwell is coming to talk. If Clara Montgomery has a single scratch on her, Dominic Moretti won't have a family left to bury him."
