Chapter 2 - THE DEBT ON THE COUNTER
Nora looked from Luca to the four men surrounding her café.
The espresso machine hissed behind her.
The refrigerator rattled.
Gray daylight pressed against the closed blinds.
“You have ten seconds to unlock that door.”
Luca removed black leather gloves one finger at a time.
“My father disappeared from a guarded residence last night.”
“I found him carrying groceries.”
“He was not supposed to be outside.”
“That sounds like a problem between you and your father.”
“It became my problem when he returned with a stranger.”
Nora lifted the heavy metal coffee pot.
Every bodyguard moved simultaneously.
Hands disappeared beneath jackets.
Luca raised one finger.
They froze.
He reached inside his overcoat.
Nora tightened her grip.
Luca withdrew only the dented olive oil tin and slammed it onto the counter.
“I don’t want blood money,” Nora said.
His eyes narrowed.
“You assume too much.”
“You entered my café with four armed men and locked the door.”
“You carried Arthur Rossi through the rain.”
“Was I supposed to let him collapse?”
“Most people would have crossed the street.”
“I’m not most people.”
“No.”
The word carried more weight than admiration should have.
The kitchen door opened.
Arthur stepped into the café using his silver handled cane.
He looked cleaner than the previous night, though exhaustion still hollowed his face.
Nora stared at him.
“You let them lock me in?”
Arthur tapped his cane once.
Every bodyguard lowered his head.
“Open the blinds,” he ordered.
They obeyed.
“Unlock the door.”
The deadbolt turned.
Arthur approached the counter.
“I apologize for my son’s manners.”
Luca looked at him.
“You vanished without medication or security.”
“Because someone inside my house was reporting every movement I made.”
The café became silent.
Arthur placed the olive oil tin on its side.
A small brass key lay beneath it.
Nora recognized it immediately.
It was not the key Arthur had used at the brownstone.
It was old, darkened by age, and shaped like something from another century.
“What does it open?” she asked.
“Something beneath this café.”
Nora laughed once.
“There is nothing beneath this café except pipes, rats, and a boiler trying to kill me.”
Arthur looked toward the floor.
“Before this place became The Daily Grind, it was called Sofia’s Kitchen.”
Luca’s expression changed at the name.
“My wife owned it,” Arthur continued. “For thirty two years.”
Nora knew the café had once been an Italian bakery, but the seller had never mentioned Arthur Rossi.
“What is down there?”
“A steel compartment behind the old coal wall.”
“What is inside?”
“Records.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Records someone attempted to kill my father to recover.”
Nora looked at Arthur.
“You said your son normally sent a car.”
“He did.”
“You dismissed it?”
“No. The driver never arrived.”
Arthur had left the brownstone after receiving a message that appeared to come from Luca. It told him to walk to a nearby pharmacy because the house might be under surveillance.
The message was false.
His phone stopped working before he reached the corner.
The rain intensified.
His grocery bag split outside Nora’s café.
“You were heading here,” Nora said.
“Yes.”
“For the key?”
“For the compartment.”
“Why not tell Luca?”
Arthur’s pale eyes moved toward his son.
“Because I did not know whether the betrayal came through him.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“You thought I sold you.”
“I thought someone close enough to know your security schedule had.”
Nora folded her arms.
“And now I’m involved because I picked up oranges.”
Arthur nodded.
“That is the unfortunate truth.”
A violent pounding shook the front door.
Nora flinched.
One bodyguard opened his jacket.
A man in a city utility coat stood outside holding an envelope.
Nora unlocked the door herself.
The man handed her a disconnection notice.
“Your electricity will be shut off at noon.”
“That is impossible. I paid part of the balance Friday.”
He showed her the account number.
It was hers.
The payment had been reversed.
The remaining debt was nearly six thousand dollars.
Nora looked beneath the counter where the overdue utility envelope had been hidden from customers.
Luca watched her face.
“When did your financial problems begin?”
“Three months ago.”
“When did someone offer to buy this building?”
Nora slowly turned.
“A development company started calling in August.”
“Name?”
“Harbor Crown Properties.”
Arthur’s fingers tightened around his cane.
Luca looked toward him.
“That company belongs to Dominic Vale.”
Arthur’s oldest adviser.
The man responsible for arranging the car that never arrived.
Nora placed the brass key in her pocket.
“Nobody touches my basement without me.”
Luca’s stare became dangerous.
“You do not understand what may be down there.”
“I understand it is my café.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
May you like
“Now you see why I trusted her.”
Continue to the next part: Behind the café’s crumbling coal wall, Nora finds a hidden steel box containing proof that Arthur’s closest adviser has been buying property, police protection, and silence in the Rossi name.
