Chapter 5 - Dean Learned Why Luca Chose Megan’s Shop
Dean broke a glass.
Not dramatically.
He simply closed his hand around it until crystal cracked.
Megan grabbed towel.
“Stop.”
“I’m fine.”
“You're bleeding.”
“I've had worse.”
“So have I. Still stupid.”
She cleaned his palm.
Dean watched.
“You always do this.”
“What?”
“Bandage me.”
“Apparently you keep requiring it.”
He looked at her in way that made room smaller.
Then looked away first.
Good.
They had bigger problems.
Julian's SD card contained enough evidence to expose Marco-Lorenzo alliance but not enough for law enforcement conviction alone.
Meetings.
Payments.
Shipping anomalies.
No direct murder recording.
Megan examined textile manifests.
Something bothered.
“Luca used our shop because of Jimmy.”
Everyone looked.
Jimmy?
Quiet tailor had worked forty years.
“His father worked docks,” Megan said. “Jimmy grew up around import labels.”
They brought Jimmy reluctantly.
He studied manifests.
Then went pale.
“This stamp.”
“What?”
“Bellmere didn't exist under that name twenty years ago.”
“Then?”
“**Blue Jade Textiles.**”
Megan froze.
Blue Jade.
Same campsite.
Coincidence?
Jimmy continued.
Company renamed after warehouse fire fifteen years ago.
Blue Jade Textile had been owned partly by Russo father Michael and Marini father Enzo.
Joint legitimate business before families became enemies.
Dean stared.
“Our fathers worked together?”
Samuel nodded slowly.
“Before ambush.”
Michael discovered Enzo Marini using textile routes for labor trafficking and extortion.
He intended dissolve partnership.
Anthony Russo and Lorenzo—young then but ambitious—wanted continue because profits enormous.
Wait Lorenzo same age maybe ~35, fifteen years ago age20. Plausible.
They arranged Michael's ambush.
Enzo later died suspiciously too.
Public feud between families grew from murders actually orchestrated by younger insiders profiting from chaos.
Luca discovered old records two years ago.
He sought Jimmy because Jimmy once worked Blue Jade warehouse as apprentice before tailoring.
Jimmy had unknowingly preserved old shipping ledgers in storage after warehouse closed.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Megan asked.
Jimmy looked terrified.
“Because I didn't know anybody cared.”
He brought cardboard box from basement.
Old invoices.
There it was.
Names of workers.
Payments.
Container numbers.
One page signed by Marco Bellini? Wait Marco likely no surname yet. Could be Marco Santoro. But he was with Dean nine years; maybe his father. Need connect.
Megan scanned.
Marcus Bellini Sr.
Marco's father.
He had been dock supervisor who helped Anthony move workers.
Marco inherited network after father's death.
That explained loyalty façade.
He embedded in Dean organization specifically to monitor anything connected Blue Jade.
Then Luca chose Megan for another reason.
Not only precision.
Ten years ago at Blue Jade campsite, Megan had helped Dean survive attack.
Who attacked Dean then?
Dean had always said “men hunting me,” believing random rival crew.
Samuel remembered.
“Marco's father.”
Dean stared.
Blue Jade attack happened when Dean was twenty-five? Ten years ago, now maybe 35. Michael already dead 12 years. Dean was investigating father's death two years later. He went to Blue Jade warehouse region following clue. Marco's father tried kill him.
Megan accidentally interrupted cover-up.
She saved Dean without knowing she had stepped into same conspiracy.
Luca must have learned story.
He deliberately selected Megan because connection to Dean guaranteed Dean would listen if Luca died.
Megan felt used.
Even if Luca intended protection.
“He picked me because I was a message.”
Dean:
“Yes.”
“I hate him.”
“You're allowed.”
“He attacked me.”
“Yes.”
“And he still somehow expected me to carry his evidence.”
“Yes.”
“No redemption.”
“No.”
Good.
Dean did not romanticize dead man.
Then Jimmy found final ledger notation.
B.J. SITE 4 — LOCKER 17
Blue Jade campsite had storage lockers originally for textile company retreat workers.
Maybe evidence remained.
They drove at night? Better daylight and law enforcement? They're mafia, but to resolve maybe secret.
Megan insisted Fiona not involved.
Dean agreed.
They went with Samuel, Julian, Dante.
Blue Jade campsite abandoned off-season.
Same woods.
Megan stood near trail where she found Dean bleeding ten years earlier.
Memory hit.
Young Dean pale.
Her hands trembling around gauze.
“You were heavier than I remembered.”
He smiled.
“You dragged me six feet.”
“It felt like a mile.”
“You saved me.”
She looked.
“You keep saying that like it created debt.”
“It created gratitude.”
“Not ownership.”
“I know.”
Progress.
Locker 17 rusted.
Inside metal box.
Documents.
Flash drive.
And photograph.
Michael Russo, Enzo Marini, Anthony Russo, Marcus Bellini Sr., and a young woman Megan didn't know.
Jimmy recognized.
Elena Marini, Luca and Lorenzo's mother.
She had discovered trafficking too.
She disappeared when twins were sixteen.
Told boys she abandoned them.
Actually, ledger suggested she entered witness-protection arrangement but never testified because threatened.
Could she be alive?
Flash drive held audio from Michael.
If anything happens to me, Anthony and Bellini are moving people through textile containers. Enzo wants out. Elena has names.
Then second voice.
Elena:
Lorenzo heard us. He thinks this is how families survive. Luca doesn't. Watch Lorenzo.
Lorenzo had been implicated since youth.
Dean's father knew.
So did Luca's mother.
The feud had been engineered by people who wanted both families too angry to inspect shared business.
Megan whispered:
“Where is Elena?”
A branch snapped.
Dean turned.
Shots exploded from tree line.
Dante pushed Megan behind concrete wall.
Julian fired back.
Samuel was hit in shoulder.
Dean dragged him.
Attackers retreated quickly.
One remained wounded.
They disarmed.
Mask off.
Russo soldier.
Dean recognized.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed bloodily.
“Marco says the girl dies tonight.”
Dean's face changed.
Megan crouched beside.
“Where is Marco?”
Soldier looked at her.
“Already with your friend.”
Her heart stopped.
“Fiona?”
He smiled.
Megan stood.
Phone rang.
Fiona's number.
Marco answered.
“Megan.”
She couldn't breathe.
“Let her go.”
“Bring Blue Jade box.”
Dean reached for phone.
Marco continued:
“And if Dean Russo comes within a block, Fiona dies before he sees door.”
Megan looked at Dean.
For first time, his promise could not solve problem through force.
May you like
This time, she would have to walk in herself.
---
