Nothing Left To Save

On the day of my father’s funeral, cold rain fell over Chicago.

Not many people came. The old bookkeeper from the pier, several widows my father had protected, and a handful of retired gunmen who had long ago faded into the shadows stood along the sides of the glass hall in black.

My father's photograph stood in the center.

The black-gold signet rested before it. The raven on its face looked ready to fly out of the dark velvet.

Damon and Selena arrived twenty minutes late.

Selena frowned the moment she stepped inside. "This is... small. If Mr. Arthur is really gone, why didn't any of the Moretti elders come? Vivian, did you put this show together in a rush?"

I said nothing.

Damon glanced at her, but he didn't stop her.

Selena grew bolder. She walked to the memorial table and fixed her eyes on the signet.

"So this is the Westmore family ring?" She gave a little laugh. "I thought it would be worth more. It looks like something from a pawnshop."

The old bookkeeper's face changed. He lowered his voice. "Miss Vale, Mr. Arthur placed that signet in Miss Westmore's hand before he died. It is the authority of the family."

"Before he died?" Selena repeated, as if the phrase amused her.

Then she reached for it.

I moved forward. "Don't touch it."

Selena flinched and immediately looked at Damon.

Damon frowned. He still didn't sound harsh, but the order in his tone was impossible to miss. "Vivian, Selena is just curious."

"That is the last thing my father gave me."

"I know." He sighed. "But you've been out of control since yesterday. Stop treating everyone like an enemy."

Selena's eyes reddened on cue. "I only wanted to see if it was real. Damon, you know Vivian would say anything to get you back."

With that, she picked up the signet.

Everyone in the hall froze.

My heart dropped. "Put it down."

Selena lifted it toward the light with a smile. "If this really is Westmore's last glory, then it shouldn't be afraid of a little test, right?"

She dragged her fingernail across the face of the ring. The sound was sharp enough to scrape bone.

A thin scratch appeared over the raven.

I lunged for it. Before I could reach her, a hand closed around my wrist from the side.

Damon’s grip wasn't brutal, but it was enough to stop me cold. "Vivian, don't make a scene."

I looked at the face I had loved for ten years and searched for even a trace of pity.

There was none.

Only exhaustion, impatience, and the unshakable certainty that I had nowhere else to go.

In that second, Selena cradled the signet and gave me a triumphant smile.

Then she turned toward the fireplace.

A basin of pinewood burned there for my father, meant only to warm the cold hall on a rainy night. "Since you insist Mr. Arthur is gone, let me send off the old Westmore era for you."

My voice tore out of me. "Don't you dare."

Selena opened her hand. The black-gold signet fell into the fire.

Flames roared up. The metal turned red, and the raven on the face of the ring began to warp in the heat.

The signet that carried my father's lifetime of dignity and the last glory of Westmore was reduced, before everyone's eyes, to a twisted piece of burned metal.

The glass hall went dead silent.

I stopped struggling.

Damon seemed to realize something was wrong at last. His fingers slowly loosened.

I didn't look at him. I didn't look at Selena.

I bent down, opened my black handbag, and took out a wax-sealed kraft envelope.

On the seal was the silver mark of the Chicago Commission.

Rain struck the glass roof above us, sounding like a hundred tiny gunshots.

I raised my eyes. My voice was calm, empty of every last ripple.

I broke the wax seal, unfolded the first page, and read the two lines printed above the Commission's full verdict.

"From this moment on, Vivian Westmore is no longer under Moretti protection."

"She is the new master of North Harbor."