Chapter 11 - The Boss Who Broke His Own Rules
Luca had three rules.
Vincent knew them by heart.
Never negotiate while angry.
Never reveal what you value.
Never walk voluntarily into someone else's trap.
By 1:18 a.m., Luca had broken the first two.
He was preparing to break the third.
“No.”
Harper stood in the kitchen of the safe house where Mrs. Donnelly had been taken.
“I’m the one the message asked for.”
“Exactly.”
“You can't go instead.”
“I can do whatever I want.”
“That's not an argument.”
“It usually works.”
“Not with me.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
Vincent watched from the doorway.
He had known Luca since childhood.
He had never seen anyone challenge him this consistently.
More surprisingly, he had never seen Luca repeatedly allow it.
Harper pointed toward Thomas's photograph.
“If he's actually there, I need answers.”
“And if the photograph is bait?”
“Then we find out.”
“From a distance.”
“They specifically want me.”
“No.”
Harper stared.
Luca realized he'd done it again.
He took a breath.
“I'm asking you not to go.”
“That's different.”
“And?”
“I'm still going.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Vincent nearly smiled.
Harper softened.
“Luca.”
He looked at her.
“I don't need you to stop me.”
“What do you need?”
“Help me come back.”
The words struck something inside him.
Come back.
The same thing he'd asked from her.
Luca nodded.
“Okay.”
They traced the photograph.
A small detail in the background showed part of a sign.
Vincent's team identified it as Harbor Point Maritime Storage.
The facility had been closed for eighteen months.
Perfect place for a hostage.
At 3:40 a.m., Harper entered the passenger seat of an unmarked sedan.
Luca drove.
“You're driving?”
“Yes.”
“You have people for that.”
“You complain when I use people for everything.”
“Fair.”
Neither spoke for a while.
Snow had started.
Boston looked strangely clean beneath it.
Harper watched the city.
“If we survive this, I'm going back to nursing school.”
Luca glanced at her.
“When.”
“What?”
“When we survive.”
She smiled faintly.
“Fine. When.”
“Good.”
“I didn't say you'd pay.”
“I didn't offer.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I was absolutely thinking it.”
Harper laughed.
Luca felt the tension ease.
Then she became serious.
“What happens after?”
“After tonight?”
“Yes.”
Luca didn't answer.
Harper looked at him.
“Your world isn't exactly compatible with nursing school.”
“I know.”
There were a hundred things he could say.
Promises.
Declarations.
Offers.
Instead, Luca chose honesty.
“I don't know what happens.”
Harper nodded.
“I appreciate that.”
They reached the industrial district.
Luca parked three blocks away.
His people were positioned outside.
Harper wore no transmitter this time.
Instead, a tiny tracker had been sewn inside the lining of her boot.
She walked toward the building alone.
Luca watched until she disappeared.
Every instinct told him to follow.
He waited.
Thirty seconds.
Sixty.
Ninety.
Vincent's voice came through the earpiece.
“Tracker moving north inside building.”
Luca watched the map.
Harper stopped.
Then moved again.
A second signal appeared.
One of Luca's men had entered from the opposite side.
Then Harper's tracker vanished.
“Signal lost.”
Luca opened the car door.
Vincent's voice snapped.
“Wait.”
“No.”
“Could be interference.”
“Or they found it.”
“Luca.”
He was already moving.
Third rule broken.
Inside Harbor Point, Harper stood before her father.
Thomas Rourke looked older than she expected.
Not weak.
But tired.
Gray hair.
Deep lines.
Pale eyes almost the same shade as Harper's.
His hands were bound.
A bruise darkened his temple.
He stared at her.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Thomas whispered, “Harper.”
She had imagined this moment for only one day.
Yet somehow she had prepared for it her whole life.
“Are you my father?”
Pain crossed his face.
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
“I am your father.”
Harper swallowed.
“Why did you leave?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Because your mother asked me to.”
“That simple?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
“We don't have time.”
“I've waited twenty-seven years.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't get to say that.”
Footsteps echoed beyond the room.
Thomas leaned forward.
“Harper, whoever brought you here is not Anthony.”
“I know.”
His expression changed.
“You know?”
“Anthony is involved, but someone else is controlling part of this.”
Thomas nodded.
“Marcus.”
“No. Marcus takes orders.”
Thomas stared.
“Then it got worse.”
“Who?”
Before he could answer, a door opened.
A man entered.
Harper recognized him immediately.
Not from real life.
From photographs in Luca's home.
Family photographs.
Christmas dinners.
Weddings.
Charity events.
Harper had seen him standing behind Luca in at least three framed pictures.
She whispered the name.
“Robert Moretti.”
Luca's cousin.
Chief financial officer of several Moretti companies.
A quiet man Luca trusted completely.
Robert smiled.
“Harper.”
Thomas swore.
Harper backed away.
“You arranged everything.”
“Not everything.”
“Pier Twelve?”
“Yes.”
“Anthony?”
“A useful distraction.”
“Marcus?”
“Useful idiot.”
“Why?”
Robert looked toward Thomas.
“Because old men leave too many secrets behind.”
Thomas strained against the chair.
“Leave her out of this.”
Robert laughed.
“You've spent twenty-seven years leaving her out. Look how well that worked.”
Harper's fear sharpened.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don't have it.”
“No.”
Robert smiled.
“But Luca does.”
Harper understood.
“You wanted me because he'd trade it for me.”
“He'll trade much more than that.”
Robert moved closer.
“You still don't understand what you are to him.”
Harper's heart pounded.
“What am I?”
“His weakness.”
A crash sounded somewhere below.
Robert looked toward the door.
Harper knew instantly.
Luca.
Robert smiled.
“Right on time.”
Thomas shouted, “Harper, get down!”
The lights cut out.
Harper dropped.
Noise filled the hallway.
Doors slammed.
Someone yelled.
Then she heard Luca's voice.
“Harper!”
She ran toward it.
A hand caught her.
Robert.
He pulled her backward.
Thomas kicked the chair violently, knocking into Robert's legs.
Robert lost balance.
Harper tore free.
She reached the hall.
Luca appeared through the darkness.
Their eyes met.
“Go!”
Instead Harper turned.
“My father!”
Luca followed her back.
Thomas was still tied.
Robert had disappeared through another door.
They freed Thomas.
Vincent's voice sounded through the building.
“Robert's escaping east.”
Luca looked toward the exit.
Harper saw the choice.
Chase the traitor.
Or stay.
The old Luca Moretti would have chased.
She knew it.
Instead he put Thomas's arm over his shoulder.
“Let's get him out.”
Harper stared.
Luca glanced at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
But it wasn't nothing.
Luca Moretti had just broken another rule.
He let an enemy escape because two wounded people mattered more.
Harper realized then that something inside him was changing.
What she didn't know was that Robert Moretti had planned for exactly that.
May you like
And while Luca carried Thomas to safety, Robert was already moving toward the one place that could destroy the Moretti empire without firing another shot.
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