Chapter 15 - The Trap at Pier Seventeen
Thomas Russo looked remarkably healthy for a dead man.
He stepped onto Pier Seventeen wearing a dark overcoat despite the warm evening.
Seventy-three.
Silver hair.
Straight posture.
The same face from Dante’s childhood photographs.
I watched through a camera feed from a maintenance building two hundred yards away.
Dante approached alone.
A metal case in his hand.
Thomas smiled.
“My son.”
“Dad.”
No hug.
Thomas noticed.
“You're angry.”
“You faked your death.”
“I protected you.”
Dante laughed once.
“You sound like Vittorio.”
Thomas's smile tightened.
“Vittorio became sentimental.”
“He became guilty.”
“Same disease.”
I listened through Dante’s wire.
Elena sat beside me.
Rachel Sloan monitored the feed from another location with federal tactical teams.
Silvio waited to testify once Thomas incriminated himself.
Sophie was miles away with Margaret and three trusted officers.
Still, I hated having her out of sight.
Thomas pointed toward the case.
“The ledger?”
“Yes.”
“My authorization?”
Dante held up documents.
Thomas looked satisfied.
“Adrian?”
“Dead.”
“Elena?”
“Missing.”
“The child?”
Dante hesitated.
Thomas noticed.
“Where is Sophie?”
“That wasn't part of the agreement.”
Thomas sighed.
“You always were emotional.”
“She’s six.”
“She is a beneficiary.”
“She’s a child.”
“In our world, those can be the same problem.”
My hands tightened.
Elena whispered, “Don't.”
“I’m not moving.”
“You're thinking loudly.”
Thomas continued.
“You know what Vittorio’s mistake was?”
Dante said nothing.
“He believed he could build power and then decide when power stopped being violent.”
Thomas walked toward the river.
“It never stops.”
Dante asked, “You killed Michael?”
Silence.
Thomas turned.
“Who told you that?”
“Answer.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“No.”
Relief.
Then he added:
“But I helped hide who did.”
My heart stopped.
Dante asked, “Who?”
“Paolo DeMarco ordered it.”
We knew that.
Then Thomas said:
“And Silvio made sure Paolo's driver was never questioned.”
I turned toward Silvio in the next room.
He closed his eyes.
Another secret.
I nearly exploded.
Elena grabbed my arm.
“Later.”
Thomas continued.
“Vittorio discovered the truth and had Paolo killed.”
Car explosion.
Not an accident.
Cycle after cycle.
Death answered by death.
Thomas had spent his life feeding that machine.
Dante asked, “Why go after Adrian now?”
“Because he intends to destroy everything.”
“How do you know?”
“Vittorio told me.”
“Before he died?”
“Yes.”
“He trusted you.”
“He was weak.”
“You betrayed him.”
“I preserved what he built.”
“No.”
Dante's voice hardened.
“You preserved what you wanted.”
Thomas smiled.
“Smart.”
He stepped closer.
“You and I can run it.”
“I don't want it.”
“You say that because Adrian taught you to apologize for strength.”
“No.”
Dante looked directly at his father.
“Adrian taught me power isn't the same as being feared.”
Thomas laughed.
“That little mechanic girl has ruined all of you.”
That was enough for me.
I stepped from the maintenance building and began walking toward them.
Elena hissed behind me.
“Adrian!”
Thomas saw me.
His face changed for the first time.
Shock.
Then anger.
“You.”
“Disappointed?”
“You were reported dead.”
“I've been busy.”
Thomas looked at Dante.
“You betrayed me.”
Dante answered quietly.
“You taught me loyalty.”
Federal agents began closing exits.
Thomas noticed movement.
He did not panic.
He smiled.
“You think I came without insurance?”
He lifted a phone.
On the screen was live video.
Sophie.
Sitting in a chair.
Margaret unconscious beside her.
Elena gasped.
“No.”
My world narrowed.
Thomas smiled.
“One call and the room burns.”
“How?”
“Your protection detail included one of mine.”
Rachel swore over the radio.
Teams were moving.
Too late.
Thomas held his thumb over the screen.
“Ledger.”
I looked at Dante.
Then at the case.
“Give it to him.”
“Adrian—”
“Now.”
Dante slid the case across concrete.
Thomas opened it.
The ledger was inside.
Original.
He smiled.
“Authorization.”
Dante handed him papers.
“Now Sophie.”
Thomas shook his head.
“First Elena.”
She stepped from the shadows.
My heart stopped.
I had told her to stay back.
Of course she had ignored me.
Thomas smiled.
“Excellent.”
“Let my daughter go.”
“Come here.”
“Elena, no.”
She looked at me.
“She’s my child.”
“I know.”
“And I'm done letting men decide I should hide for my own safety.”
She walked toward Thomas.
I saw it then.
The wrench.
Sophie’s wrench.
Elena had taken it from my jacket before I left the room.
She approached.
Thomas reached for her.
Elena swung.
The wrench struck his wrist.
The phone fell.
Dante tackled him.
I grabbed the phone before it hit the water.
Thomas's men opened fire.
Federal agents returned fire.
Chaos.
I ran behind cover.
Rachel shouted through my earpiece.
“We have Sophie's location!”
“Go!”
“We're two minutes out.”
“Too long.”
Elena crawled beside me.
Thomas broke away from Dante.
He reached for the fallen phone.
I stopped him.
We collided.
Thomas was older.
But desperation gave him strength.
He punched me.
I hit him back.
He looked at me with hatred.
“You’re destroying your father's legacy.”
“No.”
I thought of the tape.
Of Vittorio saying burn the rest.
“I’m finishing it.”
Thomas reached for his weapon.
Dante raised his gun.
“Dad.”
Thomas froze.
Father and son faced each other.
Dante’s hands shook.
“Don't.”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“You won't shoot me.”
“No.”
Dante lowered the gun.
“But I won't save you either.”
Federal agents surrounded us.
Thomas was arrested.
At the same moment, Rachel’s team breached the apartment where Sophie was held.
One minute.
Two.
Three.
Longest minutes of my life.
Then the radio crackled.
“Child secure.”
Elena collapsed against me.
I closed my eyes.
Sophie was alive.
When we reached her, she ran so fast she nearly knocked Elena over.
Then she saw me.
“Uncle Adrian!”
I dropped to my knees.
She hugged both of us.
I buried my face in her hair.
No guns.
No empire.
No trust.
Nothing mattered more.
Sophie pulled back.
“Did you use the wrench?”
Elena held it up.
Sophie looked proud.
“Told you it works.”
For once, everyone laughed.
Even Dante.
But our fight was not completely finished.
May you like
Because the ledger was now federal evidence.
And the next morning, prosecutors came for me.
