Chapter 7 - The Trap at Pier Seventeen
Victor Sanzaro chose Pier Seventeen because men like him enjoyed symbolism.
My father had died near those docks.
Now Victor wanted his daughter there.
Dante had another plan.
At 11:42 P.M., a black SUV rolled toward the abandoned warehouse.
I sat beside Dante.
He looked furious.
“You should not be here.”
“We discussed this.”
“You discussed it. I disagreed.”
“You always disagree when I make decisions.”
“Because your decisions are terrible.”
“You walked into a diner carrying a gun.”
“I had security.”
“You ordered pie.”
“That was unquestionably terrible.”
I laughed despite the fear.
Dante took my hand.
The humor vanished.
“If anything happens, stay behind me.”
“If anything happens, we follow the plan.”
“Clare.”
“Dante.”
He stared.
“You are impossible.”
“You like me.”
His thumb moved across my knuckles.
“That is unfortunately true.”
“Unfortunately?”
His expression softened.
“Terrifyingly.”
The SUV stopped.
Nico opened the door.
Twenty men waited outside the warehouse.
Sanzaro’s.
Victor stood in the center.
Late fifties.
Silver hair.
Elegant coat.
He looked like someone’s wealthy uncle.
That frightened me more than if he had looked monstrous.
Dr. Warren knelt beside him.
Alive.
Bruised.
“Clare Murphy.”
Victor smiled.
“Michael’s little girl.”
I hated hearing my father’s name from him.
Dante moved slightly in front of me.
Victor laughed.
“Caruso protecting a Moretti. Our fathers would find this hilarious.”
“My father is dead,” Dante said. “Soon you’ll join him.”
Victor smiled wider.
“There he is.”
Dante held up the flash drive.
“Warren first.”
Victor shook his head.
“The drive.”
“You’ll receive it when he reaches us.”
For several tense seconds, nobody moved.
Then Victor shoved Warren forward.
The doctor staggered.
Nico caught him halfway.
Dante tossed the drive.
Victor’s man caught it.
“Done,” Dante said.
Victor examined it.
“You think I’m stupid?”
“Yes.”
Victor laughed.
“I like you, Dante. I always have.”
He inserted the drive into a laptop.
Nothing.
“Encrypted?”
“Obviously.”
Victor looked at Clare.
“Password.”
“I don’t know it.”
He pulled a gun.
Dante’s men reacted.
Victor pressed the barrel against Warren’s head.
“Try again.”
I stepped forward.
“Stop.”
Dante caught my arm.
“I know the password.”
That was a lie.
But three hours earlier, Isabella’s brother had copied every file and transmitted it to federal servers.
The drive no longer mattered.
We only needed time.
Victor watched me.
“Tell me.”
I approached slowly.
Dante’s grip tightened.
“Clare.”
I looked at him.
Trust me.
He understood.
His hand released me.
I walked toward Victor.
“The password is my mother’s name.”
“Eileen?”
“No.”
Victor frowned.
That told me something.
He knew her.
“You remember her.”
“She was inconvenient.”
Rage sharpened my thoughts.
“You killed her?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“Cancer did me that favor.”
Dante took one step.
Ten weapons immediately aimed at him.
I kept Victor talking.
“You killed my father.”
“Salvatore pulled the trigger.”
“But you ordered it.”
His smile faded slightly.
“Michael became sentimental.”
“Because he didn’t want you selling human beings?”
Victor shrugged.
“Your father discovered morality too late.”
Every word was being recorded.
A tiny transmitter sat beneath my collar.
“What happened that night?”
Victor looked almost nostalgic.
“Michael thought Salvatore would choose friendship over business. He was wrong.”
“And you?”
“I convinced Salvatore that Michael planned to destroy both families.”
Behind Victor, blue lights appeared silently beyond the warehouse windows.
He had not noticed yet.
“You lied.”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Because chaos creates opportunities.”
The warehouse doors exploded inward.
“FBI!”
Everything happened at once.
Victor grabbed me.
Dante fired.
Victor’s gun flew from his hand.
Nico tackled another man.
Agents poured through every entrance.
Victor pulled a knife.
He pressed it against my throat.
Dante froze.
“Drop the gun!”
Victor dragged me backward.
Dante slowly lowered his weapon.
“No.”
I stared at him.
His eyes never left mine.
“Let her go.”
Victor laughed.
“You love her.”
Dante said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Victor’s smile became vicious.
“Your father would be ashamed.”
Dante lowered his gun completely.
“My father spent his entire life afraid someone would discover he was weak.”
Victor tightened his arm around me.
“And you?”
Dante looked directly into my eyes.
“I discovered mine.”
Victor laughed.
“Her?”
“No.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“Thinking I can survive losing her.”
I moved.
Exactly as Nico had taught me.
Heel down.
Elbow back.
Victor grunted.
I dropped.
Dante fired.
The knife clattered away.
Agents swarmed Victor.
Within seconds, he was on the floor in handcuffs.
Dante crossed the distance between us.
His hands touched my face.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He searched my eyes.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Then I kissed him.
In front of federal agents.
Nico.
Isabella.
Victor Sanzaro.
Everyone.
When I pulled back, Dante looked stunned.
“Was that necessary?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He kissed me again.
Behind us, Nico muttered, “We are literally conducting arrests.”
Isabella laughed.
For the first time since this began, I believed it might actually be over.
I was wrong.
Because Victor began laughing from the floor.
Dante turned.
“What?”
Victor looked at me.
“You think Michael Moretti’s evidence was about me?”
My stomach tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
Victor smiled through bloody teeth.
“Ask Dante what happened to Salvatore Caruso.”
I looked at Dante.
His face had gone pale.
Victor laughed again.
“Ask your boyfriend why his father disappeared eight years ago.”
I stared at Dante.
“Dante?”
May you like
He did not answer.
And suddenly the night was not finished with us.
