Chapter 3 - The Enemy Who Wouldn’t Pull the Trigger
Serafina woke tied to a chair.
She did not open her eyes immediately.
That was the first lesson her father had taught her.
Never let your captor know exactly when you become conscious.
She listened.
Water.
Gulls.
A generator.
At least five men.
Possibly seven.
Industrial location near the river.
Her wrists were secured behind the chair with plastic restraints.
“Stop pretending.”
A man spoke from across the room.
Serafina opened her eyes.
Victor Costello sat ten feet away.
He was sixty-three, silver-haired, immaculate, and dressed as if he were attending the opera rather than interrogating a pregnant woman in an abandoned warehouse.
He smiled.
“Serafina D’Agostino.”
She studied him.
“Victor Costello.”
“You remember me?”
“You attended my mother’s funeral.”
His smile disappeared.
“You were fourteen.”
“I remember everyone who lied to my father that day.”
Costello leaned back.
“You have his eyes.”
“I’ve been told.”
His gaze dropped toward her stomach.
Serafina’s expression became lethal.
“Look at my child again and you’ll lose your eyes.”
Several guards shifted.
Costello laughed.
“There she is.”
He seemed almost delighted.
“The D’Agostino princess.”
“Your men kidnapped the wrong woman.”
“No. Lorenzo promised me Gabriel Rossi’s mistress. Instead, he accidentally delivered the most valuable woman in the Western criminal world.”
Serafina absorbed the sentence.
“Lorenzo works for you.”
“Worked.”
Costello corrected himself.
“Men who betray one master eventually betray another.”
That told her Lorenzo was no longer safe with Costello either.
“Why am I alive?”
Costello’s smile faded.
“Because killing a D’Agostino without permission is how entire families disappear.”
Serafina almost admired his honesty.
The old rules still mattered.
Even now.
Costello walked toward her.
“Your father left accounts, shipping companies, ports, judges, politicians, men. Half of them have spent a decade waiting for proof you survived.”
“You think I control them?”
“I think you could.”
“And you want them.”
“I want New York.”
Serafina smiled faintly.
“You’re losing your touch, Victor.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You spent months destroying Rossi because you thought he was your obstacle. Gabriel was never the obstacle.”
“Then who was?”
“Lorenzo.”
Silence.
“He fed you enough victories to make you confident. Eventually he planned to remove Gabriel and you. Then he would inherit Rossi’s organization while blaming your war.”
Costello’s expression changed.
For the first time, Serafina knew she had surprised him.
She continued.
“The shell companies framing me connect to Lorenzo’s attorney. The Red Hook information came from Lorenzo’s terminal. You weren’t using him.”
She leaned forward as far as the restraints allowed.
“He was using you.”
Costello turned toward one of his men.
“Get Lorenzo.”
“He disappeared two hours ago.”
Costello’s face hardened.
Serafina almost laughed.
Then gunfire exploded outside.
The warehouse erupted.
Costello’s men drew weapons.
Serafina lowered herself behind the chair as bullets struck metal somewhere beyond the doors.
One of the guards shouted.
“Rossi!”
Gabriel.
Her heart betrayed her before her mind could stop it.
Costello grabbed Serafina’s chair and pulled it behind a steel support column.
“He came for you.”
Serafina’s eyes remained cold.
“He came for his conscience.”
Another explosion shook the building.
Minutes later, silence fell.
Footsteps approached.
Gabriel appeared through the smoke.
His white shirt was stained with blood along one shoulder.
His eyes found Serafina.
Then her stomach.
Everything inside his face broke.
“Amelia.”
She looked away.
“Wrong name.”
Gabriel stopped.
Costello stepped from behind the column with a pistol.
“Interesting reunion.”
Gabriel raised his weapon.
“Release her.”
“Why?”
“Because if you hurt her, I will erase everyone carrying your name.”
Serafina almost rolled her eyes.
Men and their dramatic threats.
Then Costello did something neither expected.
He lowered his weapon.
“I’m not the man you should be threatening.”
Gabriel’s gun remained raised.
“Lorenzo framed her.”
“I know.”
Serafina looked sharply at him.
Gabriel swallowed.
“I know everything.”
“No,” she said. “You know enough to regret what you did.”
He flinched.
Costello cut her restraints.
Gabriel immediately stepped toward her.
Serafina stood.
“Don’t.”
One word stopped him.
His gaze fell again to her stomach.
“How far?”
She said nothing.
“Serafina.”
Hearing her real name from him hurt more than expected.
“Thirteen weeks.”
Gabriel went motionless.
His lips parted.
“Mine?”
She stared at him.
Costello looked almost uncomfortable.
Serafina answered quietly.
“Yes.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Thirteen weeks.
He had thrown her out while she was carrying his child.
He reached toward her.
She stepped backward.
“You don’t get to touch me because you discovered you were wrong.”
“I thought—”
“That was your problem.”
Her eyes filled, but she refused to cry.
“You thought. You never investigated.”
Gabriel had survived shootings without flinching.
Those words nearly brought him to his knees.
Then Costello’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He placed the call on speaker.
Lorenzo’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Gabriel.”
Gabriel raised his head.
“Lorenzo.”
“You always were slow when emotion got involved.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing from you anymore.”
A pause.
“I have your brother.”
Gabriel froze.
Lorenzo continued.
“And Serafina should know something else.”
Her stomach tightened.
“The coup that killed her father ten years ago?”
Silence.
Lorenzo laughed softly.
“Victor didn’t order it.”
Costello’s face hardened.
“Neither did the Rossi family.”
Serafina stared at the phone.
“Who did?”
Lorenzo’s answer changed everything.
“Ask the man standing behind you.”
Serafina turned.
An elderly figure had entered through the smoke.
White suit.
Silver hair.
D’Agostino signet ring.
Her breath disappeared.
May you like
Because the man staring back at her had supposedly died ten years ago.
“Hello, granddaughter.”
