Chapter 6 - The Betrayal at Pier 46
“Paulie.”
Dante’s voice came through Khloe’s hidden earpiece.
One word.
No emotion.
Paulie pressed the gun harder against her back.
“Take out the wire.”
Khloe slowly removed it.
Paulie crushed it beneath his shoe.
Jared laughed.
“Dante always did trust the wrong people.”
Khloe stared at Paulie.
“You were there the night Elena died.”
His jaw tightened.
“Don’t.”
“You knew.”
“I said don’t.”
Something in his expression made Khloe pause.
He wasn’t looking at Jared.
He was looking above him.
Counting.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then Khloe understood.
Paulie winked.
Barely.
Khloe screamed and dropped.
Paulie fired over her head.
The warehouse erupted.
Dante’s men burst through two entrances.
Lights shattered.
Maya threw herself sideways.
Jared fired wildly.
Paulie tackled one of Victor’s guards while Dante emerged from behind a shipping container.
He moved with terrifying precision.
Not rage.
Control.
Jared saw him and grabbed Maya.
“Stop!”
Dante did.
Jared pressed a pistol against Maya’s temple.
Khloe’s heart stopped.
“You ruined everything,” Jared shouted at her.
Khloe slowly rose.
“No. You did.”
“You think Varga cares about you?”
Dante’s eyes never left the gun.
Jared laughed.
“He’s using you.”
“Maybe.”
Khloe stepped closer.
“But here’s the difference.”
Jared’s attention shifted toward her.
Khloe continued.
“When Dante wants something, he tells me.”
Jared’s face tightened.
“You lied every day for two years.”
Maya suddenly stomped backward onto Jared’s injured knee.
He screamed.
Dante moved.
One shot.
Jared’s weapon flew from his hand.
Paulie grabbed Maya.
Khloe rushed toward her sister.
Jared collapsed.
Dante approached him.
For a terrifying moment, Khloe believed he would kill him.
Jared believed it too.
Instead, Dante kicked the weapon away.
“No.”
Paulie stared.
Dante looked at Khloe.
“He answers in court.”
That choice mattered more to her than Dante knew.
Sirens approached.
Not corrupt officers.
Federal agents.
The Evergreen files had been automatically transmitted to an investigative journalist, Dante’s attorney, and federal prosecutors the moment Khloe unlocked them.
Dante had arranged it without telling her.
“You sent the files?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because evidence is safer when too many people have it.”
“And because if something happened to you?”
Dante’s silence answered.
Khloe looked toward Jared.
“You expected to die tonight.”
“I considered it.”
She slapped Dante again.
Paulie muttered, “There it is.”
Maya stared.
“You hit the mafia boss?”
“Apparently it’s becoming a habit.”
Even Dante almost smiled.
Then a shot cracked from above.
Dante jerked.
Khloe screamed.
A sniper stood on the catwalk.
Paulie fired.
The sniper disappeared.
Dante dropped to one knee.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Dante!”
Khloe caught him.
His eyes struggled to focus.
“Not as bad as it looks.”
“You said that last time!”
“Last time it was true.”
His weight sagged against her.
It was not true this time.
The bullet had entered beneath his ribs.
Khloe pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Dante looked up at her.
For once, there was no controlled mask.
“Khloe.”
“No.”
“If—”
“Don’t.”
“You need to know something.”
“I don’t need to know anything except your blood type.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“Bossy.”
“You’re bleeding on me.”
“You ruined my napkin.”
Tears blurred her vision.
“That was a week ago.”
“Feels longer.”
His eyes closed.
“Dante!”
The ambulance arrived four minutes later.
Those four minutes became the longest of Khloe’s life.
At Harborview, doctors rushed Dante into surgery.
Maya sat beside Khloe.
Paulie stood across the waiting room, blood on his shirt.
Khloe finally looked at him.
“You could have warned me.”
“If Jared knew I was still loyal, Maya died.”
Khloe understood.
She still wanted to punch him.
Three hours passed.
Then a surgeon appeared.
“The bullet damaged his liver. We controlled the bleeding.”
Khloe stood.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
Her knees weakened.
“But there’s something else.”
The surgeon hesitated.
“We found evidence of an older untreated injury near the same area. Mr. Varga has apparently been living with complications for years.”
Paulie looked confused.
“What injury?”
The surgeon explained.
Khloe barely heard him.
Because behind the doctor, two federal agents entered.
And between them walked an elderly man in handcuffs.
Dante’s father.
Salvatore Varga.
Alive.
He stopped when he saw Khloe.
Then smiled.
“You must be the girl under the table.”
Khloe’s blood ran cold.
Nobody outside that restaurant should have known that.
Salvatore leaned closer as the agents led him past.
“My son thinks Victor Kane started this war.”
May you like
His smile widened.
“He didn’t.”
