Chapter 6 - CELESTE CAME BACK
“I’m going.”
Every man in the room objected.
Daniel first.
“No.”
Enzo second.
“Absolutely not.”
Vincenzo said nothing.
Celeste noticed.
They were inside a federal safe facility outside Phoenix.
Twenty weeks pregnant now, she stood at the head of a conference table with both hands resting on the back of a chair.
Daniel looked at Vincenzo.
“Tell her.”
Vincenzo remained silent.
“Duca.”
“She already told us what she wants.”
Daniel stared.
“You’re willing to let your pregnant wife walk into a trap?”
“No.”
Vincenzo’s eyes moved to Celeste.
“But I’m done confusing love with deciding for her.”
Celeste felt that sentence somewhere deep.
The plan was dangerous but calculated.
Rinaldi believed Celeste would be delivered to a warehouse near the Chicago River.
Instead, federal tactical teams would surround the location while Celeste remained in an armored vehicle several blocks away.
Her presence in Chicago would be leaked deliberately.
They needed Rinaldi to believe his leverage had arrived.
Celeste agreed for one reason.
She wanted the threat ended before her baby was born.
The flight back to Chicago was quiet.
Vincenzo sat across the private cabin.
Not beside her.
He had learned.
Halfway there, turbulence shook the plane.
Celeste instinctively grabbed the armrest.
Vincenzo’s hand moved.
Then stopped.
He waited.
Celeste looked at it.
After several seconds, she placed her fingers in his.
Neither spoke.
When the turbulence passed, she released him.
He did not try to hold on.
That mattered more than she wanted it to.
Chicago appeared beneath them shortly before sunset.
Celeste looked down at the city she had fled.
“You hate it?”
Vincenzo asked.
“No.”
She watched Lake Michigan catch the fading light.
“That would be easier.”
He understood.
They landed.
The operation began at midnight.
Rinaldi arrived at the warehouse.
Valentina was alive.
Barely.
Federal teams watched from surrounding buildings.
Daniel monitored communications.
Vincenzo wore a wire.
Celeste remained inside the armored command vehicle.
Rinaldi smiled when Vincenzo entered alone.
“Where’s your wife?”
“Safe.”
“Then you’ve wasted my time.”
“You wanted me.”
Rinaldi laughed.
“I wanted what comes after you.”
Vincenzo’s expression did not change.
“The child.”
“An heir creates loyalty. Loyalty creates succession. Kill the mother before the child is born, your organization fractures.”
In the command vehicle, Celeste felt sick.
Rinaldi continued.
“You spent decades teaching everyone that blood matters. I merely believed you.”
That was the confession Daniel needed.
Teams moved.
But one corrupt federal agent inside the command vehicle moved first.
He drew his gun.
Celeste saw the reflection in the monitor.
She ducked.
The shot struck the wall.
Chaos erupted.
Celeste crawled behind a console.
The agent grabbed her ankle.
She kicked.
Hard.
His grip loosened.
Then Ruth Mercer, who absolutely had not been authorized to be anywhere near the operation, swung her infamous fireplace poker.
The agent collapsed.
Celeste stared.
“Ruth!”
“What?”
Ruth held the poker.
“I told Daniel I was staying at the hotel. I changed my mind.”
Despite terror, Celeste began laughing.
Daniel rushed inside seconds later.
“Mom!”
“Everybody keeps saying my name like I’ve done something unusual.”
Across the district, Rinaldi attempted to escape.
Vincenzo caught him near the river.
For one moment, the old Vincenzo returned.
He could have killed him.
Everyone knew it.
Rinaldi knew it.
Vincenzo pressed a gun against his chest.
“You came after my wife.”
Rinaldi smiled weakly.
“There he is.”
Vincenzo stared at him.
Then lowered the gun.
“No.”
Sirens approached.
“That man doesn’t exist anymore.”
Rinaldi’s smile vanished.
Federal agents arrested him.
By dawn, it was over.
Valentina survived and entered protective custody in exchange for testimony.
The corrupt officials were exposed.
Rinaldi’s organization collapsed.
And Celeste stood inside Vincenzo’s penthouse for the first time since leaving.
Everything looked the same.
That surprised her.
The chandelier.
The books.
Her estate-sale lamp.
Vincenzo remained near the doorway.
“I never changed anything.”
Celeste walked toward the dining table.
The ultrasound photograph was there.
Framed.
She touched the glass.
“You kept it.”
“It was all I had.”
Her eyes filled.
Vincenzo approached, then stopped several feet away.
“What happens now?”
She turned.
“You keep your promise.”
“The organization is finished.”
“I don’t mean that one.”
He waited.
“You learn who you are without power.”
Vincenzo looked around the enormous penthouse.
“And us?”
Celeste swallowed.
“There is no us yet.”
Pain crossed his face.
But he nodded.
“Okay.”
She picked up the framed ultrasound.
“I’m keeping this.”
“It’s yours.”
“No.”
Celeste looked at him.
May you like
“It’s ours.”
And for the first time since she disappeared, Vincenzo allowed himself to hope.
