Chapter 8 - The Warehouse Trap
Dominic knew the moment the phone rang that Vale had made his move.
A message arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Pietro's younger sister, who worked at a hospital across town.
Beneath it were five words.
Bring the ledgers to the docks.
Dominic showed the message to Isabella.
“They're threatening his family.”
“Then we don't go alone,” she replied.
Agent Lawson examined the message and arranged a controlled operation. Federal agents would surround the warehouse while Dominic's team approached through the main entrance. The ledgers would be replaced with decoy copies, and every conversation would be recorded.
But Dominic insisted on one condition.
“Isabella stays away from the operation.”
Isabella folded her arms.
“You don't get to decide that for me.”
“It's too dangerous.”
“It was dangerous eighteen months ago, too. You weren't there then, and I'm not going to spend the rest of my life hiding because someone wants me frightened.”
Dominic looked at her.
He wanted to argue.
Instead, he remembered how many times his desire to protect her had become an excuse not to listen.
“All right,” he said. “But you stay with Lawson's team.”
Isabella nodded.
At midnight, Dominic and Pietro entered the warehouse carrying the decoy ledgers.
Richard Vale stood beside a long table, wearing a charcoal suit and a calm expression.
Marco Bellini stood to his right.
Charles Sterling waited near the loading doors.
“You've caused a great deal of trouble,” Vale said.
Dominic placed the case on the table.
“You stole from my family. You threatened my wife. You arranged a false death and tried to frame me for a criminal shipment. I would say you caused the trouble.”
Vale smiled faintly.
“Your wife should have accepted that her discovery was beyond her understanding.”
Marco looked at Dominic.
“You should have listened to me. I tried to keep the family together.”
“By threatening Isabella?”
“By preventing a disaster.”
Charles laughed nervously.
“Can we stop pretending this is a moral argument? We all knew the money was moving. We all benefited.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Not all of us.”
Vale opened the case.
He examined the ledgers, then nodded to Marco.
Marco pulled a gun.
“Now,” Vale said, “we can discuss how to make this disappear.”
Before Marco could raise his weapon, the warehouse doors burst open.
“Federal agents! Drop your weapons!”
Chaos erupted.
Charles ran toward the loading bay. Marco fired once before Pietro tackled him to the floor. Vale reached for the case, but Dominic seized his wrist.
The two men struggled beside the table.
Vale struck Dominic across the face and pulled a small pistol from his jacket.
Dominic heard Isabella's voice behind him.
“Richard, stop!”
She had left the protected vehicle when she saw Charles attempting to escape through a side exit. She was standing in the doorway with Agent Lawson.
Vale turned toward her.
For one terrible second, his gun pointed directly at Isabella.
Dominic lunged.
The shot cracked through the warehouse.
Dominic fell hard against the table.
“Dominic!”
Isabella ran to him.
Blood spread across his shoulder, but he remained conscious. He had taken the bullet intended for her.
Federal agents swarmed Vale, forcing him to the ground.
Marco was handcuffed. Charles was caught at the loading bay.
Agent Lawson knelt beside Dominic and called for an ambulance.
Isabella pressed both hands against his wound.
“Stay with me,” she whispered.
Dominic managed a weak smile.
“I promised I wouldn't lose you again.”
“You haven't,” she said, tears falling onto his shirt. “You haven't.”
As the paramedics carried him out, Vale shouted from the floor.
“You think this ends with me? You have no idea how many people are involved!”
Agent Lawson looked at him coldly.
“Then we'll start with you.”
But as Isabella climbed into the ambulance beside Dominic, she noticed something in Vale's discarded briefcase.
A photograph.
It showed Dominic's late father standing beside Richard Vale and a third man whose face had been scratched out.
On the back was a date.
Three months before Isabella and Dominic's wedding.
Isabella felt a chill run through her.
May you like
The conspiracy had begun long before she discovered the stolen money.
And someone else might still be waiting in the shadows.
