Chapter 7 - DON’T DARE ME
Martina woke tied to a chair.
Rain hammered a warehouse roof.
Vincenzo stood at the window.
“You drugged me.”
“Yes.”
“You’re really destroying the father-of-the-year competition.”
His shoulders sagged.
“You always joked when you were afraid.”
“You always lied when you were afraid.”
That landed.
Vincenzo turned.
“Carlo escaped.”
Martina’s blood chilled.
“And Aloyio?”
“Alive.”
“For now?”
“For as long as Carlo needs him.”
She tested the restraints.
Her father noticed.
“I tied the knots myself.”
“Then you taught me how to escape them.”
For the first time, pride flickered across his face.
That made Martina furious.
“You still think this is training.”
“It always was.”
“No, Dad. Life isn’t a test you designed for me.”
Vincenzo walked closer.
“I lost your mother because I hesitated.”
“You lost Mom because men like you kept deciding violence was the only language worth speaking.”
He flinched.
Martina continued.
“You told yourself everything was for us. But you never asked what we wanted.”
“I wanted you alive.”
“I wanted a father.”
Silence.
Vincenzo looked suddenly old.
Martina loosened one knot behind her wrist.
Then another.
“Where’s Sophia?”
“With Dante.”
“Good.”
“Martina—”
She slipped free.
Vincenzo stared.
She stood.
Neither reached for a weapon.
For once, father and daughter simply faced each other.
“I’m going after Aloyio.”
“He will eventually become his father.”
“Maybe.”
“And you trust him?”
“No.”
That surprised Vincenzo.
“I trust the choices I’ve watched him make.”
She stepped closer.
“That’s more than blood ever gave me.”
Vincenzo looked down.
Then he handed her his pistol.
“Carlo took him to Pier Nineteen.”
Martina paused.
“Why help me?”
His eyes filled.
“Because maybe it’s time I let my daughter choose.”
Pier Nineteen was burning when Martina arrived.
Carlo had prepared an execution.
Aloyio knelt beside the water with his hands bound.
Several surviving captains stood around him.
Carlo wanted witnesses.
“You were always too soft,” Carlo told his nephew.
Aloyio smiled through a split lip.
“You killed my father.”
Carlo stopped.
That had not been part of the public story.
“You think I never figured it out?”
Aloyio continued.
“My father discovered you were stealing from the family. Three days later, his brakes failed.”
Carlo’s face changed.
That was the confirmation Aloyio wanted.
A phone inside Dante’s pocket was broadcasting everything.
Carlo realized it.
He drew his gun.
Then a woman’s voice cut through the warehouse.
“Put it down.”
Everyone turned.
Martina stood on the catwalk.
Carlo laughed.
“Vincenzo’s little weapon.”
“No.”
She descended the stairs.
“I retired.”
Carlo pointed his pistol at Aloyio’s head.
“One more step.”
Martina stopped.
Carlo smiled.
“Better.”
He looked around at the terrified men.
“This is what power looks like.”
Martina’s eyes remained on him.
“No.”
Carlo frowned.
“This is what fear looks like.”
She took another step.
His pistol pressed harder against Aloyio.
“I said stop.”
Martina kept walking.
“Don’t dare me.”
The words changed something in Aloyio’s expression.
Recognition.
The same woman from the Rusty Anchor.
Except she was no longer hiding.
Carlo fired.
Aloyio moved simultaneously.
The bullet grazed his shoulder.
Martina crossed the distance.
She struck Carlo’s wrist.
The gun fell.
He lunged.
They crashed into a table.
Carlo was larger.
Martina was faster.
He grabbed her throat.
She drove her elbow into his ribs.
He slammed her against a crate.
Then another gunshot sounded.
Carlo froze.
Vincenzo stood behind him.
Blood spread across Carlo’s shirt.
He collapsed.
Vincenzo lowered the weapon.
Police sirens screamed outside.
Martina stared at her father.
“Go.”
Vincenzo shook his head.
“I’m done running.”
He placed his gun on the floor.
Then federal agents stormed the warehouse.
Aloyio was arrested.
So was Vincenzo.
Martina watched both men disappear into separate vehicles.
Dante approached her.
“What now?”
Martina looked at the burning pier.
For three years she had wanted only to disappear.
Now she understood invisibility had never been freedom.
May you like
She turned toward Dante.
“Now we finish it.”
