Chapter 6 - THE EXCHANGE
Tony chose an abandoned shipping terminal in Red Hook.
Of course he did.
Apparently criminals had an unwritten rule requiring dramatic confrontations to happen in buildings with broken windows.
Michael didn’t appreciate the joke.
“Stay behind me.”
“Tony specifically asked for me.”
“And I specifically don’t care.”
We walked into the warehouse at 11:58 p.m.
Michael had followed Tony’s instructions visibly.
Invisible precautions were another matter.
Federal agents were positioned several blocks away.
Elias and Michael’s security team had entered through an old drainage access tunnel.
The drive in my pocket was fake.
Everything depended on Tony believing otherwise.
A spotlight switched on.
Zach sat on a chair twenty feet away.
“Dad!”
Michael moved.
A gun appeared against Zach’s shoulder.
Michael stopped.
Tony Valenti stepped from the shadows.
Regina stood beside him.
Seeing her hurt more than I expected.
She had raised me since I was twelve.
Badly.
Cruelly.
But some childish piece of me had spent thirteen years hoping she might eventually love me.
She never had.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Tony smiled.
“Drive.”
I held it up.
“Zach first.”
Tony laughed.
“You’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who I am?”
I glanced at Michael.
“People ask that a lot when they’re insecure.”
Even Michael looked surprised.
Tony didn’t laugh.
He struck me.
Michael lunged forward.
Three guns lifted.
“Touch her again,” Michael said, “and there won’t be enough of you left for a funeral.”
Tony smiled.
There it was.
The mistake.
He was enjoying Michael’s anger too much to notice me slipping my hand into my coat.
I pressed the button Elias had given me.
Signal sent.
“Drive,” Tony repeated.
I tossed it.
He caught it.
“Let Zach go.”
Tony handed it to Regina.
“Check it.”
She inserted it into a laptop.
Files appeared.
Fake ones, but convincing.
Tony nodded.
Then he did something we hadn’t planned for.
He aimed at me.
“No witnesses.”
Michael moved faster.
The gunshot exploded.
I screamed.
Michael hit the ground.
For one horrible second, I thought he’d been shot.
Then lights shattered overhead.
Elias’s team entered.
Federal agents stormed the opposite doors.
Chaos erupted.
I ran toward Zach.
Regina grabbed my hair.
“You ruined everything!”
I turned and drove my elbow backward.
She screamed.
For years I had been afraid of this woman.
In that moment, she looked small.
Pathetic.
Desperate.
She reached for a gun lying on the floor.
I froze.
Regina raised it.
A second shot cracked.
Her weapon flew from her hand.
Michael stood behind me.
Alive.
His gun remained pointed at the floor beside her.
“Don’t,” he warned.
Regina collapsed.
Agents restrained her.
Tony tried escaping through a side door.
Elias tackled him before he made ten feet.
I reached Zach.
He threw himself into my arms.
“I knew you’d come.”
I held him so tightly he complained.
“Can’t breathe.”
“Sorry.”
Michael reached us.
Zach immediately grabbed him too.
For several seconds, the three of us stayed there on the filthy warehouse floor.
Then I saw blood.
“Michael.”
“It’s nothing.”
His shoulder was bleeding.
“You were shot!”
“Grazed.”
“You were shot!”
Zach looked offended.
“Dad, that’s bad.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
Sirens surrounded us.
Tony screamed while agents dragged him away.
Regina looked at me.
“Aurora!”
I turned.
“You think this family wants you? You think a man like Moretti knows how to love?”
Michael stiffened.
I looked at Regina for the last time.
“I know you don’t.”
Her face changed.
“And that’s enough.”
I walked away.
At the hospital, Michael received twelve stitches.
Zach sat beside him eating crackers.
I stood near the window.
Michael watched me.
“What?”
“You came back for him.”
“Of course.”
“You could’ve run.”
“I’m tired of running.”
His expression softened.
I moved closer.
He took my hand.
“Aurora.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know what happens after tonight.”
“Neither do I.”
“But I know I don’t want you disappearing.”
My heart stumbled.
“That sounds suspiciously like an order.”
“It’s a request.”
“Better.”
He lifted my hand.
His thumb brushed my knuckles.
Then Zach groaned.
“Just kiss her already.”
Michael and I stared at him.
May you like
“What?” Zach asked.
“I’m six, not blind.”
