Chapter 7 - Midnight at Magnolia
At 11:57 p.m., Scarlet walked into Magnolia Bistro.
Alone.
At least that was what Bellini believed.
The restaurant looked different in darkness.
Chairs were stacked upside down on tables. Neon from the street painted red lines across the windows.
Milo sat near the kitchen entrance.
His wrists were tied.
He saw Scarlet.
“Don’t!”
Bellini stepped from behind the bar.
“Touching.”
Scarlet stopped.
“Let him go.”
“Where’s Moretti?”
“He isn’t coming.”
Bellini laughed.
“He’s coming.”
Scarlet hoped so.
Vincent had argued for twenty minutes before accepting her plan.
She wore a tiny transmitter beneath her collar.
Marco’s team surrounded the block.
Vincent was somewhere inside.
Waiting.
Bellini walked toward her.
“You caused a lot of trouble.”
“I get that frequently.”
Even now.
Even terrified.
Sarcasm.
Bellini shook his head.
“I understand what Vincent sees in you.”
Scarlet’s pulse jumped.
“What?”
“Men like him become fascinated by women who don’t fear them.”
“I’m terrified of him.”
Bellini smiled.
“Exactly.”
He grabbed her arm.
Scarlet winced.
Vincent heard it through the transmitter.
Every instinct told him to move.
Marco whispered from the darkness.
“Wait.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
Bellini dragged Scarlet toward Milo.
“You’re going to call Moretti.”
“He doesn’t take my calls.”
“Cute.”
“I thought so.”
Bellini struck the table beside her.
Milo flinched.
Scarlet’s humor vanished.
“Don’t scare him.”
Bellini looked at Milo.
Then smiled.
“That’s the weakness, isn’t it?”
Scarlet moved between them.
“Yes.”
Bellini blinked.
She had answered too quickly.
Scarlet continued.
“You want leverage? I’m telling you exactly where it is. Me.”
“Scar—”
“Quiet, Milo.”
Bellini studied her.
“You’d trade yourself?”
“Immediately.”
Something shifted behind his eyes.
Greed.
Good.
Scarlet needed him focused on her.
Not on the shadow moving behind the kitchen doors.
Vincent.
Bellini raised his gun.
“Call him.”
Scarlet took out her phone.
Vincent’s number was already displayed.
She pressed call.
A phone rang.
Not outside.
Inside the restaurant.
Bellini spun.
Vincent stepped from the darkness.
“You wanted me.”
Bellini pointed the gun at Scarlet.
“You were supposed to come alone.”
“I did.”
“You think I’m stupid?”
Vincent glanced around.
“Do you want an honest answer?”
Scarlet nearly laughed.
Wrong time.
Definitely wrong time.
Bellini grabbed her.
“Drop the gun.”
Vincent did.
It hit the floor.
“Kick it away.”
He obeyed.
Scarlet stared at him.
Vincent Moretti, a man reputed to kneel for nobody, had surrendered without hesitation.
For her.
Bellini smiled.
“Look at you.”
Vincent said nothing.
“Your father would be disgusted.”
“My father is dead.”
“And you’ll join him soon.”
Bellini raised the weapon toward Vincent.
Scarlet acted.
She slammed her heel onto Bellini’s foot and drove her elbow backward.
The gun fired.
Glass exploded.
Vincent lunged.
Milo kicked Bellini’s knee.
Bellini fell.
Marco’s men rushed through both entrances.
Within seconds, it was over.
Bellini lay pinned to the floor.
Scarlet ran to Milo.
Vincent untied him.
“Are you hurt?”
Milo shook his head.
Then stared at Vincent.
“You surrendered your gun.”
Vincent glanced at Scarlet.
“Yes.”
“For my sister?”
“Milo.”
“What? I’m traumatized, not blind.”
Scarlet laughed despite herself.
Then she noticed blood.
Vincent’s shirt was turning dark near his side.
Her smile vanished.
“You’re hit.”
“It grazed me.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ve had worse.”
Scarlet grabbed his face.
“Do not say tough-guy things right now.”
Vincent blinked.
Marco looked away to hide a smile.
Scarlet pressed a napkin against Vincent’s wound.
“You could have died.”
“So could you.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Police sirens approached.
Bellini laughed from the floor.
“You think this ends anything?”
Vincent looked at him.
Bellini smiled through blood.
“Rizzo knows about her.”
Scarlet went still.
Vincent’s expression darkened.
“He knows what she means to you.”
Vincent looked toward Scarlet.
That was the moment everything changed.
Until now, Scarlet had been collateral damage.
Now she was leverage.
Vincent knew exactly what his world did to leverage.
He made a decision before the ambulance arrived.
The following morning Scarlet woke in the penthouse and found Vincent gone.
On the kitchen counter was an envelope.
Inside was a check large enough to pay Milo’s medical expenses for years.
And a note.
You were right. My world is dangerous.
You deserve one that isn’t.
Take care of Milo.
—V
Scarlet read it twice.
Then tore the check in half.
Marco entered.
She held up the pieces.
“Where is he?”
“Scarlet—”
“Where?”
“He left Chicago.”
“Why?”
“To end this.”
She stared at Marco.
“End what?”
“Rizzo.”
Scarlet’s heart dropped.
“And when is he coming back?”
Marco did not answer.
That frightened her more than anything.
May you like
Because Vincent had not left to protect his empire.
He had left because he believed the only way to protect Scarlet was to remove himself from her life permanently.
