Chapter 5 - The Fiancée’s Second Betrayal
At 7:40 that evening, Vincent stood in front of a window overlooking Manhattan.
Norah entered wearing borrowed jeans and a black sweater.
“We’re going.”
“No.”
“You keep saying that like I work for you.”
“You don’t.”
“Then stop ordering me around.”
Vincent turned.
“If Richard sees you, he has two hostages.”
“If I stay here, Liam dies.”
“Not necessarily.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“No, Norah. It isn’t.”
Something in his voice stopped her.
“My younger brother was kidnapped when I was twenty-two.”
Norah had never heard of another Russo brother.
“What happened?”
“My father paid.”
“And?”
“They returned a body.”
The anger left her face.
Vincent continued quietly.
“I learned something that day. People like Richard do not honor exchanges.”
Norah sat.
“What are we going to do?”
“We make him believe he won.”
At 9:00 p.m., another person unexpectedly entered the plan.
Khloe Davenport.
She arrived at the penthouse escorted by two federal agents and Matteo.
Norah stared at her.
Khloe no longer looked like the woman from the restaurant.
No emerald gown.
No diamonds.
No perfect makeup.
She wore jeans, a beige coat and fear.
Vincent’s face became unreadable.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Khloe looked at him.
“I didn’t want you dead.”
“You nodded to an assassin.”
“I was buying time.”
“That is an imaginative definition.”
“My father told me if I didn’t cooperate, he would kill my mother.”
Vincent laughed once without humor.
“Your mother has lived in Paris for eight years.”
“No. That’s what everyone thinks.”
Khloe removed a photograph.
Her mother was tied to a chair.
A newspaper dated three days earlier rested beside her.
Norah’s anger softened despite herself.
Khloe looked at Vincent.
“I gave Tommy the signal because I had to.”
“Five men opened fire.”
“I was supposed to spill my champagne before I left the table. That was the real signal.”
Vincent remembered the shattered glass.
“You dropped it after I held your hand.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized you knew.”
Vincent stared at her.
“You could have warned me.”
“I was terrified.”
“So was Norah.”
His eyes moved toward the waitress.
“She warned me anyway.”
Khloe absorbed the comparison.
It hurt.
Norah could see it.
But Khloe nodded.
“You’re right.”
The simple admission surprised everyone.
Khloe placed a keycard on the table.
“My father is holding Liam at Pier 18. My mother is there too.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he wants all of us in one place.”
Daniel entered from the adjoining room.
Khloe went pale.
“You really are alive.”
“Unfortunately for your father.”
Khloe looked at the evidence case.
“That won’t be enough.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“My father knows you have copies.”
“Of course.”
“He isn’t bringing Liam to trade for documents.”
Vincent understood first.
“He’s destroying the pier.”
Khloe nodded.
“Explosives.”
Norah felt sick.
“When?”
“Midnight.”
It was 10:17.
Matteo swore.
Khloe continued.
“He plans to kill Daniel, Liam, my mother, Vincent, and me. Then the Vitiellos inherit the port contracts.”
Norah looked at her.
“Why are you helping us?”
Khloe slowly removed her engagement ring.
She placed it on the table in front of Vincent.
“Because I spent my entire life believing obedience was survival.”
Her eyes filled.
“Last night a waitress with nothing stood in a room full of killers and did the thing I was too afraid to do.”
Norah said nothing.
Khloe looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Vincent picked up the ring.
For years, it had represented an empire.
Now it looked strangely small.
He placed it back in Khloe’s hand.
“Keep it.”
She stared at him.
“It belonged to my mother.”
“Then it should belong to someone who chooses her own life.”
Khloe closed her fingers around it.
Their engagement ended without shouting.
Without revenge.
Just truth.
At 11:12, they reached Newark.
Vincent’s convoy stopped three blocks from Pier 18.
Federal agents waited nearby, but Daniel insisted they needed Richard speaking on record before they moved.
Norah wore a concealed microphone.
Vincent hated the idea.
“You stay behind me.”
“I’m the person he expects.”
“That doesn’t make you bulletproof.”
“Neither does an expensive suit.”
Despite everything, Vincent almost smiled.
They entered the warehouse.
Liam sat tied to a chair.
Across from him sat Evelyn Davenport.
Richard stood between them.
Tommy Lombardi stood beside him.
Norah froze.
“You let him escape?”
Vincent murmured.
“Apparently.”
Richard smiled.
“Vincent.”
His gaze moved to Daniel.
“Ghosts really do exist.”
Daniel lifted the case.
“Let them go.”
Richard laughed.
“You still think this is about evidence.”
“It is.”
“No.”
Richard looked at Norah.
“It’s about inheritance.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
Richard smiled wider.
“Tell your daughter.”
Norah looked at her father.
“Tell me what?”
Daniel went pale.
Richard answered for him.
“Davenport Shipping doesn’t belong to me.”
May you like
He pointed at Norah.
“Legally, sweetheart, it belongs to you.”
