Chapter 4 - THE TRAITOR BESIDE HIM
Nora read the message three times.
Someone beside Zeo.
She thought of Gabriel.
Dr. Aris.
The guards.
Any one of them could be Thomas’s informant.
She called Zeo.
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Promise me something first.”
“No.”
Despite everything, Nora nearly laughed.
“You don’t even know what I’m asking.”
“You’re about to ask me to stay away.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Zeo.”
The use of his first name silenced him.
“Thomas sent me a message,” she said.
She read it aloud.
There was a pause.
“Send me the screenshot.”
“I don’t know who I can trust around you.”
“Neither do I.”
That admission frightened her more than confidence would have.
“What do I do?”
“Trust nobody who approaches you.”
“Including you?”
A longer pause.
“Especially me, until I prove otherwise.”
Nora sent the screenshot.
Zeo studied it inside the armored SUV.
Gabriel sat opposite him.
Three loyal men rode in the second vehicle.
Dr. Aris had remained behind.
The phrase bothered Zeo.
Someone beside Zeo.
It could be psychological warfare.
Or it could be true.
He looked at Gabriel.
His cousin noticed.
“Go ahead.”
“What?”
“Ask.”
Zeo did not.
Gabriel leaned back.
“You think it could be me.”
“I think Thomas knows things he shouldn’t.”
“I pulled you out of the hospital.”
“Thomas pulled me out of a burning car once.”
That ended the argument.
Loyalty had expiration dates.
They reached Red Hook at 8:17 a.m.
Warehouse 17 sat between abandoned freight buildings near the water.
No obvious guards.
No vehicles.
Too clean.
Zeo stopped the convoy two blocks away.
“Nobody enters until I say.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Seeing who disobeys.”
For eleven minutes, nothing happened.
Then one of Zeo’s men, Marco Leto, quietly checked his phone.
Zeo watched through the side mirror.
Marco typed something.
A second later, movement appeared on a rooftop near the warehouse.
Sniper.
Zeo drew his weapon.
“Marco.”
The man looked up.
Zeo pointed the gun at him.
Gabriel moved faster, taking Marco’s pistol.
“Phone.”
Marco hesitated.
Gabriel punched him once.
The phone fell.
The last message was visible.
HE’S HERE. TWO CARS. MOVING SOON.
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“There’s your man.”
Zeo felt no satisfaction.
Marco had worked for him eleven years.
Another betrayal.
“Why?”
Marco spat blood.
“Thomas promised my family protection when this collapses.”
“This?”
“Your empire.”
Zeo stared at him.
For the first time, the word sounded ridiculous.
Empire.
What had it bought him?
A fiancée planning his death.
An underboss selling him.
Men measuring loyalty in percentages.
And a hospital maid risking everything for a brother who could give her nothing.
Zeo took Marco’s phone.
He typed:
ROSSI ENTERING EAST DOOR. NORA NOT HERE.
Then he handed the phone to Gabriel.
“We use the west.”
Inside Warehouse 17, Nora had already arrived.
She had ignored every instruction.
Eli sat twenty feet away.
Thomas stood beside him.
Camilla stood near a folding table wearing a cream coat and sunglasses.
Nora stared at her.
“You.”
Camilla smiled.
“The maid.”
“My brother.”
“He’s unharmed.”
“Untie him.”
“When Zeo arrives.”
“I didn’t bring him.”
Camilla removed her sunglasses.
“That was foolish.”
Nora looked at Eli.
His eyes were open.
“Nora?”
“I’m here.”
“I don’t like this place.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Where is Zeo?”
“I don’t know.”
He slapped her.
Nora fell against a crate.
Eli shouted.
Camilla looked irritated rather than shocked.
“Thomas.”
“She’s lying.”
Nora touched her split lip.
Then she saw something behind Camilla.
A security camera.
A red light blinked.
Recording.
Why would kidnappers record themselves?
Unless this was not simply a kidnapping.
“You need me alive,” Nora said.
Thomas smiled.
“Why?”
“Because you want Zeo.”
“We already have another way to get him.”
Nora looked at Camilla.
And understood.
“This isn’t about bringing him here.”
Camilla’s expression shifted.
Nora continued.
“You’re recording this because you want him angry.”
Thomas’s smile vanished.
“You want him reckless.”
A gunshot shattered the window above them.
Everyone ducked.
Zeo’s men entered through the west loading bay.
Chaos erupted.
Nora crawled toward Eli.
Camilla screamed.
Thomas fired toward the shadows.
Then Zeo appeared.
He moved more slowly than the legend suggested, one hand occasionally touching his wounded chest, but his gun remained steady.
“Thomas.”
The warehouse went silent.
Thomas turned.
For several seconds the two men simply looked at one another.
“You should be dead,” Thomas said.
“You first.”
Thomas grabbed Eli and pressed a gun against his head.
Nora froze.
“No!”
Zeo lowered his weapon.
Thomas smiled.
“There he is. The great Zeo Rossi.”
“Let the boy go.”
“You traded half a dozen men for territory without blinking. Now you care about a stranger’s brother?”
Zeo glanced at Nora.
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer shook her.
Thomas saw it too.
His smile changed.
“Oh.”
Camilla stared between them.
Then laughed.
“You cannot be serious.”
Zeo ignored her.
“Release Eli.”
Thomas backed toward an exit.
“Drop the gun.”
Zeo did.
Gabriel cursed under his breath.
Thomas continued retreating.
Then Eli did something nobody expected.
He slammed his head backward into Thomas’s nose.
Thomas screamed.
Nora ran.
A gun fired.
Zeo moved between them.
The bullet struck him.
He fell.
Nora’s scream filled the warehouse.
Gabriel shot Thomas in the shoulder.
Camilla fled through a side door.
Thomas disappeared behind stacked containers.
But Nora saw only Zeo.
She dropped beside him.
Blood spread across his black shirt.
“No. No, no, no.”
Zeo opened his eyes.
“You really need to stop finding me like this.”
Nora stared.
Then she laughed through tears.
“You idiot.”
“Is your brother safe?”
She looked.
Gabriel had Eli.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Zeo closed his eyes.
Nora slapped his cheek.
“Don’t you dare.”
His eyes opened again.
“I’m awake.”
“Stay that way.”
Sirens approached.
Zeo frowned.
Gabriel looked toward the doors.
“I didn’t call them.”
Neither had Nora.
Thomas had.
May you like
And when federal agents stormed Warehouse 17, they were not pointing their weapons at Thomas.
They were pointing them at Zeo.
