Chapter 5 - The Docks of San Vito
The old San Vito docks had been abandoned for years.
At least, that was what the city believed.
But Alessandro knew better.
Nothing truly disappeared in a city like his. It only changed hands, changed names, changed the people paid to look away.
At 2:14 in the morning, a black car stopped outside Warehouse 17.
Alessandro stepped out alone.
No visible guards.
No weapons in his hands.
Only a leather case containing the ledger Raffaele wanted.
Inside the warehouse, cold air smelled of metal, oil, saltwater, and rust.
A single light swung from the ceiling.
Emma sat on a wooden crate near the far wall.
Her hands were not tied.
But she was surrounded by armed men.
She held her gray rabbit tightly against her chest.
When she saw Alessandro, her eyes filled with tears.
“Blue shirt,” she whispered.
Alessandro swallowed.
“Yes, piccola. Blue shirt.”
Raffaele stepped from the shadows.
His suit was gone. He wore a dark coat now, his hair damp from the night air. The ruby ring still shone on his hand.
“You came alone,” he said.
“I came for the child.”
“Not for the ledger?”
“The ledger is a piece of paper.”
Raffaele smiled.
“And children are not?”
Alessandro’s eyes hardened.
“Do not speak about what you do not understand.”
Raffaele walked closer to Emma.
The little girl pressed herself against the crate.
“Your father never understood either,” Raffaele said. “He thought he could build an empire and keep his hands clean. He thought he could protect everyone.”
“My father trusted you.”
“He trusted me because I was useful.”
“You killed Daniel because he was useful too,” Alessandro said.
Raffaele’s smile faded.
“He was weak.”
“No,” Alessandro said. “He was brave enough to see what you were doing.”
The warehouse doors opened behind Raffaele.
A woman entered.
Sophia.
Two men held her by the arms.
“Mommy!” Emma cried.
Sophia’s face was bruised, but she was standing.
“Emma,” she called. “Look at me, baby. I’m here.”
Raffaele turned to Alessandro.
“Give me the ledger.”
Alessandro placed the case on the ground.
“Let them go first.”
“No.”
“Then you get nothing.”
Raffaele laughed softly.
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
Then Emma did something no one expected.
She slipped off the crate.
One of the men reached for her, but she ducked beneath his arm.
She ran.
Not toward Sophia.
Toward Alessandro.
The warehouse exploded into motion.
Gunfire cracked.
Alessandro lunged forward and caught Emma just as a bullet shattered a metal beam above them.
He covered her with his body.
“Close your eyes,” he said.
Emma clung to his neck.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
Then Marco’s voice thundered from the far side of the warehouse.
“Duca security! Drop your weapons!”
Marco and Alessandro’s men emerged from behind shipping containers and through a side entrance.
Alessandro had never come alone.
Not really.
He had simply made Raffaele believe he had.
The fight lasted less than two minutes.
Raffaele’s men dropped one by one.
Sophia broke free and ran toward Emma.
Alessandro handed the child to her mother.
Sophia collapsed to her knees, holding Emma as if she could fuse them together.
Raffaele tried to escape through the back loading bay.
Alessandro followed.
The docks were slick with rain.
Raffaele reached the edge of the water and turned, gun raised.
“You won’t shoot me,” he said. “Not after everything your father taught you.”
Alessandro stopped ten feet away.
“You are right.”
Raffaele smiled.
Then Alessandro raised his phone.
Sirens approached from every direction.
Police vehicles closed in around the warehouse.
Not private security.
Not men Alessandro controlled.
Real police.
Real investigators.
Raffaele’s smile vanished.
“You called them?”
“I sent them the recordings. The warehouse files. The names in the ledger. Everything.”
“You will destroy yourself too.”
Alessandro looked back toward Sophia and Emma.
Then toward the city lights across the water.
“Maybe,” he said. “But not them.”
Raffaele lowered his weapon.
For a moment, he looked like he might surrender.
Then he tried to fire.
A police sniper shot the gun from his hand.
Raffaele fell to the wet pavement screaming.
Within seconds, officers surrounded him.
As they dragged him away, he looked at Alessandro one final time.
“You will regret this.”
Alessandro watched him disappear into the darkness.
“No,” he said.
May you like
For the first time in years, he meant it.
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