Chapter 4 - The Terminal
The Red Hook terminal smelled like rust, seawater, and old violence.
Luca’s black SUV stopped two blocks away. Rain had softened into a cold mist, but the wind off the harbor cut through Elena’s borrowed sweater.
Luca’s men surrounded the building from three sides.
Mara was still en route to St. Michael’s Church.
“Elena,” Luca said, checking his weapon, “you stay in the car until I tell you otherwise.”
She looked at him. “You know I’m not going to do that.”
“I know.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because I enjoy hearing myself be ignored.”
Even in the darkness, she saw the corner of his mouth move.
Then his expression sharpened.
A phone rang.
Not Luca’s.
Elena’s.
The number was blocked.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Vincent’s voice came through, calm and almost kind.
“Your sister is alive.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Let me speak to her.”
“You may, once you bring the ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Lies are not flattering on you, Elena.”
A muffled sound came through the phone.
Then Caroline’s voice, frightened and distant.
“Elena! Don’t bring it—”
The line went dead.
Elena’s knees nearly gave out.
Luca caught her.
“We’re going in,” he said.
The terminal was darker inside than outside. Old shipping containers stood in rows like steel graves. Water dripped from the ceiling. Somewhere far ahead, metal scraped against concrete.
Luca’s men moved silently.
Elena stayed close behind Luca, exactly as promised.
Then they found Noah’s backpack.
It lay beside a cracked wooden chair near the center of the warehouse.
Elena ran toward it.
Luca grabbed her before she reached it.
“Stop.”
She looked down.
A thin wire stretched across the floor.
A tripwire.
Mara’s voice came through Luca’s earpiece. “Luca, listen to me. The church was a trap too. We found armed men waiting for us.”
“Did you get the ledger?”
“Yes.”
Relief flashed across Elena’s face.
Then Mara continued.
“But Vincent isn’t the only traitor.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”
A gun clicked behind them.
“Me,” said a familiar voice.
Antonio Rizzo stepped from the shadows.
Luca’s oldest lieutenant.
The man who had taught him how to shoot when he was seventeen.
The man who had stood beside him at his father’s funeral.
Antonio held a gun against Elena’s back.
Luca went still.
“Antonio.”
“I’m sorry, boss.”
“No, you’re not.”
Antonio’s face tightened. “You changed too much. You turned the family into accountants and contractors. Matteo built power. You traded it for permits.”
“I traded it for a future.”
“You traded it for her.”
Elena felt the gun press harder into her spine.
Vincent appeared from behind a shipping container, his suit immaculate despite the filthy warehouse.
Caroline sat tied to a chair near him. Noah was beside her, wrapped in a blanket, crying silently.
“Elena!” Caroline shouted.
Vincent smiled.
“Now,” he said, “let us finish the family conversation.”
Mara’s voice whispered through Luca’s earpiece.
“We have the ledger. Stall him.”
Luca did not react.
Vincent extended a hand.
“The ledger.”
“It’s not here,” Luca said.
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
“Then your sister dies.”
Elena stepped forward before Luca could stop her.
“I know what is in the ledger,” she said.
Vincent looked amused. “Of course you do.”
“It proves that your father ordered the murder of Luca’s parents.”
The warehouse went silent.
Luca turned toward her.
Vincent’s face became still.
Elena continued, her fear giving way to rage.
“My father copied the original transaction. Matteo Valenti paid a corrupt police captain to stage the crash that killed Luca’s mother and father. But the money came from an account controlled by you.”
Vincent’s eyes darkened.
“You don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I understand everything,” Elena said. “You didn’t just betray Luca tonight. You betrayed him when he was a child.”
Luca’s breathing changed.
Antonio looked uncertain.
Vincent moved closer to Elena.
“My father was weak,” Vincent said. “Luca’s father wanted out. He was willing to destroy everything we built.”
“So you murdered them?” Luca asked.
Vincent looked at him.
“For the family.”
“No,” Luca said. “For yourself.”
Vincent lifted his gun.
At that exact moment, the warehouse doors exploded inward.
Mara and Luca’s security team rushed inside.
Gunfire shattered the air.
Antonio shoved Elena toward the floor and fired.
Luca threw himself over her.
A bullet tore through Luca’s shoulder.
“Elena,” he grunted, “stay down.”
“No!”
She saw blood spreading across his shirt.
The world became red again.
But this time, Elena did not freeze.
She grabbed Luca’s fallen gun.
Antonio raised his weapon toward Luca.
Elena fired once.
The bullet struck the metal chain above Antonio’s head. A suspended cargo hook dropped, crashing between them and knocking Antonio’s gun away.
Mara’s team seized him seconds later.
Vincent ran toward the rear exit.
Luca, bleeding heavily, tried to rise.
Elena put a hand on his chest.
“Stay here.”
He stared at her.
“Elena—”
“You trusted me to survive Shaw,” she said. “Trust me now.”
May you like
Then she ran after Vincent.
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