Chapter 10 - THE EXCHANGE
For the first time since this started, Damian looked scared.
Not angry.
Scared.
“No.”
I stared at the message.
“They have my mother.”
“We are not giving them Leah.”
“I didn’t say we were.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I was thinking about getting my mother back.”
“The woman who sold your daughter?”
I turned on him.
“She’s still my mother.”
“She put Leah in Vincent’s hands.”
“And she may be the only reason we can prove what he did.”
Damian looked away.
That was the real point.
We needed the ledger.
Vincent called an hour later.
“Emma.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe enough.”
My hands clenched.
“Let me hear her.”
There was a rustle.
Then my mother’s voice.
“Emma, don’t—”
A slap.
I flinched.
Vincent came back.
“Midnight. Caruso shipyard.”
“No.”
“You bring Leah.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies.”
“You’re not getting near my daughter.”
There was a pause.
Then Vincent laughed.
Interesting.
“You finally said it.”
“What?”
“My daughter.”
I looked at Leah across the room.
She was asleep against Damian.
“Yes.”
I said it again.
“My daughter.”
Vincent’s voice hardened.
“Midnight.”
He hung up.
Damian immediately started planning.
Snipers.
Tracking devices.
Backup teams.
Police outside Pike’s chain of command.
I listened.
Then I said, “I go in alone.”
“No.”
“He expects you.”
“He expects both of us.”
“He wants Leah. He’ll watch every car.”
Damian stared at me.
“You’re suggesting what?”
“I bring the rabbit.”
“What?”
“From a distance, wrapped in a blanket.”
He understood.
“A decoy.”
“Yes.”
“He’ll kill your mother the second he knows.”
“Then don’t let him know.”
Midnight.
Rain hammered the old shipyard.
I carried a bundled blanket against my chest.
Inside was Leah’s velvet rabbit and a GPS tracker.
Vincent stood beneath a warehouse light.
My mother was tied to a chair behind him.
Pike stood beside her.
Gun in hand.
“You came,” Vincent said.
“Give me my mother.”
“Let me see Leah.”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Show me.”
“Untie my mother.”
He smiled.
“You still think you have leverage.”
“I have the evidence.”
That changed his face.
“What evidence?”
“Elena’s files.”
“Destroyed.”
“Not all of them.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“Where?”
“Release her.”
He looked at Pike.
Pike untied my mother.
She ran toward me.
Halfway across the warehouse, Vincent said, “Now.”
Pike raised his gun.
A red laser appeared on his chest.
Damian’s sniper.
Pike froze.
Vincent smiled.
“You always were predictable, Damian.”
Floodlights exploded on behind us.
Men appeared on the upper walkways.
At least fifteen.
Damian’s team was surrounded.
Then Vincent pointed toward the bundle in my arms.
“Give me the child.”
I tightened my grip.
“No.”
He raised a small remote control.
“What is that?”
“Insurance.”
My mother screamed.
“Emma! Run!”
Vincent pressed the button.
An explosion tore through the far side of the warehouse.
Flames shot toward the ceiling.
Then another blast hit the entrance.
We were trapped inside a burning building.
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
“Last chance.”
He held out his arms.
“Give me Leah.”
I slowly pulled back the blanket.
Vincent saw the stuffed rabbit.
His face twisted.
“You stupid—”
May you like
A gunshot exploded.
My mother fell.
