Chapter 12 - THE TRADE
Aleandro stepped into the rain.
“I’m here.”
Carlo smiled.
“So you are.”
“Let the child go.”
“After I get what belongs to me.”
“The tape doesn’t belong to you.”
“It contains my business.”
“It contains your confession.”
Carlo laughed.
“You think a twenty-year-old cassette matters?”
“No.”
Aleandro pulled a phone from his coat.
“But the digital copy I sent to three attorneys might.”
Carlo’s smile disappeared.
Elena looked at Aleandro.
He hadn’t told her.
Good.
For once, secrecy helped.
Carlo tightened his grip on Sofia.
The little girl whimpered.
Elena took a step.
Carlo raised his gun.
“Stop.”
She stopped.
“You killed my mother.”
Carlo looked at her.
“Isabella should have disappeared when she had the chance.”
“She did.”
“She came back.”
“Why?”
“To bury evidence she should have destroyed.”
Raffaele emerged from behind the SUV.
Carlo stared.
“Well.”
Raffaele spread his hands.
“Miss me?”
Carlo laughed.
“The dead brother.”
“The ugly uncle.”
“Still making jokes.”
“Still using other people to do your killing.”
Carlo’s face hardened.
“Careful.”
Raffaele looked at Sofia.
“Let her go.”
“No.”
“She’s three.”
“Which makes this unfortunate.”
Elena’s eyes burned.
“Don’t use that word.”
Carlo looked at her.
“What?”
“You people keep calling murder unfortunate like it’s bad weather.”
For a moment, even Carlo seemed surprised.
Elena stepped forward.
“You killed my mother because she knew what you were.”
“Your mother made choices.”
“She chose to protect me.”
“She stole from powerful men.”
“She stole paper.”
“She stole control.”
Aleandro moved half a step.
Carlo’s gun shifted toward Sofia.
“Don’t.”
Aleandro stopped.
Carlo smiled.
“There he is. The great Aleandro Moretti.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Reduced to obedience by a little girl.”
Sofia suddenly kicked him in the shin.
Hard.
Carlo cursed.
Elena screamed, “SOFIA, RUN!”
Everything exploded.
Sofia dropped.
Aleandro fired.
Carlo’s men opened up from the catwalks.
Raffaele dragged Elena behind a steel drum.
Marco returned fire.
Bullets sparked against metal.
Sofia crawled beneath a conveyor.
“Elena, stay down!”
“That’s my daughter!”
She ran.
Aleandro shouted after her.
A gunman stepped from behind a support beam.
Elena saw him.
He raised his weapon.
Then Aleandro slammed into her.
The gun fired.
Aleandro jerked.
They hit the ground together.
Elena stared.
Blood spread across his side.
“No.”
“Go,” he gasped.
“You’re shot.”
“I noticed.”
Another bullet struck nearby.
Raffaele shot the gunman.
“Elena!”
She looked toward the conveyor.
Sofia was crying.
Elena crawled toward her.
“Baby!”
“Mommy!”
She reached under and pulled Sofia into her arms.
Sofia wrapped herself around her mother.
“I knew you’d come.”
Elena sobbed into her hair.
“Always.”
Across the warehouse, Carlo stumbled toward a rear exit.
Aleandro saw him.
He tried to stand.
Failed.
Raffaele raised his gun.
Carlo turned.
Both brothers fired.
Carlo dropped.
Raffaele did too.
Then Aleandro heard a metallic click behind him.
May you like
Marco stood there.
Gun pointed at Aleandro’s head.
