Chapter 11 - PIER NINETEEN
Midnight covered the river in black glass.
Pier Nineteen had been abandoned for years.
Victor parked two hundred yards away.
Tessa sat beside him.
He looked at the pistol in her lap.
“You know how to use that?”
“No.”
Victor stared.
“What?”
“I’ve watched movies.”
He took the gun from her.
“That answer almost killed me.”
“Then teach me.”
“In thirty seconds?”
“You’re supposedly talented.”
Victor showed her the safety.
Grip.
Sight.
Trigger discipline.
“Don’t point it at anything you don’t intend to shoot.”
Tessa looked at him.
“That includes you?”
“Especially me.”
They entered the warehouse.
Carlo waited under a hanging industrial light.
Liam knelt nearby.
His face was bloody.
Emma was tied to another chair.
Paulie stood hidden with Victor’s men outside.
Victor wanted leverage before bringing him in.
Carlo smiled.
“Romano.”
“Let them go.”
“The ledger.”
“We don’t have it.”
Carlo’s smile faded.
“Tessa knows where it is.”
Tessa stepped forward.
“No, I don’t.”
Carlo held up a small recorder.
“Your mother disagrees.”
He pressed PLAY.
Static filled the warehouse.
Then a woman’s voice.
Tessa stopped breathing.
Her mother.
Older than Tessa remembered.
Frightened.
But unmistakable.
“If anything happens to me, Tess will know where to look.”
Tessa covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
“She always hated that stupid sunshine song, but she never knew why I played it.”
Tessa whispered, “Mom…”
Victor watched her.
Then Tessa understood.
“The song.”
Carlo leaned closer.
“Where?”
Tessa’s mind raced.
Her mother played You Are My Sunshine every Sunday.
Always after breakfast.
Always while opening the curtains.
Sunshine.
Windows.
Then memory struck.
Their old apartment.
A ceramic sun hanging above Tessa’s bedroom window.
Her mother had refused to leave it behind when they moved.
Tessa looked at Liam.
“The ceramic sun.”
His eyes widened.
“You kept it?”
“In Mom’s box.”
Carlo smiled.
“Where?”
Tessa lied instantly.
“Storage unit.”
Carlo slapped Liam.
“No.”
Tessa flinched.
“He already searched it.”
Victor watched her face.
He knew she was lying.
Carlo pressed the gun to Liam’s head.
“One more time.”
Tessa swallowed.
“The Romano estate.”
Victor looked at her.
Carlo did too.
“What?”
Tessa forced her breathing steady.
“I brought Mom’s keepsake box when I moved into staff housing.”
It was true.
Carlo’s smile returned.
“Good girl.”
Victor’s jaw tightened at the phrase.
Carlo gestured toward his men.
“Take them.”
Victor moved.
A gun pressed against Emma’s head.
He stopped.
Carlo walked past him.
“Here’s what happens now. We go to your house.”
Victor stared.
“You’re not stepping inside my house.”
Carlo smiled.
“You’re going to invite me.”
Suddenly Liam shouted.
“Tessa!”
He kicked one of Carlo’s men behind the knee.
Chaos erupted.
Victor drew.
Tessa dropped.
Emma screamed.
Gunshots thundered.
Victor shot the man guarding Liam.
Tessa saw Carlo running.
She raised the pistol.
Her hands shook.
She remembered Victor’s words.
Don’t point it at anything you don’t intend to shoot.
She aimed.
Carlo grabbed Liam and used him as a shield.
Tessa froze.
Carlo smiled.
Then Liam did something stupid.
Of course he did.
He elbowed Carlo in the throat.
Carlo fired.
Liam collapsed.
“TESS!”
She screamed.
Victor shot Carlo in the shoulder.
Paulie’s men stormed through the doors.
Carlo escaped through a side exit.
Tessa dropped beside Liam.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“No. No, no, no.”
Liam looked at her.
For once, no jokes.
No excuses.
“I’m sorry.”
“Shut up.”
“Tess—”
“Shut up!”
She pressed both hands over the wound.
“You don’t get to apologize and die. That’s lazy.”
He laughed weakly.
Then coughed.
Victor knelt beside them.
“Ambulance is coming.”
Liam looked at him.
“Don’t let her pay my debt anymore.”
Victor’s face tightened.
“She hasn’t owed me anything for a long time.”
Tessa looked up.
“What?”
Victor met her eyes.
“The debt was cleared weeks ago.”
Her expression changed.
“You never told me.”
May you like
Before Victor could answer, Liam’s eyes closed.
And Tessa screamed his name.
