Chapter 10 - THE THING HE NEVER SAID
Nobody spoke.
Leo stared at the ceiling.
Frank became deeply interested in his shotgun.
Donovan wiped blood from his nose.
Mave looked at Vincent.
“You picked now?”
His expression remained completely serious.
“You told me to say it.”
“I didn’t expect you to actually say it.”
“That makes two of us.”
Her heart was beating too fast.
“How long?”
Vincent looked almost uncomfortable.
It was the strangest thing she had ever seen.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“About a year.”
“A year?”
“Maybe longer.”
“You’ve been secretly in love with your secretary for a year?”
“I was busy.”
Mave stared at him.
“That is the stupidest explanation I have ever heard.”
“I run several companies.”
“And a criminal empire.”
“That too.”
Leo muttered, “Romance is beautiful.”
Vincent looked at him.
“Want to walk to Red Hook?”
Leo shut up.
Mave folded her arms.
“You lied to me about my father.”
“Yes.”
“You investigated my dates.”
“Yes.”
“You apparently know my clothing measurements.”
Vincent sighed.
“We’re still on that?”
“We will always be on that.”
“Fair.”
She wanted to stay angry.
She really did.
Then she saw the exhaustion in his face.
The blood beneath his bandage.
The fear he was trying to hide.
Not fear for himself.
For her.
Mave stepped closer.
“If we survive this, we talk.”
Vincent nodded.
“About everything.”
“Everything.”
“Fine.”
“And you stop ordering me around.”
“No.”
She narrowed her eyes.
He almost smiled.
“Negotiable.”
“Better.”
Then she grabbed his jacket and kissed him.
It lasted maybe two seconds.
Hard.
Angry.
Terrifyingly real.
When she pulled away, Vincent looked genuinely stunned.
Mave pointed a finger at him.
“That does not mean you’re forgiven.”
“I didn’t think it did.”
“Good.”
Leo cleared his throat.
“We have sixty minutes before a teenager gets murdered. So maybe we finish the romantic disaster later?”
Mave grabbed the laptop.
“Agreed.”
Their plan was simple.
Which meant it was probably terrible.
Donovan would bring Vincent and Mave to Red Hook.
Frank and Leo would position themselves nearby.
Mave would carry a hidden transmitter connected to the memory card.
Once inside Salvatore’s warehouse network, she would upload the evidence to three places simultaneously.
A journalist.
A federal prosecutor.
And an encrypted server outside the country.
“If anything happens to me,” she said, “the files still go.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Nothing happens to you.”
“Still ordering.”
“Not negotiating that one.”
At 5:52 a.m., Donovan drove through the gates of the Red Hook warehouse.
Men with rifles surrounded them.
Vincent leaned close to Mave.
“Whatever happens, stay beside me.”
She whispered, “I thought it was behind you.”
He looked at her.
“I’m learning.”
The doors opened.
Anton Voss stood waiting.
Beside him was Salvatore Costa.
Sixty-two.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Warm smile.
The kind of man who looked like someone’s favorite uncle.
A teenage girl knelt beside him with tape across her mouth.
Salvatore spread his arms.
“Vincent.”
His smile grew.
“And Martin Hale’s little girl.”
Mave stared at the man who had murdered her parents.
Salvatore looked pleased.
May you like
“I’ve waited seventeen years to meet you.”
Then he pulled a gun and pressed it against Emma’s head.
