Chapter 4 - Pier Seventeen
Edmund fired into darkness.
The muzzle flash illuminated an empty space.
The impostor was gone.
“Vivian!”
“I’m here.”
His hand found hers.
Backup lights activated.
Guests screamed.
Security rushed toward exits.
Edmund ignored them.
His entire focus remained on Vivian.
“You’re coming with me.”
“To Pier Seventeen?”
“Yes.”
“Mom said alone.”
“She also arranged a sniper at our wedding. I’m done following her instructions.”
Thirty minutes later, rain streaked the armored car windows as they crossed Bellhaven.
Vivian stared at the city.
“My mother and your father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
She believed him.
That surprised her.
“What did she mean by what you did?”
Edmund looked ahead.
“When I was twenty, after my father supposedly died, I went looking for everyone connected to Pier Seventeen.”
“And?”
“I found your mother.”
Vivian turned.
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
The same year Elena died.
“She asked me for help disappearing.”
“Why?”
“She said staying would get you killed.”
“You helped fake her death.”
“Yes.”
Vivian slapped him again.
The driver wisely stared forward.
“You let me mourn her.”
“I was twenty-six and believed her when she said it was the only way to protect you.”
“You could have told me later.”
“She disappeared from me too.”
Vivian’s anger remained, but its shape changed.
“You really didn’t know where she was?”
“No.”
They reached Pier Seventeen.
The warehouse stood dark beside black water.
Edmund took Vivian’s hand.
“This time, if I tell you to run—”
“I probably won’t.”
“I’m beginning to understand that.”
They entered.
Lights snapped on.
Elena Moretti stood twenty feet away.
Vivian forgot how to breathe.
Her mother had aged.
But it was her.
“Mom.”
Elena’s face broke.
“Baby.”
Vivian crossed the distance and slapped her.
Elena accepted it.
Then Vivian hugged her.
Hard.
Angry.
Desperate.
For several seconds, she became eleven years younger.
Then she pushed away.
“You abandoned me.”
“I saved you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Elena looked at Edmund.
“He knows.”
“He told me.”
“Everything?”
“Enough.”
Antonio appeared.
Victor remained tied to a chair.
The real Luca sat nearby, bruised but alive.
Edmund freed him.
Vivian faced her mother.
“Why the sniper?”
“To expose Teresa’s man.”
“You could have killed us.”
“The shooter was mine. He would never have fired at you.”
“He fired.”
“At a glass.”
Vivian shook her head.
“You’re all insane.”
“That may be the first thing we agree on tonight,” Edmund murmured.
Elena almost smiled.
Then her expression hardened.
“Teresa has spent seventeen years trying to control both families. She arranged the fire that supposedly killed Antonio.”
“Why?”
“Because Antonio discovered she was moving weapons through Moretti ships.”
Antonio stepped forward.
“Victor helped her.”
Victor shouted, “I didn’t know what she was moving!”
“You took the money,” Elena said.
“I had debts!”
“You always had debts.”
Vivian looked at her father.
The truth was uglier than hatred.
He was not a mastermind.
He was weak.
And weakness had destroyed everyone around him.
“What does my marriage have to do with this?”
Elena looked at Edmund.
“The Moretti company contains one asset Teresa still needs.”
“Pier Seventeen,” Vivian said.
“No.”
Elena reached into her coat.
“A ledger.”
She produced a key.
“The original records of every shipment, payment, politician, judge, police officer, and business owner Teresa bought.”
Edmund understood.
“Where?”
Elena looked at Vivian.
“Your wedding gift.”
Vivian blinked.
“My what?”
“The ruby necklace.”
Vivian touched the stones at her throat.
Elena removed the central ruby.
Inside was a tiny storage drive.
Vivian laughed in disbelief.
“You put evidence around my neck?”
“It was the only object Teresa’s people wouldn’t confiscate.”
A slow clap echoed from the warehouse entrance.
Teresa walked inside.
Twenty armed men followed.
“Family reunions,” she said. “Always emotional.”
Edmund moved in front of Vivian.
Teresa smiled.
“There’s my nephew.”
“You killed my father.”
“Clearly not very effectively.”
Antonio raised a gun.
Teresa’s men raised theirs.
Vivian’s heart hammered.
Teresa looked at her necklace.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Vivian.”
“No.”
Teresa sighed.
“Your father already sold you once. Don’t make him do it again.”
Victor looked away.
Vivian stared at him.
“What did you do?”
Victor whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Teresa smiled.
“The second contract wasn’t forged.”
Vivian’s stomach twisted.
“What?”
“Victor signed it. If your marriage ends before thirty days, Moretti Shipping transfers to me.”
Edmund looked at Victor with murder in his eyes.
Teresa continued.
“So I really only need one thing.”
Her gun turned toward Edmund.
“A widow.”
Vivian stepped in front of him.
Again.
Teresa laughed.
“You’ve been married one day.”
“Long enough.”
Edmund whispered, “Vivian, move.”
“No.”
Teresa’s finger tightened.
Then Victor moved.
He threw himself sideways, knocking one gunman into another.
Antonio fired.
Chaos erupted.
Edmund dragged Vivian behind machinery.
Bullets struck steel.
Luca returned fire.
Elena crawled toward Victor.
Vivian clutched the necklace.
Edmund looked at her.
“There’s a boat outside.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You have the ledger.”
“I said no.”
His eyes held hers.
Then he kissed her.
Not like a transaction.
Not like a performance.
Like a man who had nearly died twice and had finally stopped pretending he felt nothing.
A gunshot interrupted them.
Edmund jerked.
Vivian screamed.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
He fell against her.
“Edmund!”
His eyes remained open.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Vivian.”
Another shot struck nearby.
She pressed both hands against his wound.
Then a voice came through the warehouse speakers.
Teresa.
“Bring me the necklace, Vivian.”
May you like
A pause.
“Or the next bullet goes through his heart.”
