Chapter 6 - The Night Baltimore Chose Sides
Dante did not speak for several seconds.
Marisol watched him become a different man.
Not the mafia king.
Not the prisoner.
A brother.
“Luca?”
The voice laughed softly through the phone.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I watched them bury you.”
“You watched them bury someone.”
Dante gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Still giving orders.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“Everyone wants the ledger.”
“Because Father made the mistake of writing things down.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“You worked with Russo.”
“Yes.”
“Victor?”
“Sometimes.”
“You put me in that basement?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Dante heard it too.
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
Marisol stepped closer.
Dante looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Understanding.
He switched to speaker.
Luca continued.
“You always got everything.”
“Apparently not death certificates.”
“Father gave you the organization.”
“You left.”
“I was pushed.”
“You overdosed.”
“I disappeared.”
“Why?”
“To build something without your shadow.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“And now?”
“Now Russo is finished. Victor is finished. Eric is useless. Which leaves you.”
“And you.”
“Exactly.”
Marisol spoke.
“What do you want from me?”
Silence.
Then Luca laughed.
“The cleaning woman.”
“My name is Marisol.”
“Oh, I know.”
Dante’s eyes darkened.
Luca continued.
“Mateo’s daughter. Victor’s obsession. Eric’s assignment.”
“Leave her out of this,” Dante said.
“No.”
“Luca.”
“You’ve already made your mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“You care.”
The call ended.
Marisol looked at Dante.
“That sounds like a family problem.”
“It is.”
“Good.”
He stared at her.
“Good?”
“I already have enough problems.”
Despite himself, Dante smiled.
Then Rafe rushed into the apartment.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Power just went out at three of our properties.”
Dante checked his phone.
No signal.
Rafe continued.
“Two warehouses were hit.”
“Casualties?”
“None yet.”
“Yet?”
“Everyone was told to leave.”
Dante understood.
“This isn’t an attack.”
Rafe nodded.
“It’s an invitation.”
“To where?”
“Moretti Shipping headquarters.”
The building overlooked the harbor.
Twenty stories of glass and steel.
Dante’s legitimate empire.
And, according to federal prosecutors, the shell around much of his illegitimate one.
By midnight, dozens of people had gathered outside.
Police.
Federal vehicles.
Media.
Dante’s loyalists.
Russo remnants.
No one knew who Luca controlled.
Dante sat in the back seat beside Marisol.
“You’re staying in the car.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Marisol.”
“Dante.”
Rafe stared forward, wisely silent.
Dante lowered his voice.
“He called you by name.”
“He already knows where I am.”
“Exactly.”
“So sitting alone in a car seems stupid.”
Dante had no answer.
“Good,” she said. “We agree.”
They entered together.
The lobby was empty.
Elevators disabled.
A message waited on the security desk.
TOP FLOOR.
Dante looked at the stairs.
Marisol looked at his injured leg.
“No.”
“I’ll manage.”
“You barely managed one flight yesterday.”
“I was worse yesterday.”
“You are the most stubborn man alive.”
“Probably.”
Rafe interrupted.
“Freight elevator has backup power.”
Marisol smiled.
“Civilization survives.”
They reached the twentieth floor.
Luca waited inside Dante’s office.
He resembled his brother.
Younger.
Thinner.
Same eyes.
He stood near the windows holding a glass of bourbon.
“Dante.”
“Luca.”
They stared.
Ten years between them.
Dante’s voice changed.
“Why?”
Luca smiled sadly.
“Because Father never saw me.”
“That’s not true.”
“He saw the son who disappointed him.”
“You disappeared rather than prove him wrong.”
“I built more money in ten years than he built in thirty.”
“With Victor.”
“With everyone.”
Luca looked at Marisol.
“And there she is.”
Dante moved between them.
Luca laughed.
“You really did claim her.”
Dante’s expression went cold.
“She isn’t property.”
“No. That’s why she’s dangerous.”
Marisol stepped around Dante.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“Federal agents have copies.”
“Digital copies.”
“So?”
“The original contains something they haven’t noticed.”
“What?”
Luca smiled.
“A second code.”
Marisol remembered Mateo.
Always hiding one truth behind another.
Luca held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
He sighed.
“I expected more gratitude.”
“For what?”
“I kept Victor from killing you.”
Marisol froze.
Dante looked at him.
Luca continued.
“Victor wanted Mateo’s entire bloodline erased.”
“You stopped him?”
“I persuaded him you were more useful alive.”
“That isn’t saving me.”
“No.”
Luca smiled.
“It’s investment.”
Marisol felt disgust.
“You’re like Eric.”
That angered him.
“Don’t compare me to that pathetic man.”
“You both mistake controlling someone for protecting them.”
Silence.
Dante looked at her.
So did Rafe.
Luca’s expression hardened.
“Enough.”
He reached beneath his jacket.
Dante drew first.
Rafe drew too.
Marisol did not move.
Luca laughed.
“Kill me again, brother.”
Dante’s hand tightened around the gun.
“You think I won’t?”
“I think you can’t.”
Dante stared at him.
Marisol saw the truth.
Luca did too.
“You buried me once,” Luca whispered. “You won’t do it twice.”
Dante slowly lowered the gun.
Luca smiled.
Then federal agents flooded the office.
Luca’s smile disappeared.
Marisol looked at Dante.
He had been stalling.
The woman from Pier 14 entered.
“Luca Moretti.”
Luca looked at his brother.
“You called them?”
Dante said nothing.
“You?”
Marisol answered.
“He learned.”
Agents moved forward.
Luca backed toward the windows.
“You think this ends anything?”
Dante looked at him.
“It ends tonight.”
Luca laughed.
“No.”
His hand reached inside his coat.
Agents raised weapons.
Dante shouted, “Don’t!”
Luca pulled out a phone.
Pressed one button.
Somewhere below them, an explosion shook the building.
Glass trembled.
Lights failed.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Luca ran.
Dante followed.
“Dante!” Marisol shouted.
He disappeared into the stairwell.
She ran after him.
Rafe cursed and followed.
They descended two floors.
Smoke rose from below.
Not fire.
Smoke bombs.
Luca had planned the escape.
Dante reached the eighteenth floor.
A door slammed.
He followed.
Marisol entered seconds later.
Empty conference room.
Broken window.
Luca was gone.
Dante stood near the opening.
A cable descended outside the building.
Rafe reached them.
“Roof team?”
“No visual.”
Dante stared into the night.
Then his phone vibrated.
One message.
A photograph.
Marisol’s apartment building.
Current timestamp.
Second photograph.
Her mother’s new safe-house location.
Third.
Dr. Kaplan’s house.
Then a text.
YOU CAN’T PROTECT EVERYONE.
Dante’s expression changed.
Marisol read over his shoulder.
A second message arrived.
CHOOSE WHO YOU KEEP.
A third followed immediately.
Marisol stared at the screen.
It contained only an address.
May you like
And beneath it, three words.
COME WITHOUT HER.
