Chapter 6 - Midnight at Pier Nine
Rain came down hard over Providence Harbor.
Pier Nine looked abandoned from a distance.
It wasn’t.
Roman could feel eyes everywhere.
Cranes towered above stacked containers. Sodium lights reflected against wet pavement. Cargo ships moved like dark buildings through the water.
Norah sat in the passenger seat beside him.
“You can still stay in the car.”
“No.”
“I was obligated to try.”
“You’ve tried six times.”
“Seven.”
She looked at him.
“That doesn’t make it better.”
Roman adjusted the weapon beneath his coat.
Norah noticed.
“I hate guns.”
“So do I.”
She stared.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I hate needing them.”
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
He didn’t pretend otherwise.
Elias sat in the rear with Enzo.
They had built a plan.
Copies of the ledger photographs were encrypted and sent to three attorneys.
If anything happened, they would be released.
Marco’s demand was meaningless now.
They needed Mrs. Alvarez.
At midnight, warehouse lights came on.
Marco stepped into view.
Mrs. Alvarez stood beside him.
Hands tied.
Alive.
Norah’s entire body tightened.
Roman touched her wrist.
“Wait.”
Marco called out.
“Bring the phone.”
Roman exited first.
Norah followed.
Marco saw her and smiled.
“You really brought her.”
Roman’s voice carried across the pier.
“Let the woman go.”
“Pictures first.”
Norah held up Roman’s phone.
“You think we’re stupid?”
Marco laughed.
“I think you’re sentimental.”
Norah kept walking.
Roman stayed one step behind.
“Norah,” Mrs. Alvarez cried.
“I’m okay.”
Marco pushed the older woman forward.
“Phone.”
Norah stopped fifteen feet away.
“Why did you do it?”
Marco frowned.
“Do what?”
“My father.”
Roman watched him carefully.
Marco smiled.
“Daniel Bennett should’ve minded his business.”
The words hurt less than Norah expected.
Maybe because she had known.
Maybe because hearing the truth finally killed the last uncertainty.
“Did you kill him?”
Marco glanced at Roman.
“You sure you want this conversation here?”
“Yes.”
Marco shrugged.
“His brakes failed.”
Norah’s breath caught.
Roman’s face turned deadly.
Marco continued.
“I told him to stop. He didn’t.”
“You murdered him.”
“I protected an organization.”
“You protected yourself.”
Marco smiled.
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Roman spoke.
“You never protected this family.”
Marco looked toward him.
“You have no idea what I protected.”
“Eleven million?”
“Money is power.”
Roman almost laughed.
“My father trusted you.”
“Your father was weak at the end.”
“You killed a civilian.”
“Your father ignored it.”
Roman stopped.
That mattered.
Norah looked at him.
Marco had chosen the wound carefully.
Antonio Costa had not ordered Daniel’s murder.
But his refusal to act against Marco had made it possible.
Roman said quietly, “Then he failed too.”
Marco’s confidence flickered.
He had expected Roman to defend his father.
Roman didn’t.
“Phone,” Marco repeated.
Norah held it up.
Then dropped it into a puddle.
Marco’s expression changed.
“I told you—”
“The files aren’t on the phone.”
Norah stepped closer.
“They’re already outside your reach.”
Marco raised his gun.
Roman’s hand moved.
Norah shouted, “Wait!”
Everyone froze.
She looked at Marco.
“You kill me, they go public.”
“Bluff.”
“Try.”
Marco stared.
Mrs. Alvarez suddenly drove her heel backward into his shin.
Marco cursed.
Roman moved.
Enzo’s team emerged from between containers.
Elias rushed forward.
Marco fired blindly.
Roman tackled Norah behind a concrete barrier.
Mrs. Alvarez dropped.
Enzo dragged her clear.
Shots echoed across the pier.
Then headlights flooded the area.
Dozens.
Roman froze.
Not his men.
Black SUVs entered from both sides.
Sebastian Vale stepped from the lead vehicle.
Holding an umbrella.
Perfect suit.
Calm smile.
Marco lowered his gun.
“About time.”
There it was.
The alliance revealed.
Sebastian walked forward.
“Nephew.”
Roman stood.
“You disappoint me.”
Sebastian smiled.
“You always were dramatic.”
He looked at Norah.
“And you must be Daniel’s daughter.”
Norah rose.
“You knew my father?”
“Very well.”
“Did you order his death?”
Marco looked at Sebastian.
Sebastian’s silence answered.
Norah felt cold rage settle over her.
Roman moved in front of her.
Sebastian sighed.
“Still doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Choosing her.”
Roman’s answer came without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Sebastian looked almost sad.
“Antonio would be ashamed.”
“My father’s dead.”
“And his empire is about to become mine.”
Roman glanced around.
Nearly half the men surrounding them wore Costa colors.
His own people.
Sebastian had prepared this for years.
“You built your coup slowly,” Roman said.
“Of course.”
“Marco stole for you.”
“Marco funded loyalty.”
Marco smiled.
Sebastian continued.
“Your father built an empire on fear. You inherited it and tried to turn it into a corporation.”
Roman said nothing.
“You reduced collections. Closed gambling rooms. Stopped trafficking routes.”
Norah looked at Roman.
She had not known.
Sebastian laughed.
“You thought nobody noticed?”
Roman replied, “Those businesses were liabilities.”
“Those businesses were power.”
“They were filth.”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“There. Exactly.”
He stepped closer.
“You don’t deserve the name.”
Roman almost smiled.
“Then take it.”
Sebastian stopped.
“What?”
“You want the empire?”
Roman spread his hands.
“Take it.”
Even Norah stared.
Sebastian suspected a trap.
“You think I’m stupid?”
“No.”
Roman looked around at the defectors.
“I think every man standing beside you just learned exactly what loyalty to you is worth.”
Sebastian frowned.
Roman continued.
“You killed Daniel Bennett because he discovered theft. You kidnapped Mrs. Alvarez because she mattered to Norah. You betrayed my father while calling yourself family.”
Several men exchanged glances.
Sebastian noticed.
Roman had not come merely to rescue someone.
He had come to force Sebastian into the open.
And everyone was listening.
Sebastian’s smile vanished.
“Kill him.”
Nobody moved.
Roman looked at Enzo.
Enzo raised his phone.
A red recording indicator glowed.
“Streaming since we arrived.”
Sebastian’s face went white.
Roman said, “Half your confession is already in the hands of federal prosecutors.”
Marco spun.
“You said there was no recording!”
Sebastian looked at him with contempt.
That mistake mattered.
Marco realized he had never been a partner.
Only a tool.
He raised his gun toward Sebastian.
Sebastian’s guard fired first.
Marco fell.
Chaos exploded.
Norah covered Mrs. Alvarez.
Roman and Enzo moved toward cover.
Elias dragged a wounded guard clear.
Sirens sounded beyond the harbor gates.
Federal vehicles.
State police.
Sebastian ran toward a waiting car.
Roman saw him.
For one second, old instinct took over.
He could end it.
One bullet.
One command.
Then Norah shouted his name.
“Roman!”
He turned.
Mrs. Alvarez was bleeding from her shoulder.
Norah needed help.
Roman looked toward Sebastian disappearing into the rain.
Then lowered his weapon.
He went to Norah.
Not the empire.
Not revenge.
Her.
Sebastian escaped that night.
But Roman Costa made a choice everyone on the pier witnessed.
And by morning, nobody in Providence could agree on which was more shocking:
May you like
That Roman Costa had allowed his uncle to escape.
Or that the most feared mafia boss on the East Coast had dropped his gun in the rain and carried an injured housekeeper into an ambulance himself.
