Chapter 6 - The Trap at Pier Seventeen
Vincent replayed the final sentence until Clara took the recorder from him.
“Enough.”
He looked at her.
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“Listening a twelfth time won't change what he said.”
Vincent's voice became quiet.
“He admitted killing her.”
“He admitted planning her death.”
“What's the difference?”
“A courtroom would explain it better than I can.”
He stared at her.
Clara folded her arms.
“You said you wanted to protect Matteo.”
“I do.”
“Then don't take him to a pier because the man who tried to murder your family told you to.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Good.”
“I'll go alone.”
“That is also stupid.”
Anthony laughed from across the room.
“I like her.”
Vincent ignored him.
Dominic studied maps of Pier Seventeen.
“Old commercial property,” he said. “Most warehouses are abandoned. Salvatore owned two through shell corporations.”
Vincent looked at him.
“He chose ground he controls.”
“Yes.”
“Entrances?”
“Three vehicle access points. Harbor side. Rail spur.”
Anthony leaned over the map.
“He expects Vincent to bring Matteo.”
“Which means he needs the boy for something,” Clara said.
Nobody liked that possibility.
Lily entered carrying two sandwiches.
“Matteo won't eat.”
Clara closed her eyes.
“Of course he won't.”
She started toward the door.
Vincent caught her hand.
“Wait.”
Clara looked down at his fingers around hers.
Vincent released her.
“Stay here tonight.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“I already work here.”
“I mean Lily too.”
Clara immediately understood.
“You think whoever brought her might come back.”
“Yes.”
“You have forty armed guards.”
“And somebody bypassed them.”
Clara looked toward Lily.
“All right.”
That evening Matteo and Lily ate grilled cheese in the security room because neither child wanted to be upstairs.
Matteo had begun asking questions.
Too many.
Hard ones.
“Did Grandpa know the bomb would hurt me?”
Vincent knelt beside him.
“I don't know.”
“Did he care?”
Vincent could have lied.
Instead he said, “I don't know that either.”
Matteo stared at his legs.
“Mom cared.”
“Yes.”
“You care.”
Vincent swallowed.
“More than anything.”
Matteo nodded as though confirming something important.
Then he said,
“Then don't go.”
Vincent knew immediately what he meant.
The pier.
“Matteo—”
“He wants you angry.”
Vincent stared.
Matteo looked toward Clara.
“She says people make dumb choices when they're angry.”
Clara became extremely interested in her sandwich.
Anthony coughed.
Vincent almost smiled.
“He killed your mother.”
Matteo's eyes filled.
“I know.”
Vincent expected tears.
Instead the boy said something Vincent would remember for the rest of his life.
“If you die too, he wins twice.”
Vincent looked down.
Eight years old.
Fourteen months of silence.
And somehow Matteo had found the one argument Vincent could not defeat.
That night the plan changed.
Vincent would go to Pier Seventeen.
But not alone.
Not visibly surrounded either.
Dominic positioned teams outside the property.
Anthony would remain at the estate with Matteo and Lily.
Clara refused to stay.
“I can identify Daniel's old shipping records if Salvatore mentions them.”
“You are not trained for this.”
“I survived being married to someone who worked for your family. I'm overqualified.”
Vincent glared.
Clara held the stare.
At 10:43 p.m., Vincent's SUV stopped three blocks from the harbor.
Cold fog rolled between warehouses.
Vincent exited wearing a black coat.
No visible weapon.
Clara remained inside a surveillance van with Dominic.
Vincent entered Warehouse Fourteen alone.
One light burned above an old loading platform.
Then applause echoed.
Slow.
Mocking.
Salvatore Rossi stepped from the shadows.
Vincent had prepared himself.
It did not matter.
His father looked older but unmistakably alive.
White threaded through his dark hair.
His shoulders had narrowed.
His eyes remained the same.
Cold.
Evaluating.
“Vincent.”
Vincent said nothing.
Salvatore smiled.
“You became a man.”
“I was thirty-five when you died.”
“You were a child pretending to lead.”
Vincent's hands remained at his sides.
“You killed Isabella.”
Salvatore's expression barely changed.
“She became dangerous.”
“She was my wife.”
“She was emotional.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“Daniel Hayes?”
“Curious.”
“That's why you killed him?”
Salvatore shrugged.
“Daniel found numbers he didn't understand.”
Inside the van, Clara heard every word through Vincent's concealed microphone.
Her face hardened.
Dominic watched her.
“Stay calm.”
“Don't tell me that.”
Inside the warehouse, Vincent took another step.
“The bomb.”
Salvatore sighed.
“You were supposed to be called away five minutes before ignition.”
“By whom?”
“Dominic.”
In the surveillance van Dominic froze.
Clara looked at him.
“You?”
“No.”
Salvatore continued.
“But Dominic betrayed me.”
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
“He warned Isabella.”
“I never got the call,” Vincent said.
“No.”
Salvatore almost looked regretful.
“The timing collapsed.”
“You still detonated it.”
“My men did.”
“You could have stopped them.”
“I couldn't risk Isabella reaching federal investigators.”
Vincent's face went empty.
“You traded your daughter-in-law's life for your money.”
“For the family.”
“No.”
Vincent's voice sharpened.
“For yourself.”
Something flashed in Salvatore's eyes.
There.
The old temper.
Vincent remembered it from childhood.
Salvatore stepped closer.
“You think you're better because you built bedrooms for your son and bought charities?”
“I think I'm better because I know he's not an asset.”
Salvatore laughed.
“Matteo is the future.”
“He's a child.”
“He is a Rossi.”
“He gets to decide what that means.”
Salvatore's smile disappeared.
From the van, Clara whispered,
“Good.”
Then Dominic's screen went black.
“Signal's gone.”
Clara looked up.
“What?”
“Jammer.”
Inside the warehouse, metal doors slammed.
Vincent reached for his weapon.
Six men emerged.
Salvatore smiled again.
“You didn't bring Matteo.”
“No.”
“That disappoints me.”
“Get used to disappointment.”
Salvatore nodded to one of his men.
A side door opened.
Anthony Rossi was shoved inside at gunpoint.
Vincent's blood went cold.
Anthony's face was bruised.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
Vincent stared.
“You were at the estate.”
“Not anymore.”
Salvatore looked pleased.
“Your security is impressive until somebody understands how you built it.”
Vincent glanced toward his father.
“What do you want?”
“At last.”
Salvatore walked closer.
“I want what you took from me.”
“The organization?”
“My name.”
“You abandoned it.”
“I preserved it.”
“You buried another man wearing your ring.”
“A necessary inconvenience.”
Vincent wanted to kill him.
Instead he heard Matteo's voice.
If you die too, he wins twice.
Vincent breathed.
“What does Anthony have to do with this?”
Salvatore smiled.
“You two were always strongest when trying to beat each other.”
Anthony laughed through split lips.
“Dad, I hate to ruin your family reunion, but nobody missed you.”
Salvatore struck him.
Vincent moved.
Three guns immediately aimed at him.
Anthony spat blood onto the floor.
“Still worth it.”
Outside, Clara climbed from the van.
Dominic grabbed her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“Signal jammer has limited range.”
“You cannot walk into that warehouse.”
“I don't need to.”
She pointed toward an old utility panel mounted on a neighboring building.
“These docks were modernized by Rossi Logistics twelve years ago.”
“So?”
“My husband showed me the emergency systems.”
Dominic stared.
Clara ran.
Inside, Salvatore handed Vincent a document.
“Sign.”
Vincent looked at it.
Transfer of corporate control.
Legitimate Rossi holdings.
Trusts.
Shipping interests.
Everything.
“You forged most of these already.”
“I need your biometric verification.”
“And then?”
“Anthony lives.”
“My son?”
Salvatore smiled.
“Eventually Matteo will understand his grandfather had the courage his father lost.”
Vincent picked up the pen.
Anthony shook his head.
“Don't.”
Vincent looked at him.
Anthony's eyes were clear.
“Don't give him a damn thing.”
Vincent placed his thumb on the biometric pad.
A siren exploded overhead.
Red emergency lights flashed.
Salvatore spun.
Sprinklers erupted.
Every warehouse door automatically unlocked.
Clara's voice blasted through the old public-address speakers.
“Vincent! Move!”
Vincent did.
He hit the nearest gunman.
Anthony drove his shoulder into another.
Outside, Dominic's teams breached simultaneously.
Chaos lasted twenty-seven seconds.
When it ended, four of Salvatore's men were down.
Two surrendered.
Anthony was alive.
Vincent stood near the loading dock.
But Salvatore was gone.
A harbor door swung open beside black water.
Dominic reached the edge.
“No boat.”
Vincent stared into the fog.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message.
One photograph.
Matteo's empty wheelchair.
Vincent's heart stopped.
May you like
Under it were four words.
YOU WATCHED THE WRONG DOOR.
