Chapter 6 - THE EXCHANGE
“Let her go.”
Sophia’s voice echoed through the warehouse.
Emma started crying harder.
“Mommy!”
Sophia took another step.
The gunman pressed the weapon closer.
Alessandro’s hand closed around her wrist.
“Don’t.”
She wanted to scream at him.
Instead she stared at Emma.
Her daughter wore only a sweater, leggings, and one sock.
No shoes.
Her hair was tangled.
A red mark crossed one cheek.
Sophia’s entire body began shaking.
Matteo noticed.
“She’s fine.”
“You hit her.”
“I didn’t.”
“Someone did.”
“Children bruise easily.”
Alessandro spoke.
“Give her to Sophia.”
Matteo smiled.
“Card first.”
Alessandro removed the memory card from his pocket.
Matteo’s gaze locked on it.
“Throw it.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“You’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You came to my warehouse.”
“You kidnapped a child because you’re afraid of something her dead father discovered.”
Matteo’s face tightened.
Alessandro continued.
“That means I have what you need.”
“You have a copy.”
“Of course.”
Matteo laughed.
“There he is.”
Sophia looked between them.
Matteo stepped forward.
“You know what I always hated about you, cousin?”
“I never cared.”
“You were born certain.”
“About what?”
“That everything would belong to you.”
Alessandro glanced around the warehouse.
“I don’t want this.”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“This?”
“Whatever you think you’re fighting for.”
“My father spent thirty years taking orders from yours.”
“And?”
“And when Vittorio died, everyone expected me to kneel to you too.”
“You did that voluntarily.”
Matteo’s jaw flexed.
Emma whimpered.
Bruno growled.
The gunman beside Emma looked nervous.
Matteo noticed the dog.
“What is he doing here?”
Alessandro almost smiled.
“He refused instructions.”
Bruno took one step forward.
The gunman raised his weapon toward him.
Emma screamed.
“No! Bruno!”
The dog stopped.
His chest vibrated with a low sound.
Matteo snapped.
“Control him.”
Alessandro said, “Apparently Emma is the only person who can.”
Even now, Matteo seemed unsettled by that.
Good.
Unsettled men made mistakes.
Alessandro looked past Matteo.
Three armed men on the catwalk.
Two behind crates.
One near the side entrance.
Marco’s people were outside.
Waiting.
Alessandro had one hidden earpiece.
Two clicks meant the north side was covered.
One click sounded.
Not ready.
He needed time.
“Why Daniel?”
Matteo’s eyes returned to him.
“What?”
“Why kill Daniel?”
Sophia stiffened.
Matteo shrugged.
“He was a clerk who thought he was a hero.”
“He was my husband,” Sophia said.
“Yes.”
Matteo looked at her.
“And he became inconvenient.”
“What did he find?”
“You already know.”
“No.”
Sophia swallowed.
“He said someone was above you.”
Matteo went still.
There.
Alessandro saw it.
Fear.
Not anger.
Fear.
“Who?” Sophia demanded.
Matteo’s gaze flickered toward Alessandro.
“Ask his family.”
“Which one?”
Silence.
The earpiece clicked twice.
Ready.
Alessandro took one slow breath.
“Here’s the exchange.”
Matteo watched him.
“I give you the card.”
“And copies.”
“You get one card. Emma walks to Sophia.”
“And the dog?”
“Stays.”
Matteo smiled.
“No.”
Bruno growled.
“I want the dog chained.”
Alessandro almost laughed.
“You first.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
The gunman holding Emma moved.
Tiny mistake.
His attention shifted toward Bruno.
Emma saw Sophia.
Three-year-olds did not understand hostage negotiations.
They understood mothers.
She bit the gunman’s hand.
He shouted.
Emma ran.
Everything happened at once.
“Mommy!”
Sophia moved.
The gunman reached for Emma.
Bruno exploded forward.
Despite arthritis.
Despite the old fracture.
Despite blood still staining his hind leg.
The Cane Corso crossed the concrete like a black missile.
He struck the gunman before the weapon could aim.
Gunfire erupted from the catwalk.
Alessandro pulled Sophia down.
Glass shattered above them.
Emma screamed.
Bruno stood over her.
Bullets hit metal crates.
Marco’s team entered from three sides.
Matteo ran.
“Emma!”
Sophia crawled toward her.
A second gunman appeared behind Bruno.
Alessandro saw him first.
He fired once.
The man dropped.
Sophia reached Emma.
She wrapped herself around the child.
Bruno stayed over both of them.
His body became a wall.
Alessandro moved toward Matteo.
Marco shouted something.
More gunfire.
Then a massive crash sounded from the rear loading bay.
A truck had smashed through the door.
Matteo jumped inside.
Alessandro fired.
The rear window shattered.
The truck accelerated into the snow.
“After him!”
Marco’s men ran toward vehicles.
Alessandro stopped.
Every instinct built over two decades told him to pursue Matteo personally.
Finish it.
End the threat.
Then he heard Emma crying.
He turned.
Sophia sat on the warehouse floor holding her daughter.
Emma clung to her neck.
Bruno lay beside them.
Too still.
Blood spread beneath his body.
Alessandro forgot Matteo.
He ran back.
“Bruno.”
The dog did not lift his head.
Emma sobbed.
“Bruno sleepy.”
Alessandro knelt.
Blood covered Bruno’s shoulder.
Another wound marked his side.
Richard Hale arrived minutes later with the emergency medical team.
He examined the dog.
“Gunshot. Maybe two.”
“Fix him.”
“I need to move him.”
“Fix him.”
Richard looked at Alessandro.
“I will do everything I can.”
Emma touched Bruno’s ear.
“No hospital.”
Sophia kissed her head.
“He needs doctor.”
Emma shook violently.
“No. He stay.”
Alessandro crouched in front of her.
For the first time Emma looked afraid of him.
Not because of his face.
Because he might take Bruno.
“He has an ouchie,” Alessandro said.
Emma cried.
“I fix.”
“You already did.”
She stared at him.
“The first time.”
He touched Bruno’s wet fur.
“You showed us he was hurting.”
Emma’s lip trembled.
“Doctor help now?”
“Yes.”
“You promise?”
Promises were dangerous.
Alessandro had broken many.
But he looked into those enormous frightened eyes and said, “I promise.”
Emma nodded.
Richard’s team lifted Bruno.
The dog whined once.
Emma reached for him.
His eyes opened.
He saw her.
His tail moved against the stretcher.
One time.
Then stopped.
Sophia started crying again.
At the estate veterinary suite, Bruno went into surgery.
Emma refused to leave the hallway.
Alessandro sat beside her.
She leaned against Sophia.
Mr. Buttons had been recovered from the tunnel and now rested in her lap.
Hours passed.
At 3:17 a.m., Richard emerged.
Sophia stood.
Alessandro did not.
He could read faces.
Richard looked tired.
Not defeated.
“He made it.”
Emma woke immediately.
“Bruno?”
“He’s sleeping.”
“Like bath?”
Richard smiled faintly.
“Something like that.”
Alessandro finally breathed.
But Marco entered moments later.
His expression erased the relief.
“We have another problem.”
Alessandro stepped away.
“What?”
“Matteo disappeared.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Marco handed him a phone.
“You don’t understand.”
A photograph filled the screen.
Matteo entering a private airport outside Chicago.
Beside him stood a woman.
Silver hair.
Camel coat.
Elena Moretti.
Alessandro stared.
His aunt.
The woman who had warned Sophia about Daniel.
Marco lowered his voice.
“She helped him escape.”
Alessandro looked through the glass toward Emma asleep beside Bruno’s recovery room.
Then back at the image.
“And she wasn’t alone.”
Marco swiped.
A second photograph.
Elena.
Matteo.
And behind them—
Alessandro’s younger brother, Luca.
May you like
His empire was not being attacked from outside.
It was splitting from within.
