Chapter 7 - The Warehouse
Rain hammered Harbor Island.
Claire sat inside an unmarked police vehicle half a mile from the warehouse.
Dante sat beside her.
He had no business being there.
Claire had told him that eighteen times.
He had ignored her eighteen times.
A portable monitor beneath his jacket tracked his pulse.
His chest tube had been removed earlier than Claire liked.
His left arm remained nearly useless.
And he looked like a man held together by bandages, fury and willpower.
Detective Ward climbed into the front seat.
“Thermal imaging shows eight adults inside. One smaller body in the office section.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“Mia?”
“Most likely.”
“Can you reach her?”
“We’re trying.”
Dante asked, “Luca?”
“Unknown.”
Nico studied the warehouse through binoculars.
“Top office. Third window.”
Claire looked.
A shadow moved.
Then a phone rang.
Dante’s.
Midnight.
Luca.
Dante answered.
“I’m here.”
“So am I.”
“Release her.”
“Come inside.”
“Not until I see Mia.”
A light turned on in the upper warehouse window.
Mia appeared.
Claire’s hands flew to her mouth.
Her daughter stood behind dirty glass.
Someone held her shoulder.
Mia looked tiny.
Dante whispered, “Mia.”
The child couldn’t hear him.
But she suddenly looked toward the distant vehicles.
As if she knew.
Luca returned to the phone.
“One person enters.”
“Me.”
Claire grabbed Dante’s arm.
He looked at her.
“I have to.”
“No.”
“He’ll kill her if I don’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know Luca.”
Detective Ward said, “We can use the tunnel.”
Dante nodded.
“That’s the plan.”
Claire stared.
“You’re still going through the front?”
“Yes.”
“As bait.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Dante touched her face with his good hand.
The gesture was so familiar Claire froze.
“I already failed both of you once.”
“This doesn’t fix it.”
“I know.”
“Dying doesn’t make you a good father.”
“I know.”
“Then stop acting like sacrifice is the same thing as responsibility.”
That landed.
Dante stared at her.
Claire continued.
“Responsibility is staying after the dramatic moment. It’s breakfast. School pickup. Fevers. Nightmares. Dance recitals you don’t understand. Buying the wrong cereal and getting yelled at.”
Dante’s eyes filled.
“I want all of that.”
“Then live.”
Silence.
Dante nodded.
“Okay.”
He entered the warehouse at 12:17 a.m.
Alone.
At least that was what Luca believed.
Police moved through the maintenance tunnel beneath him.
Claire remained in the vehicle.
For ninety seconds.
Then Mia screamed over the listening device.
Claire was out of the car before anyone stopped her.
She ran toward the southern entrance.
Nico caught up.
“Claire!”
“I heard her!”
“Police are inside.”
“So is my daughter.”
They entered through the tunnel.
Rust.
Water.
Old concrete.
Claire followed officers up a metal ladder.
The warehouse above smelled of oil and salt.
Voices echoed.
Dante stood in the center of the floor.
Luca faced him from a steel platform.
Mia stood beside Luca.
A man held her.
Dante’s shirt was soaked from rain.
“You look terrible,” Luca said.
“Being shot does that.”
“You were always dramatic.”
Dante looked at Mia.
“I’m here.”
Mia began crying.
“Dante!”
Claire felt something strange at the name.
Not Dad.
Not yet.
But Mia had called for him.
Luca smiled.
“Touching.”
Dante’s gaze never left Mia.
“Let her go.”
“Sign first.”
A folder waited on a table.
Dante walked toward it.
Claire watched from behind stacked crates.
Police moved into position.
Luca’s men carried weapons.
One wrong movement could turn the warehouse into a massacre.
Dante reached the table.
“Where’s Gabriel?”
Luca smiled.
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because only three people knew the old surveillance existed.”
Luca’s smile widened.
Dante continued.
“Me. Nico. Gabriel.”
Claire looked toward Nico.
His expression changed.
“No.”
Luca laughed.
A side door opened.
Gabriel Bell stepped into the warehouse.
Claire felt betrayal all over again.
Gabriel looked exhausted.
Dante’s face became empty.
“You.”
Gabriel couldn’t meet his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Dante laughed softly.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Gabriel approached.
“I tried to keep Claire and the child out of it.”
“By giving Luca the file?”
“I didn’t give him Mia.”
“You gave him the path.”
“I needed leverage.”
“For what?”
Gabriel’s voice broke.
“To end this.”
Dante stared.
Gabriel pointed around the warehouse.
“Thirty years of blood. Your father. My brother. Men we grew up with. Every time someone tries to leave, someone dies.”
“So you helped Luca?”
“I thought if he had control, he’d stop.”
Luca laughed.
“That was adorable.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Realization appeared.
“You said nobody would be hurt.”
Luca shrugged.
“I lied.”
Dante almost smiled.
“Welcome to the club.”
Claire saw Gabriel’s face collapse.
Luca ordered, “Sign.”
Dante picked up the pen.
Mia sobbed.
Claire wanted to run to her.
Detective Ward held up one hand.
Wait.
Dante opened the folder.
Then looked at Luca.
“You made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You brought my daughter to a Moretti warehouse.”
Luca frowned.
Dante continued.
“And Gabriel knows every security system we ever installed.”
Luca turned.
Gabriel moved.
He slammed an emergency switch.
The warehouse went dark.
Gunfire erupted.
Claire dropped.
Police shouted.
“Seattle Police! Drop your weapons!”
Mia screamed.
Claire ran toward the sound.
“Mia!”
“Mommy!”
A muzzle flash illuminated the platform.
Someone grabbed Claire.
Nico.
“Stay down!”
“My daughter!”
Dante’s voice roared through darkness.
“Luca!”
Another shot.
Then emergency lights flickered red.
Claire saw Mia.
Alone now.
The man holding her lay on the floor.
Claire sprinted.
Mia ran toward her.
Ten feet.
Five.
Claire reached.
Someone seized Mia from behind.
Luca.
He dragged her backward.
A gun pressed against her side.
Everything stopped.
Police aimed weapons.
Dante emerged from the darkness.
Blood soaked his shirt.
“Let her go.”
Luca smiled.
“You always were sentimental.”
“She’s six.”
“She’s leverage.”
“She’s family.”
“So am I.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“No.”
Luca’s smile faded.
“You stopped being family the moment you touched her.”
Mia cried silently.
Claire’s voice shook.
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
Mia did.
“Remember swimming lessons?”
Mia blinked.
Claire continued.
“What do you do when someone grabs you?”
Luca looked confused.
Mia understood.
She suddenly dropped her entire body weight.
Luca lost balance for half a second.
Enough.
Dante lunged.
Gunfire exploded.
Claire screamed.
Luca fell.
Dante hit the ground.
Mia crawled away.
Claire reached her and pulled her close.
“Mommy!”
“I have you.”
Across the floor, Dante wasn’t moving.
Claire’s heart stopped.
“No.”
She pushed Mia toward Nico.
“Take her!”
Claire ran to Dante.
Blood covered his abdomen.
Not the shoulder.
New wound.
Claire pressed both hands down.
“Dante!”
His eyes opened weakly.
“Mia?”
“She’s safe.”
“Good.”
“Don’t you dare.”
He almost smiled.
“You’re yelling.”
“I am absolutely yelling.”
Police surrounded Luca.
Gabriel stood frozen nearby.
Claire ignored them.
Dante’s pulse weakened beneath her fingers.
“Mia needs you.”
His eyes closed.
Claire leaned closer.
“And I am not finished being angry with you.”
A whisper.
“Good.”
“What?”
“I was worried.”
Despite everything, Claire laughed through tears.
“You’re impossible.”
“Claire…”
“Don’t talk.”
“I loved you.”
Her hands froze for half a second.
“Past tense?”
Dante’s eyes opened.
“No.”
Then his body went limp.
“Dante?”
The monitor inside Claire’s medical bag showed his pulse collapse.
“No.”
She began working.
Not as the woman he had left.
Not as the mother of his child.
As Dr. Claire Callahan.
But when his heart stopped beneath her hands, Claire finally understood the truth she had spent six years denying.
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She had learned how to live without Dante Moretti.
She had never learned how to stop loving him.
