Chapter 8 - The Warehouse ConfessionThe warehouse smelled of rust, oil, and old smoke.
Even after twelve years, black marks remained on the brick walls. Twisted metal beams crossed the ceiling like broken bones.
Beatrice looked toward Lily.
The child’s chest rose and fell steadily.
Relief came first.
Then rage.
Victoria leaned against the doorway.
“You should have stayed in the staff wing.”
“You should have stayed away from Lily.”
“She took him from me.”
“She is his daughter.”
“She made him incapable of loving anyone else.”
Beatrice stared at her.
“You were competing with a grieving child.”
Victoria’s face tightened.
“I gave him everything. I learned his schedule. I hosted his associates. I smiled at men who disgusted me. I made myself perfect.”
“And he still loved Lily more.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was terrifying.
Damian entered carrying the metal case.
Most of the documents had been recovered from St. Agnes. He placed the cassette recorder on a crate.
“Robert was irritatingly careful,” he said.
Beatrice looked at the tape.
“You have listened to it?”
“Not yet.”
“Afraid?”
Damian smiled.
“Curious.”
He pressed play.
Static filled the warehouse.
Then Robert Miller’s voice emerged.
Beatrice had not heard her father speak since she was sixteen.
Her breath stopped.
“My name is Robert Miller. I am recording this on October fourteenth. Damian Rossi has been using North Harbor warehouses to redirect controlled shipments and sell delivery information to the Volkov organization.”
Damian’s expression remained calm.
Robert continued.
“He arranged the attack on Pier Nine to force Leo Rossi’s father into expanding private security contracts. He has also transferred money through Kensington Development accounts.”
Victoria looked toward Damian.
“You used my father’s company?”
“Be quiet.”
The recording continued.
“Damian threatened my wife and daughter. If anything happens to me, the evidence must go to Leo Rossi.”
A second voice entered the recording.
Damian’s.
You should have taken the money, Robert.
Beatrice closed her eyes.
Her father responded.
And you should have remembered Leo trusts you.
That is why he will never believe you.
A struggle sounded.
Then Damian’s voice became colder.
Burn the building.
The recording ended.
For several seconds, no one moved.
Victoria stared at him.
“You said the fire was an accident.”
“It was necessary.”
“My father helped you?”
“Your father helped himself.”
“You told me we were protecting Leo.”
Damian laughed.
“You wanted Leo’s name. I wanted his empire. Our goals were temporarily compatible.”
Victoria raised her pistol.
“You promised I would marry him.”
“And you failed because you could not control a six-year-old.”
Beatrice watched them turn against each other.
Damian pressed a button on the wall.
A monitor flickered on.
Leo appeared on the screen inside another section of the warehouse. His hands were bound behind a metal chair. Blood darkened one side of his shirt.
Beatrice’s heart dropped.
“Leo.”
His eyes opened.
He looked directly toward the camera.
“Lily?”
“She is alive,” Beatrice said.
Leo’s shoulders lowered slightly.
Damian smiled.
“He arrived through the eastern tunnel. Alone, as instructed.”
Beatrice knew it was a lie.
Leo never came alone.
Mateo would be somewhere nearby.
Unless Damian had captured him too.
“What do you want?” Leo asked through the speaker.
Damian stepped before the camera.
“What should have belonged to me.”
“You were given half the family operations.”
“I built half the family operations.”
“You stole from them.”
“I modernized them.”
“You murdered Elena.”
Damian’s smile disappeared.
Leo strained against the restraints.
“You put a bomb in her car.”
“She was not supposed to drive that morning.”
“You knew Lily might be with her.”
“She was not.”
“Because Elena forgot Lily’s rabbit and went back inside.”
Damian’s eyes hardened.
“You always were lucky.”
Leo looked toward Beatrice through the monitor.
“I was not lucky.”
The words carried more grief than anger.
“I simply lost less than you intended.”
Damian walked to Lily’s mattress.
Beatrice pulled against the ropes.
“Do not touch her.”
He looked down at the sleeping child.
“Leo will sign control of the shipping companies to me. Then he will confess to killing Victoria.”
Victoria turned sharply.
“What?”
“You are no longer useful.”
She raised her gun.
Damian moved faster.
He struck her wrist, sending the weapon across the floor. Then he grabbed her by the throat and forced her against a beam.
“You nearly ruined everything because you needed a child to love you.”
Victoria clawed at his hand.
Beatrice worked one wrist against the rope.
The knot had loosened slightly.
Damian released Victoria.
She fell, coughing.
“You will appear to be another victim of Leo Rossi,” he said.
A distant explosion shook the warehouse.
Mateo.
Damian looked toward the ceiling.
An alarm began to pulse.
He grabbed the detonator.
Beatrice freed one hand.
She kept it behind the chair.
Leo’s voice came through the speaker.
“You should run, Damian.”
Damian laughed.
“You are tied to a chair.”
“Yes.”
A gunshot sounded from Leo’s room.
One of Damian’s guards fell across the monitor.
Leo had broken the chair’s wooden back and used a jagged piece to cut his restraints.
He rose.
Damian pressed the detonator.
Nothing happened.
Mateo’s voice came through the warehouse radio.
“Explosives disabled.”
Damian’s control vanished.
He grabbed Lily.
The child woke screaming.
Beatrice launched herself from the chair.
She struck Damian with her full weight.
They crashed into the crates.
Lily rolled free.
Victoria reached for the fallen gun.
Beatrice saw her hand close around it.
“Lily, down!”
Victoria fired.
The bullet struck Damian in the shoulder.
He shouted and kicked Beatrice away.
Victoria aimed again.
Not at Damian.
At Lily.
“You ruined everything.”
Beatrice threw herself across the child.
The shot never came.
Leo entered and fired once.
Victoria’s weapon flew from her hand. Blood appeared along her forearm where the bullet had grazed her.
Leo crossed the room.
He untied Lily and pulled her against him.
Beatrice tried to stand.
A guard emerged behind Leo.
Damian shouted, “Now!”
The guard fired.
Leo’s body jerked.
He fell to one knee.
“Daddy!”
Mateo shot the guard from the doorway.
Beatrice crawled toward Leo.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
The bullet had entered below his ribs.
“Pressure,” Mateo ordered.
Beatrice pressed both hands against the wound.
Leo looked at her.
“Lily?”
“Safe.”
“Get her out.”
“We are all leaving.”
Damian staggered toward a side exit, one hand gripping his shoulder.
Mateo raised his weapon.
But a blast tore through the western wall.
Damian had hidden a second set of explosives outside the main system.
Brick and metal collapsed between them.
Smoke filled the room.
When it cleared, Damian was gone.
Victoria remained on the floor, staring at Leo’s blood.
“I loved you,” she whispered.
Leo barely opened his eyes.
“No.”
His voice was weak.
“You loved being chosen.”
Sirens approached.
Beatrice kept pressure on the wound until paramedics reached them.
As they lifted Leo onto a stretcher, his fingers closed around her wrist.
“Do not let Damian take Lily.”
“He won’t.”
“Promise.”
Beatrice looked at the man who had trusted almost no one and the little girl who trusted her completely.
“I promise.”
Leo’s hand fell away.
The heart monitor alarmed.
Paramedics began shouting.
Lily screamed for her father as they rushed him into the ambulance.
Beatrice stood in the burning warehouse with blood covering her hands.
Mateo looked toward the open tunnel where Damian had escaped.
“If Leo dies, every enemy he has will come for Lily.”
May you like
Beatrice pulled the frightened child into her arms.
“Then they will have to come through me.”
