Chapter 6 - The Warehouse
The Red Hook warehouse should have been demolished years ago.
I kept it because men like me preserved strange monuments.
Places where enemies died.
Places where alliances were made.
Places where parts of ourselves were buried and never discussed again.
I had not entered this building since Gabriel’s death.
Now I stood outside the same steel door where I once gave the order to end his life.
Midnight rain rolled off the roof.
I carried Gabriel’s microfilm in my inside pocket.
At least, Vincent believed I did.
The real strip was locked inside my estate.
What I carried was a duplicate.
If I failed tonight, Gabriel’s truth would survive me.
I stepped inside.
Lights snapped on one by one.
Vincent stood near the center of the warehouse.
Gray suit.
No tie.
Hands empty.
Six armed men surrounded him.
Maria sat in a chair twenty feet away.
Her hands were bound behind her.
Blood darkened one side of her forehead.
My vision narrowed.
Sofia was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s the girl?”
Vincent smiled.
“Hello to you too.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“That word has lost value coming from you.”
Maria raised her head.
“Daniel, don’t give him anything.”
One of Vincent’s men hit the back of her chair.
I moved.
Five guns rose.
Vincent lifted one finger.
“See?”
I stopped.
“This is what Thomas meant.”
“What?”
“Attachment.”
“Thomas has been wrong about many things.”
“Was he wrong when he built you?”
“I’m not sure he did.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
Good.
I wanted him angry.
Angry men made mistakes.
“Where is the film?”
“Where’s Sofia?”
He nodded toward the office above us.
A small face appeared behind dirty glass.
Sofia.
A man stood behind her.
Gun visible.
She pressed both hands to the window.
“Mr. Daniel!”
Every weapon in the room ceased to matter.
I only saw her.
“I’m here.”
She was crying.
“You promised!”
The words nearly broke me.
“I know.”
“You said you’d take care of Bunny.”
“I did.”
Vincent looked amused.
“Touching.”
I stared at him.
“You’re going to regret hearing that.”
“Threats.”
“Not a threat.”
I reached into my coat.
His men tensed.
Slowly, I removed the plastic evidence sleeve.
Vincent’s eyes locked onto it.
“Slide it over.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“You don’t negotiate anymore, Daniel?”
“Maria first.”
“You’re in no position—”
“Then shoot me.”
Silence.
He didn’t.
Because he needed the film.
I smiled.
There it was.
Leverage.
“Untie Maria. She walks to me. Then you get this.”
Vincent considered it.
“Fine.”
One of his men cut Maria’s restraints.
She stood carefully.
When she reached me, I saw the bruising around her wrist.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“Daniel.”
Later.
If we got one.
Vincent held out his hand.
“The film.”
I tossed the sleeve across the floor.
It stopped halfway.
One of his men retrieved it.
Vincent raised it toward the light.
His face changed.
“This is a copy.”
“Of course.”
His eyes snapped toward me.
“You think I’m stupid?”
“I think you framed a loyal man, betrayed eleven years of friendship and kidnapped a four-year-old because an old man promised you my chair.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“So yes.”
He drew his gun.
Maria whispered, “Daniel.”
“Easy.”
Vincent pointed the weapon at me.
“You always thought you were better than us.”
“No.”
“My father gave your father everything. And when Thomas retired, who got the empire?”
“The person he spent thirty years turning into a weapon.”
“You.”
“You want it?”
I spread my hands.
“Take it.”
Vincent stared.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Maria looked at me.
So did every man in the warehouse.
“You want the clubs? Take them. The ports? Take them. Construction? Yours.”
Vincent laughed uncertainly.
“You expect me to believe you’d walk away?”
“For them?”
I looked at Maria.
Then Sofia above us.
“Yes.”
That was the first completely honest answer I had given inside this warehouse.
Vincent’s amusement disappeared.
Because he understood something before I did.
He had already lost.
If I was willing to surrender the empire, he had nothing left to threaten.
“Bring the girl down,” I said.
“No.”
“Then there’s no deal.”
“You think this is only about business?”
“What else?”
Vincent’s eyes darkened.
“Thomas wants you to suffer.”
My father.
Of course.
“He said Elena made you soft once.”
My mother’s name in Vincent’s mouth infuriated me.
“He wanted proof she could do it again.”
“You kidnapped a child to impress my father?”
“Not a child.”
Vincent pointed upward.
“A test.”
Maria stepped forward.
“You’re sick.”
He aimed at her.
I moved between them.
That shocked him.
Maybe it shocked me too.
“Don’t.”
Vincent stared at me.
“You would take a bullet for the maid?”
I thought of a blanket.
A cracker broken in half.
A little girl saying nobody should be alone.
“She has a name.”
Vincent laughed.
Then the warehouse lights died.
Exactly according to plan.
Marco had spent eleven years learning from Vincent too.
The difference was Marco had remained loyal.
Gunfire erupted.
I grabbed Maria and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
“Stay down.”
“What about Sofia?”
“I’m getting her.”
“Daniel!”
I ran.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Vincent’s men fired blindly.
My team entered through two service doors.
I reached the staircase.
A man appeared above me.
I hit him before he could raise his weapon.
Sofia screamed from the office.
I took the steps two at a time.
The guard inside grabbed her around the waist.
She kicked wildly.
“Let me go!”
“Put her down.”
He pointed the gun toward her.
“Back up.”
I stopped.
Sofia saw me.
Tears streaked her face.
“Mr. Daniel.”
“It’s okay.”
The man’s hand shook.
Good.
Nervous.
Not professional.
I lowered my weapon.
“Take me.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Let her walk out. I stay.”
He hesitated.
Sofia suddenly sank her teeth into his hand.
He screamed.
She dropped.
I fired.
The gun flew from his hand.
I crossed the room before he recovered.
Two seconds later, he was on the floor.
Sofia ran into me.
I lifted her.
She wrapped herself around my neck so tightly I could hardly breathe.
“You came.”
“I promised.”
“I thought you forgot.”
Never.
The word appeared in my mind before I could stop it.
“I didn’t.”
She was shaking.
I carried her downstairs.
The shooting had stopped.
Marco’s men controlled the warehouse.
Maria ran toward us.
“Sofia!”
I handed her daughter over.
They collapsed into each other.
Maria kissed Sofia’s face, hair, hands.
I turned away because the sight made something inside me ache.
Then I saw Vincent.
He was on his knees near the same place Gabriel had knelt five years earlier.
Marco stood behind him.
Blood darkened Vincent’s sleeve, but he was alive.
He looked at me and laughed.
“Perfect.”
“What?”
“This is perfect.”
I approached him.
“You think you won?”
“I know you didn’t.”
I crouched.
“Explain.”
Vincent smiled through split lips.
“Ask Maria.”
The warehouse seemed to grow colder.
Maria went still behind me.
I turned.
Vincent continued.
“Ask her why she really applied for that job.”
I already knew she had come because of Gabriel.
But something in Maria’s face told me there was more.
“Maria?”
She held Sofia tighter.
Vincent laughed again.
“She didn’t just want to clear Gabriel’s name.”
“Shut up,” Maria said.
“She came to destroy you.”
I looked at her.
“Is that true?”
Maria’s eyes filled.
“Daniel, I can explain.”
I felt the old wall inside me rebuilding itself brick by brick.
“What did you plan to do?”
She swallowed.
“Give everything Gabriel collected to the federal prosecutor.”
The warehouse went silent.
All I could hear was my father’s voice from twenty-eight years ago.
Never let anyone see what can hurt you.
I looked at Maria.
May you like
At the woman I had just risked everything to save.
And realized she had entered my home carrying a secret of her own.
