Chapter 14 - MIDNIGHT AT THE OLD SHIPPING TERMINAL
At 11:43 P.M., snow began falling over Chicago's abandoned shipping district.
The terminal stood beside the river like a forgotten monument.
Broken windows.
Rusted cranes.
Long shadows stretching across the concrete.
Dominic arrived with Detective Whitmore and a carefully positioned police team.
I wasn't supposed to be there.
My ankle was swollen.
My mother was recovering from surgery.
And Dominic had begged me to stay somewhere safe.
But when Sarah told me Lily might need to hear a familiar voice, I insisted on coming.
I remained inside an armored police vehicle, well away from the terminal.
Dominic crouched beside my window.
“Promise me you won't get out.”
I looked at him.
“Promise me you'll come back.”
He touched my cheek.
“I intend to.”
“That's not a promise.”
He smiled sadly.
“No. It's the truth.”
Then he walked toward the terminal.
Through the vehicle's monitor, I watched the police surveillance feed.
Inside, Vittorio Moretti stood beneath a hanging industrial light.
Lily sat in a chair beside him.
Her wrists were bound.
My heart broke at the sight.
“Lucy,” I whispered.
Dominic entered.
Vittorio smiled.
“My son.”
Dominic stopped ten feet away.
“Let her go.”
“Where's the card?”
Dominic held up a small envelope.
“First, Lily walks out.”
Vittorio laughed.
“You were always sentimental.”
“Let her go.”
Vittorio motioned to a guard.
The man pulled Lily to her feet.
She stumbled.
Dominic took one step forward.
“Careful.”
Vittorio smiled.
“There's the boy I remember.”
Suddenly, a voice echoed from the darkness.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
A man emerged from behind the stacked containers.
His face was scarred.
His left hand badly burned.
But his eyes were unmistakably Moretti.
Alessandro.
Dominic froze.
“Alex?”
His brother looked at him.
For a moment, seventeen years disappeared.
“Hello, little brother.”
Dominic's face crumpled.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
Vittorio's smile vanished.
“You should have stayed hidden.”
Alessandro stepped forward.
“You murdered three children.”
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I was there.”
Vittorio reached inside his coat.
Police officers shouted from their positions.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Vittorio froze.
Alessandro held up a small recording device.
“Everything you said tonight has been recorded.”
Vittorio laughed.
“You think that's enough?”
“No,” Alessandro replied. “That's why I spent seventeen years collecting the rest.”
Dominic looked at his brother.
“You have the evidence?”
Alessandro nodded.
“Financial records. Witness statements. Shipping documents. Everything.”
Vittorio's expression twisted.
“You ungrateful sons.”
He pulled a pistol.
A shot rang out.
Lily screamed.
Dominic lunged toward her.
Alessandro fell against a container.
Police rushed forward.
Within seconds, Vittorio was on the ground, disarmed and handcuffed.
I watched in horror as paramedics ran toward Alessandro.
Then the vehicle door opened.
Sarah stood outside.
“Emily, Lily's safe.”
I burst into tears.
“Dominic?”
“He's okay.”
I couldn't breathe.
“And Alessandro?”
Sarah hesitated.
“He's alive. They're working on him.”
Then Lily appeared behind her.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes were full of tears.
For seventeen years, I'd imagined what my little sister might look like as an adult.
Now she stood three feet away.
“Emily?”
I reached for her.
She collapsed into my arms.
We cried so hard neither of us could speak.
Finally, she whispered, “I thought nobody wanted me.”
I held her tighter.
“I've wanted you back every day of my life.”
Behind us, Dominic emerged from the terminal.
He was bleeding from a cut above his eyebrow.
But he was walking.
He saw us.
And smiled.
For the first time, I saw him look genuinely free.
Then Sarah's radio crackled.
A paramedic shouted something.
Dominic turned.
His expression changed.
May you like
He ran toward the ambulance.
And I realized Alessandro's fight wasn't over.
