Chapter 10 - THE CHILD VINCENT SHOULD NEVER HAVE TOUCHED
Lorenzo became terrifyingly calm when he saw the crib.
“What’s her name?” Elias asked.
Lorenzo stared at the video.
“Eva.”
“How old?”
“Seven months.”
“And your wife?”
“Rachel.”
Elias nodded.
“We bring them home.”
Lorenzo finally looked at him.
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“You’re my brother.”
“We met thirty minutes ago.”
“And?”
For the first time, Lorenzo almost smiled.
“Claire said you were stubborn.”
“She was being polite.”
They traced the video to an abandoned waterfront warehouse in Bayonne.
Vincent demanded Lorenzo arrive alone with the ledger.
Elias ignored him.
At 5:42 p.m., Lorenzo entered through the front.
Elias’s team entered beneath the pier.
Adeline remained in the mobile command vehicle with Claire.
At least, that had been the plan.
Then Adeline noticed something in the video.
“Pause.”
Marco’s technician froze the image.
Adeline leaned closer.
Behind Rachel was a yellow warning sign.
“Those aren’t warehouse markings.”
Marco frowned.
“What?”
“The sign says oxygen storage.”
Claire looked at her.
“So?”
“Vincent isn’t in a warehouse.”
Adeline had spent three years coordinating Ferrante Shipping’s executive schedules and facility inspections.
She recognized the wall markings.
“That’s Pier Nine.”
Marco looked up.
“Pier Nine was converted into a private medical supply terminal.”
“And it’s two miles south of the warehouse.”
Vincent had sent them to the wrong location.
Adeline grabbed the radio.
“Elias, get out.”
Static.
Then his voice.
“Explain.”
“It’s a trap. Rachel and Eva are at Pier Nine.”
Gunfire erupted through the radio.
Too late.
Explosives detonated inside the warehouse.
The command vehicle shook from two miles away.
Adeline’s heart stopped.
“Elias?”
No answer.
“Elias!”
Static.
Then:
“I’m here.”
She nearly collapsed.
His voice continued.
“Good catch.”
Marco redirected teams toward Pier Nine.
Adeline looked at Claire.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“Mom—”
“I lost twenty-four years with you. I am not watching you run toward Vincent.”
“That woman has a baby.”
Claire closed her eyes.
She understood.
Pier Nine was nearly empty.
Adeline entered behind armed security.
They found Rachel tied inside a refrigerated storage room.
Alive.
The crib was empty.
Rachel sobbed.
“He took Eva.”
Lorenzo arrived seconds later.
His face collapsed.
“Where?”
Rachel pointed toward the shipping dock.
“He said the ledger wasn’t enough.”
“What does he want?”
Rachel looked at Adeline.
“You.”
Adeline froze.
“Me?”
“He said Claire’s daughter has the final key.”
Claire entered behind them.
Her face turned white.
“No.”
Elias arrived.
“What key?”
Claire looked at Adeline’s necklace.
A small silver locket she had worn since childhood.
Adeline touched it.
“This?”
Claire nodded.
“I gave it to Caroline before I disappeared.”
Adeline opened the locket.
Inside was the faded photograph she had seen a thousand times.
Claire and five-year-old Adeline.
Elias examined the frame.
“There’s something behind it.”
He removed the photograph.
A tiny metal strip was embedded inside.
Numbers were engraved across it.
A bank access code.
Claire whispered:
“The account Roberto created.”
“For Lorenzo?”
“No.”
Claire looked at Elias and Adeline.
“For evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Everything needed to destroy Vincent.”
Lorenzo’s phone rang.
Vincent.
He answered.
A baby cried in the background.
Lorenzo’s face became murderous.
Vincent spoke calmly.
“Bring Adeline and the locket to Ferrante Tower.”
Elias looked up.
“Why there?”
Vincent laughed.
“Because this began with Roberto Ferrante.”
A pause.
“And it ends in his office.”
Then the call disconnected.
Elias looked toward Manhattan.
Ferrante Tower contained forty-six floors.
Thousands of employees.
And beneath it, a private archive nobody had opened since Roberto’s death.
Claire suddenly whispered:
“He’s not going there for the account.”
Adeline looked at her.
“Then why?”
Claire’s eyes filled with fear.
“Because Roberto hid a second ledger beneath the building.”
“What’s in it?”
May you like
Claire stared at Elias.
“The name of the man who ordered your father’s death.”
