Chapter 4 - He Burned a Warehouse for Her BrotherPier Thirty-One smelled like diesel, saltwater, and rust.
Deari arrived in one vehicle.
Luigi followed three blocks behind despite instructions.
Two hidden Hamilton teams positioned themselves at opposite ends of the harbor.
Deari entered the warehouse alone.
A row of overhead lights clicked on.
Owen Vale stood near the center.
Expensive coat.
Perfect tie.
No visible weapon.
Tommy sat several yards behind him in a chair.
Not tied.
That detail mattered.
The young man rocked slightly, hands covering his ears.
His face was wet with tears.
Deari's anger became physically painful.
Owen smiled.
“I knew you'd come.”
Deari ignored him.
“Tommy.”
The young man looked up.
His eyes were frightened.
“Cait?”
“No. I'm Deari.”
Tommy stared.
Then recognition flickered.
“Cait's boss.”
Deari stopped.
“She talks about me?”
Tommy nodded.
“Scary boss.”
Despite the situation, Deari almost laughed.
Owen looked irritated.
“This is touching.”
Deari turned toward him.
“What do you want?”
“Your signature.”
Owen gestured toward a table.
Documents waited.
Deari approached.
Transfer of controlling interest in three harbor companies.
Voting rights.
Shipping licenses.
Enough to give Moretti access to nearly forty percent of Hamilton's legitimate logistics network.
“You kidnapped a disabled man for contracts?”
“Don't be dramatic.”
Deari slowly looked up.
Owen continued.
“He's unharmed.”
Tommy flinched at a distant metal clang.
Deari's voice became dangerously quiet.
“He's terrified.”
“Temporary discomfort.”
Something inside Deari crystallized.
His father used that phrase.
Temporary discomfort.
Regarding employees.
Regarding debtors.
Regarding Deari himself when he was fourteen and beaten for refusing to fire a weapon.
Men like Owen turned suffering into vocabulary.
Deari picked up the pen.
“Release him first.”
Owen laughed.
“You know better.”
“Yes.”
Deari signed.
Owen's smile widened.
Page two.
Deari signed.
Page three.
Signed.
Owen took the documents.
“Pleasure doing business.”
“Tommy.”
Owen gestured.
A guard approached the young man.
Deari saw the weapon.
Saw Tommy's panic.
Saw the guard grab his arm.
Tommy screamed.
Deari moved.
Everything happened quickly.
A pistol appeared in Deari's hand.
One shot.
The guard's weapon fell.
Second shot struck the floor near another man.
Luigi's teams entered from both sides.
Chaos exploded.
Owen ran.
Deari did not chase him.
That surprised everyone.
He went to Tommy.
The young man had dropped beneath the chair.
Hands over his head.
“Don't touch me!”
Deari stopped immediately.
He lowered his weapon.
“Okay.”
Tommy rocked.
“Cait. Cait. Cait.”
“She is safe.”
“Want Cait.”
“I know.”
Deari crouched several feet away.
He remembered Caitlyn explaining overstimulation.
Routine.
Cars.
Seizures.
Deari had read every medical note Luigi could obtain legally during the drive.
“Tommy.”
No response.
“Your sister told me you like trains.”
The rocking slowed.
Tommy peeked.
“Trains?”
“Yes.”
“Old trains.”
Deari nodded.
“Steam.”
“Steam's better.”
“I agree.”
Deari knew nothing about trains.
He would learn.
“Can I sit here?”
Tommy studied him.
Then nodded.
Deari sat on the dirty warehouse floor.
Gunfire echoed far outside as Hamilton men chased Owen's remaining crew.
Deari ignored it.
“Cait says scary boss.”
Deari looked toward Tommy.
“She says that?”
“She doesn't like your ties.”
Deari stared.
Tommy smiled faintly.
It was the first sign he was calming.
“What is wrong with my ties?”
“Boring.”
Deari made a note to discuss this betrayal with Caitlyn.
Ten minutes later Tommy allowed Deari to help him stand.
They exited through the side door.
Luigi was waiting.
“Owen got away.”
Deari nodded.
Luigi looked at Tommy.
“Kid okay?”
“Not a kid,” Tommy said immediately.
Luigi lifted both hands.
“My mistake.”
“Twenty-one.”
“Respectable age.”
Tommy considered Luigi's visible gun.
“You're scarier than him.”
Luigi looked offended.
Deari almost smiled.
They took Tommy directly to a private hospital.
Caitlyn arrived twenty minutes later.
The moment the elevator opened, she ran.
“Tommy!”
He turned.
“Cait!”
Caitlyn wrapped both arms around her brother.
Tommy buried his face in her shoulder.
Deari stood several feet away.
Something inside him hurt.
Not jealousy.
Something deeper.
A memory of having no one run toward him that way.
His mother disappeared when he was young.
His father considered affection an infection.
His brother Daniel died before Deari was twenty-five.
Luigi was loyalty.
But this?
This was love without negotiation.
Caitlyn looked over Tommy's shoulder.
Her eyes found Deari.
She mouthed, Thank you.
Deari nodded.
He should leave.
Instead Tommy spoke.
“Cait.”
“Yes?”
“Your boss sat on dirty floor.”
Caitlyn blinked.
“What?”
“He knows trains.”
Deari's face remained neutral.
Luigi coughed.
Caitlyn looked at Deari suspiciously.
“You know trains?”
“I know enough.”
“You hate public transportation.”
“That is unrelated.”
For the first time since receiving the call, Caitlyn laughed.
Deari realized he would burn ten warehouses to hear that sound when she was afraid.
That thought should have alarmed him.
It didn't.
Dr. Sanders examined Tommy.
Physically unharmed.
Anxiety severe but manageable.
No seizure.
He would remain overnight.
Caitlyn refused to leave.
Deari sat outside the room.
At three in the morning, Caitlyn came out.
“You're still here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Deari looked toward Tommy's door.
“I said I'd find him.”
“You did.”
Caitlyn sat beside him.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Then she said, “Tell me the truth.”
“About?”
“Why they took him.”
Deari did.
Owen.
Moretti.
The photographs.
The contracts.
Caitlyn listened.
When he finished, anger replaced fear.
“Your CFO kidnapped my brother.”
“Yes.”
“Because he thought I mattered to you.”
Deari said nothing.
Caitlyn looked directly at him.
“Deari.”
He exhaled.
“This isn't the place.”
“That means yes.”
“Caitlyn.”
“What am I?”
His chest tightened.
She continued.
“An employee?”
“Yes.”
Her face closed.
“And more.”
She went still.
Deari looked at the floor.
He was terrible at this.
He could negotiate with killers.
Manipulate senators.
Break hostile acquisitions.
But Caitlyn sitting beside him asking what she meant was more terrifying than any gun.
“I don't know what the more is.”
She studied him.
“That's surprisingly honest.”
“I don't have experience with this.”
“With women?”
Deari looked offended.
“No.”
Caitlyn almost smiled.
“With caring.”
His voice changed.
“I don't do it.”
“About anyone?”
“Luigi.”
“That doesn't count. You two communicate through threats.”
“Accurate.”
She smiled.
Deari's gaze lingered.
Then Caitlyn's expression softened.
“You protected Tommy.”
“I retrieved him.”
“You sat on a warehouse floor.”
“He was frightened.”
“You remembered what I told you about his condition.”
Deari looked away.
Caitlyn reached slowly.
Her hand covered his.
Deari stopped breathing.
Unlike the accidental contact on the plane, this was deliberate.
Warm fingers.
Choice.
He stared at their hands.
“You're uncomfortable.”
“Yes.”
She began to remove hers.
Deari turned his hand over and caught her fingers.
Caitlyn's heart skipped.
Neither spoke.
The hospital corridor was silent.
Deari looked at her.
“I signed the contracts.”
“What?”
“To get Tommy released.”
Her expression changed.
“How much?”
“Doesn't matter.”
“How much?”
“Several companies.”
“Deari.”
“I'll recover them.”
“You gave Moretti part of your business for my brother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His thumb moved across her knuckles.
Because you're important.
Because seeing you break would do something to me I don't understand.
Because when I thought Tommy might be hurt, I wanted to tear the city apart.
Because someone finally found a thing I would pay anything not to lose.
Deari said none of it.
Instead:
“Because it was the correct decision.”
Caitlyn shook her head.
“You are such a coward.”
Deari stared.
Nobody called him that.
Nobody survived calling him that.
Caitlyn did not look afraid.
“You can threaten half of New York but you can't say one honest sentence.”
His jaw tightened.
“You want honesty?”
“Yes.”
Deari leaned slightly closer.
“When I saw your photograph on that warehouse wall, I thought about killing everyone connected to it.”
Caitlyn swallowed.
“When Tommy disappeared, I stopped caring what those companies were worth.”
He moved closer.
“And when I walked into that warehouse, the only thought in my head was what your face would look like if I came back without him.”
Caitlyn's breath caught.
“That honest enough?”
“Yes.”
Deari realized how close they were.
So did Caitlyn.
His eyes dropped to her mouth.
She noticed.
Neither moved.
Then Tommy's door opened.
A nurse stepped out.
“Miss Elmore?”
They separated instantly.
Caitlyn stood.
Deari leaned back, silently furious at a nurse who had done absolutely nothing wrong.
“Your brother is asking for you.”
Caitlyn nodded.
Before entering, she looked back.
“Deari?”
“Yes?”
“You should go home.”
His expression cooled.
Caitlyn smiled.
“Sleep.”
He recognized his own command.
Despite himself, he laughed.
She disappeared into Tommy's room.
Deari sat alone.
Then Luigi arrived carrying two coffees.
“You look happy.”
Deari immediately stopped.
“I am not.”
Luigi handed him coffee.
“You're terrible at it.”
“At what?”
“Being human.”
Deari drank.
“Find Owen.”
“Already trying.”
Luigi sat.
After a moment he added, “Moretti now owns Harbor East, Lenox Freight, and your Queens storage company.”
“Temporarily.”
“You gave away about eighty million dollars tonight.”
Deari looked toward Tommy's door.
“Yes.”
Luigi studied him.
“Worth it?”
Deari did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
That answer changed everything.
May you like
Because if Caitlyn had only been a weakness, Deari would have resented the loss.
Instead, for the first time in his life, losing money to protect someone made him feel richer.
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