Chapter 6 - The Man Who Wanted the Whole City
Mason smiled.
I raised my hands.
“Put it down.”
“No.”
“Then you're dead.”
He laughed.
“You sound like Luca.”
“He taught me.”
“I taught him nothing.”
“You taught him what not to become.”
That made him angry.
He stepped closer.
“You think this is about money?”
“No.”
“Good.”
His eyes darkened.
“Because money was never the point.”
“What was?”
Control.
He wanted to control the ports.
The politicians.
The police.
The courts.
The unions.
The media.
He wanted an entire city that answered to him.
Luca had always been the strongest obstacle.
My father had been the second.
Adrian had been the third.
And I was supposed to be the last loose end.
Mason raised the weapon.
Then the lights went out.
Luca.
Gunfire erupted.
Adrian stormed through the side door.
Mason ran.
Luca reached me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He looked at my hand.
“Your fingers?”
“Still attached.”
He smiled.
“That will do.”
We grabbed the files.
Then the hotel alarm began.
Mason had triggered the evacuation.
We escaped through the basement.
Outside, police surrounded the building.
Mason had planned for that too.
Several officers approached.
One pointed at Luca.
“Luca Moretti.”
Luca stopped.
“Hands where we can see them.”
I froze.
The officer held a warrant.
“For murder.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“I can prove this is fabricated.”
The officer smiled.
“You can explain downtown.”
Something felt wrong.
Mason had people inside the police.
I looked at the paperwork.
The warrant had a signature.
A familiar one.
A judge whose name appeared in the ledger.
“Luca.”
He looked at me.
I pointed.
“The date."
He understood.
The warrant had been issued tomorrow.
It was impossible.
The officer's expression changed.
He knew we had caught it.
Luca moved.
The confrontation was brief.
The honest officers separated from the corrupt ones.
The files were transferred to federal investigators.
Mason escaped in the confusion.
But he had lost the hotel.
The next morning, the city woke to headlines.
PORT NETWORK CORRUPTION SCANDAL.
NAMES LEAKED.
MASON BLACKWELL SOUGHT.
Vanessa was arrested.
She cooperated.
My father testified.
Adrian testified.
Luca testified.
And I submitted the recording.
The evidence spread.
Mason's network collapsed.
But he was still missing.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Mason's voice.
“Grace.”
I said nothing.
“You have something I want.”
“What?”
“Your father.”
I froze.
He had escaped with him.
My father had been staying under federal protection.
Somebody inside had betrayed us.
Mason had taken him.
“Where?”
“The old train station.”
“Come alone.”
I almost laughed.
“You've used that line before.”
“This time, I mean it.”
“If I don't come?”
“He dies.”
I ended the call.
Luca entered.
“What happened?”
I told him.
He immediately reached for his phone.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“Grace.”
“He wants you.”
“Then that's exactly where he'll be looking.”
I understood.
It was a trap.
But not one we could ignore.
We went anyway.
This time, we were ready.
The station was empty.
My father was tied to a chair.
Mason stood behind him.
But something was different.
He looked tired.
Desperate.
Cornered.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
He raised his gun.
My father spoke.
“Don't.”
Mason smiled.
“Still loyal.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I pity you.”
Mason's face hardened.
“For what?”
“For spending your entire life trying to own things that never belonged to you.”
Mason fired.
Luca tackled me.
The bullet struck the chair.
Security rushed the room.
Mason ran.
Adrian chased him.
Luca stayed with my father.
Then I saw blood.
“Dad!”
He had been hit.
Not badly.
A graze.
But enough to terrify me.
The police captured Mason outside.
He was finally taken into custody.
After six years, the nightmare ended.
But my father looked at me.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
He smiled.
“You never found out who actually saved you the night I disappeared.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
He pointed toward the doorway.
Vanessa.
May you like
She stood there.
“I did.”
