Chapter 7 - I Stopped Running
Every man in the room told me not to go.
Elias.
Marco.
Salvatore.
Two federal agents.
Even Isabella.
I listened.
Then I said, “I’m going.”
Elias looked ready to break something.
“He wants you.”
“Yes.”
“That is precisely why you are not walking into his hands.”
“Sophie is there because of me.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“Do not say that.”
I stopped.
He stepped closer.
“Derek took her. Derek made the choice. Derek owns the blame.”
My throat tightened.
It was exactly what I had finally learned to tell myself.
“You’re right.”
“Good.”
“But I’m still going.”
He closed his eyes.
“Khloe.”
“We can plan it.”
“He’ll search you.”
“Then don’t wire me.”
“He’ll move locations.”
“Track me another way.”
Rachel Monroe interrupted.
“We can use a passive transmitter sewn into the lining of her shoe.”
Elias stared at her.
“You’re encouraging this?”
“I’m acknowledging she’s an adult.”
I almost smiled.
Elias did not.
The meeting lasted three hours.
Derek wanted me at an abandoned theater in Queens.
No police.
No Russo men.
I arrived at 11:10 p.m.
Alone.
At least that was what Derek believed.
He stood on the stage.
Sophie was tied to a chair.
A man beside her held a gun.
Judge Adrian Cole emerged from the shadows.
My stomach dropped.
Derek wasn’t the real architect.
Cole was.
“You have something that belongs to us,” he said.
“The ledger?”
“And the recording.”
“I don’t have them.”
“But Russo does.”
“So why take me?”
Cole smiled.
“Because Elias Russo has developed an unfortunate weakness.”
Me.
I hated the way he said it.
Like caring was disease.
Derek approached.
His face looked worse than the last time.
Bruised.
Desperate.
“Come here.”
I didn’t move.
“Khloe.”
“No.”
His jaw twitched.
“Still pretending you’re brave?”
“I’m not pretending.”
He laughed.
“You couldn’t leave me for five years.”
“That wasn’t because you were strong.”
His smile vanished.
“I was scared.”
“You should be.”
“I was.”
I looked him directly in the eye.
“I’m not anymore.”
The sentence felt true the moment I said it.
Derek hit me.
My head snapped sideways.
Elias would kill him if he saw it.
Maybe that was exactly what Derek wanted.
I tasted blood.
But I remained standing.
“You finished?” I asked.
His face contorted.
He raised his hand again.
Cole stopped him.
“We need her alive.”
“For what?”
Cole smiled.
“To bring Russo.”
He took my phone.
Dialed Elias.
Put it on speaker.
Elias answered immediately.
“Khloe?”
Cole spoke.
“Pierce Theater. Bring the evidence.”
Silence.
Then Elias said, “Let me hear her.”
Cole held the phone closer.
“I’m okay.”
Elias knew me well enough by then to hear the lie.
“I’m coming.”
“No,” I said.
Cole frowned.
I continued.
“Elias, listen to me. Don’t give him anything.”
Derek grabbed my hair.
I gasped.
“Khloe,” Elias said.
“Don’t.”
Cole ended the call.
“You think he’ll listen?”
“Yes.”
I hoped.
Twenty-four minutes later, Elias walked through the theater doors carrying a metal case.
Alone.
My heart dropped.
“You idiot,” I whispered.
His eyes found mine.
Blood marked my lip.
Something murderous entered his face.
Cole smiled.
“The case.”
“Release them.”
“Case first.”
“No.”
A standoff.
Then another voice echoed from the balcony.
“Federal agents! Drop your weapons!”
Chaos exploded.
Rachel had traced me.
Cole fired.
Agents returned fire.
The theater filled with screams.
Derek grabbed me.
He pressed a gun under my chin.
“Move!”
He dragged me backstage.
Sophie shouted my name.
I fought.
Not wildly.
Not like before.
I remembered what a self-defense instructor had taught me years earlier.
Control the weapon.
Break balance.
Create distance.
Derek pulled me toward an exit.
I stomped his foot.
Twisted.
The gun shifted.
He struck me.
I fell.
He aimed.
Then Elias appeared.
His gun pointed at Derek.
Everything stopped.
Derek smiled.
“There he is.”
Elias’s face was terrifying.
“Drop it.”
“You love her?”
Silence.
Derek laughed.
“You do.”
“Drop the gun.”
“You know what’s funny?”
His hand trembled.
“She used to love me.”
“No,” I said.
Both men looked at me.
I stood slowly.
“I was afraid of you.”
Derek’s face twisted.
“That isn’t love.”
He turned the gun toward me.
Elias fired.
Derek collapsed.
The gun skidded away.
I stood frozen.
Elias approached cautiously.
“You hit?”
“No.”
He checked anyway.
Hands at my shoulders.
Face.
Arms.
“Elias.”
“I’m fine.”
He stopped.
I touched his cheek.
“I’m fine.”
Behind us, federal agents arrested Cole.
Sophie was freed.
Derek survived.
Barely.
For once, I was glad.
Death would have ended his story quickly.
Prison would make him live with it.
Three days later, Commissioner Mercer was arrested.
Judge Cole was indicted.
Seven officers were suspended.
Four businessmen fled the country.
The Russo organization was raided too.
Elias handed over documents proving his father’s crimes.
And some of his own.
That shocked me.
“What did you give them?”
“Enough.”
“Could you go to prison?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t get to expose everyone else and pretend my hands are clean.”
I stared at him.
For a man raised inside a criminal empire, accountability looked almost revolutionary.
“What happens now?”
May you like
He smiled faintly.
“We find out.”
