Chapter 10 - THE PRICE OF BLOOD
I forgot the room.
Forgot the council.
Forgot the guns.
“Where is she?”
Vincent smiled.
“Safe.”
Luca moved.
I caught his arm.
“Don't.”
Vincent raised the phone.
“Forty-five seconds.”
I stared at him.
“If you hurt her—”
“You've said those words to dozens of people, Adrian. Did they ever help?”
My pulse hammered.
Isabella had been outside fifteen minutes earlier.
Two guards with her.
My guards.
Unless—
Lorenzo.
Vincent watched realization spread across my face.
“Your sister trusted the wrong driver.”
I called her.
No answer.
Thirty seconds.
Vincent tapped the phone.
“Order your men to lower their weapons.”
I did.
Twenty seconds.
“Tell Luca to sit.”
Luca stared at me.
“Do it.”
He sat.
Ten seconds.
Vincent pressed the screen.
“Hello?”
A voice answered.
Lorenzo.
“She's breathing.”
My nails cut into my palms.
Vincent smiled.
“Good.”
He ended the call.
The council looked stunned.
One captain named Marco Bellini stood.
“You kidnapped a Vale?”
Vincent turned.
“Sit down.”
“You threatened the boss's sister in front of us.”
“I said sit down.”
Marco remained standing.
That mattered.
Others noticed.
Vincent had made a mistake.
Old-school men tolerated murder.
Extortion.
Bribery.
But family rules were sacred.
You didn't kidnap the boss's sister during council.
Vincent knew he'd pushed too far.
So he pushed harder.
“Adrian has lost control.”
Marco laughed.
“You look like the one losing control.”
Vincent drew a gun and shot Marco in the shoulder.
Chaos.
Tables overturned.
Men shouted.
I tackled Luca behind a pillar.
Vincent's loyalists opened fire.
Half the council ran.
The other half chose sides.
Glass shattered.
Smoke alarms screamed.
I fired twice.
Luca grabbed a fallen pistol.
“Where's Isabella?”
“Lorenzo has her.”
“Then let's go.”
We escaped through the hotel kitchen.
Outside, three SUVs waited.
Mine.
Luca looked at me.
“You planned that?”
“I've survived Vincent this long.”
We got inside.
My security chief, Daniel Reed, turned around.
“Tracker on Isabella’s necklace activated.”
I stared at him.
“You can track her?”
“She insisted after your kidnapping three years ago.”
I almost laughed.
My sister.
Always smarter than I gave her credit for.
Daniel showed me the map.
An industrial property near Calumet Harbor.
Luca looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“What?”
He pointed.
“There.”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
His breathing quickened.
“I know that place.”
“How?”
His hand started shaking.
“Because that's where I hid the ledger.”
The car went silent.
“What?”
His eyes filled with panic.
“It wasn't Warehouse Seventeen.”
“Luca.”
“I remember.”
He pressed both hands to his head.
“Dad told me not to trust the warehouse. I moved the ledger before the explosion.”
“To Calumet?”
“Yes.”
“Where exactly?”
He looked at me.
“The old Saint Michael shipping office.”
Daniel stared at the map.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“That's where Isabella's tracker is.”
I understood immediately.
Vincent wasn't only using Isabella to control us.
May you like
He knew the ledger was there.
And he was forcing Luca to lead him straight to it.
