Chapter 11 - midnight at the docks
Victor took the keycard from Luca's hand. He looked at the younger man—the boy Salvatore had kept hidden in the dirt while dressing Victor in tailored suits and teaching him how to rule.
There was no hatred in Luca's eyes. Only the exhaustion of a man who had carried a secret like an anvil on his back for a decade.
"Why give this to me now?" Victor asked.
"Because Celeste panicked tonight," Luca said, chambering another round into his rifle. "When you pulled Adriana out of the floor, Celeste knew her timeline was dead. She sent a signal to her private security team at the docks twenty minutes ago. They aren't holding your mother for leverage anymore, Victor. They're liquidating the asset."
Victor turned to Falcone, who was still cowering on the Persian rug. Victor grabbed the old man by his white hair and hauled him to his feet.
"Call your precinct captain," Victor ordered Falcone. "Tell him the raid on my docks was based on falsified intelligence. Pull every federal agent and state trooper off the perimeter immediately."
"They... they won't listen to me on five minutes' notice!" Falcone stammered, blood trickling from a scratch on his cheek.
Victor pressed the cold steel of his pistol against Falcone's temple. "Then tell them there's a bomb threat at the federal courthouse. Give them whatever lie makes them run. If I see a single badge at the harbor when we arrive, Luca will come back here and finish what his father started."
Falcone frantically snatched his telephone off the side table and began dialing with shaking fingers.
Victor walked out of the parlor, with Luca trailing half a step behind him. They climbed back into the armored SUV, the engine roaring to life as Luca slammed the transmission into reverse and tore out of the ruined estate.
Victor dialed his mansion’s private line.
Adriana answered on the first ring. "Victor?"
"Are you safe?"
"Yes. The guards are outside. But Victor... Celeste is gone."
Victor’s grip tightened on the phone. "What do you mean she’s gone?"
"A helicopter touched down on the west lawn ten minutes ago," Adriana said, her voice shaking. "She had two private mercenaries with her. They forced the outer gate, cleared the landing pad, and took off heading east toward the water."
"She’s heading to the docks," Victor said. "Lock the study doors from the inside, Adriana. Don't open them for anyone until I call you."
"Victor, wait!" Adriana cried. "Before Celeste left, she dropped something in the hallway. A manifest from the shipping terminal."
"What's on it?"
"It's not just a container ship," Adriana breathed. "The vessel isn't registered to Celeste’s family. It’s registered to a company called Vance Maritime Holdings."
Victor stared through the rain-streaked windshield into the dark highway ahead.
May you like
Julian Vance's company. The company that was supposed to have burned thirty years ago.
***
