Chapter 7 - The Ransom
The phone call disconnected, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in the underground vault.
Gabriel stared blankly at the burner phone in his hand before violently smashing it against the concrete floor.
“I trusted Silvio with my life, with my family’s life,” Gabriel raged, his voice echoing off the brass boxes.
Leah stood perfectly still, clutching the leather journal that was apparently worth more than both of their lives.
“He wants the ledger to take over the Falcone empire now that your family is broken,” Leah deduced quietly.
Gabriel turned to her, his dark eyes completely devoid of the warmth he had shown her earlier.
“Hand over the book, Leah,” he demanded, holding out his uninjured hand.
“I am going to trade it for my grandmother, and then I am going to kill Silvio.”
Leah shook her head and took a defiant step backward.
“If you walk into that pier alone, he will kill you and Cecilia the second he has the book,” Leah argued.
“I don’t have a choice!” Gabriel shouted, the desperate facade of the fearless mafia boss finally cracking.
“She is the only family I have left in this miserable world!”
Leah looked at the terrifying man in front of her and saw nothing but a broken boy trying to save his grandmother.
“You are not going alone,” Leah stated firmly, surprising even herself.
“I am coming with you, and I am holding onto the ledger until Cecilia is safe.”
Gabriel looked at her as if she had completely lost her mind.
“You are a nurse, Leah, not a soldier, you will die if you walk onto that pier.”
“I am a Falcone, aren’t I?” she shot back, a bitter smile touching her lips.
“Let’s see if Silvio is brave enough to shoot the daughter of the man who built his empire.”
Gabriel stared at her for a long, agonizing moment before slowly nodding his head.
They left the bank and stole another car, driving in complete silence toward the abandoned industrial docks.
The rain had finally stopped, leaving a thick, eerie fog rolling heavily off the black waters of Lake Michigan.
They parked three blocks away from Pier 47, loading the few weapons Gabriel had stashed in his tactical vest.
“Stay exactly behind me, and do not speak unless I tell you to,” Gabriel ordered, racking the slide of his pistol.
They walked through the thick fog, the massive silhouettes of rusted shipping cranes looming above them like metal monsters.
The main warehouse doors of Pier 47 were wide open, a single harsh spotlight illuminating the center of the room.
Cecilia was tied to a wooden chair directly under the light, her head slumped forward in exhaustion.
Silvio was standing right beside her, holding a large silver revolver against her temple.
“Right on time, boss!” Silvio cheered, stepping fully into the spotlight.
Gabriel raised his weapon, his hands perfectly steady despite his bleeding arm.
“Let her go, Silvio, you have what you want,” Gabriel yelled into the cavernous warehouse.
Silvio laughed loudly, shaking his head with a look of absolute pity.
“I don’t want the book, Gabriel, and I certainly don’t want to run the Falcone empire.”
A second man slowly stepped out from the deep shadows behind the chair, clapping his hands in a slow, mocking rhythm.
It was a man in a perfectly tailored Italian suit, his hair completely silver, holding a golden cane.
Cecilia weakly lifted her head, staring at the man with absolute horror in her eyes.
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“Arthur,” she whimpered, tears spilling down her wrinkled cheeks.
Gabriel lowered his gun in complete shock as he stared at the face of his supposedly dead grandfather.
