Chapter 4 - The Ghost
The phone nearly slipped from my sweaty fingers.
"Mark?" I choked out, completely unable to breathe.
"Did you honestly think a little river water could kill me?" he laughed cruelly.
Lily looked up at the phone, recognizing the voice from old home videos.
"Daddy?" she asked innocently.
The line went completely silent for a long, agonizing moment.
"Well, it sounds like my little girl is safe," Mark finally replied.
Dominic snatched the phone from my hand, his jaw clenched in absolute fury.
"You are a coward for sending hitmen after your own child, Mark," Dominic growled.
"I did not send the Falcones, Dominic, they found out she survived on their own."
Mark sounded frantic now, the cruel confidence completely gone from his voice.
"I need that money to buy my freedom from the Russian syndicate."
"You are a dead man, Mark," Dominic promised in a lethal whisper.
"If you want to keep Elena and Lily alive, you will bring the rabbit to the old shipyard," Mark demanded.
Dominic narrowed his eyes, looking directly at the battered stuffed toy in Lily's arms.
"You hid a forty-million-dollar ledger inside a child's toy?" Dominic asked in disbelief.
"Bring Mister Buttons to Pier Forty in one hour, or the Falcones will hunt them forever."
Mark disconnected the call, leaving a dial tone echoing in the quiet car.
I looked at the gray rabbit my daughter had slept with every single night for three years.
My dead husband had turned my child into a walking target for the mafia.
"We have to give it to him," I pleaded, grabbing Dominic's sleeve.
"If we give him the money, this entire nightmare will finally end."
Dominic gently pried my fingers off his expensive suit jacket.
"The Falcones do not leave witnesses, Elena, even if they get their money back."
He pressed a button on the intercom to speak to his driver.
"Change of plans, Marcus, take us to the secure penthouse immediately."
The car accelerated, speeding toward the glittering skyline of Manhattan.
"I will protect you both, but we are not negotiating with a traitor," Dominic vowed.
May you like
Suddenly, the armored vehicle violently slammed to a halt, throwing us forward against our seatbelts.
Our driver slumped heavily against the steering wheel, a massive bullet hole in the reinforced windshield.
