Chapter 6 - The Ransom
Aleandro gripped the phone so tightly the plastic cracked.
"What are you talking about, Vincenzo?" Aleandro demanded.
"Your loyal friend Marco survived the shootout at the penthouse," Vincenzo laughed coldly.
"My men brought him to me, and he is currently bleeding out on my floor."
Aleandro closed his eyes, a violent rage building in his blood.
"If he dies, I will burn your entire empire to ashes," Aleandro promised.
"You won't do anything," Vincenzo sneered.
"You have twenty-four hours to bring my niece and the child to the old shipyard on Pier 40."
"If you don't, I will send you Marco's head in a cardboard box."
The line went dead, leaving Aleandro standing in the silence of the warehouse.
Rosa had heard the entire conversation.
"You have to give us to him," Rosa whispered, tears streaming down her face.
"He will kill Marco, and then he will just keep hunting us anyway."
Aleandro looked at the woman who had scrubbed his floors to protect her child.
He looked at the little girl who had marched into his mansion with a mop to save her mother's job.
For twenty years, Aleandro had only cared about power, money, and fear.
Now, he realized he cared about something far more dangerous.
"I am not giving him anything," Aleandro stated firmly.
He crushed the GPS tracker under the heel of his shoe.
"I am going to end the Caruso family tonight."
Aleandro opened a hidden compartment in the floor of the warehouse.
He pulled out heavily armored tactical vests and a terrifying arsenal of weapons.
"Stay here and lock the doors," Aleandro instructed Rosa.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, trembling.
Aleandro loaded an assault rifle and racked the slide with a deadly metallic click.
"I am going to get my friend back, and I am going to make your uncle regret the day he was born."
Aleandro stepped out into the night, but he was not going alone.
He dialed the secret emergency number for the High Commission, ready to call in every favor he was owed.
May you like
A voice answered the phone, but it was not the operator.
"We have been waiting for your call, Aleandro," Tommy, his traitorous security chief, whispered through the receiver.
