Chapter 8 - The Devil's Trade
Mara stared at the screen, the image of her little sister burning into her retinas.
Lily was crying silently in the video, her terrified eyes darting around the dark room.
“Mara, what is it?” Gabriel asked, noticing the absolute horror draining the color from her face.
Mara couldn't speak, so she simply turned the cracked phone screen toward him.
Gabriel glanced at the video while driving, his jaw tightening into a brutal, unforgiving line.
“Vincent,” Gabriel growled, his hands gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
A second text message illuminated the screen.
The abandoned shipping yards at Pier Forty-two, come exactly in one hour, alone with Gabriel.
“He wants a trade,” Mara whispered, her voice completely broken.
“He wants the keys and my grandfather's ledger in exchange for her life.”
Daniel leaned forward from the passenger seat, his face grim.
“It is a suicide mission, Gabriel.”
“If we go to those docks, he will kill all of us the second he gets his hands on those keys.”
Gabriel knew Daniel was absolutely right.
“We are not going to the docks,” Gabriel stated firmly, keeping his eyes on the road.
“We are going to the bank to empty his accounts right now.”
Mara felt a cold, desperate panic rise in her chest.
She reached into her purse, her hand wrapping around the small, cold metal of the gun Daniel had dropped in the alley.
She pulled it out and pointed the barrel directly at the back of Gabriel’s seat.
“Turn the car around,” Mara ordered, her hands shaking violently but her voice dead serious.
Gabriel looked at her reflection in the rearview mirror, his dark eyes showing no fear, only deep calculation.
“You don't know how to use that, Mara,” he said calmly.
“I will figure it out,” she cried, the tears finally breaking free.
“I will trade your entire mafia empire to save my little sister, Gabriel, I swear to God I will do it.”
Gabriel did not look angry at her betrayal.
He simply pulled the black sedan over to the side of the deserted road and shifted it into park.
He turned around slowly, looking at the gun pointed at him, and then looked directly into her terrified eyes.
“Put the gun down, Mara,” Gabriel said softly.
“I never said we were leaving her to die.”
Mara’s hands trembled, the heavy weapon feeling impossible to hold steady.
Gabriel reached out and gently pushed the barrel of the gun downward.
“My uncle wants to play a game with his new toys,” Gabriel smiled, a cold, predatory expression forming on his face.
“So we are going to go to the docks, and we are going to give him exactly what he wants.”
May you like
He looked at Daniel, who immediately began pulling tactical explosives from a duffel bag on the floorboard.
“We are just going to make sure he chokes on it,” Gabriel finished, putting the car back in gear.
