Chapter 7 - The Brother's Bargain
The van sped away from the airfield, plunging into the dark rural roads outside the city.
I sat shivering on the cold metal floor, holding a crying Marco tightly against my chest.
Dante watched me with the same cold, calculating eyes as his brother.
"You promised to get me to a safe house," I said, trying to steady my racing heart.
Dante took a slow drag from his cigarette and flicked the ash onto the floorboard.
"I promised to help you escape the airstrip."
"I never said my help was free."
He leaned forward, the dim streetlights passing outside casting long shadows across his scarred face.
"My brother has three hundred million dollars sitting in offshore accounts."
"I want the master passwords to those accounts."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"I don't have his passwords, Dante."
"He doesn't trust me with the grocery budget, let alone his empire's wealth."
Dante smiled, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a small, high-tech listening device.
"I know."
"Which is why you are going to go back to him."
My blood turned to absolute ice.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head violently.
"If I go back now, he will kill me."
"He thinks you were kidnapped by a rival cartel in the confusion of the explosion," Dante explained calmly.
"I left enough evidence behind to make it look like a professional hit."
He tossed the listening device into my lap.
"You will play the traumatized victim who managed to escape her captors."
"You will get back into his good graces, find his ledger, and give me the passwords."
I looked at the wire in my lap, feeling entirely trapped in a nightmare.
"And if I refuse?"
Dante reached out and gently stroked Marco's cheek with a single, calloused finger.
"Then I keep the boy, and I send you back to Roman in a pine box."
Tears of pure desperation spilled over my cheeks.
I was trading one monster for another.
"Fine," I choked out, accepting the impossible task.
"I will do it."
Dante nodded in satisfaction, tapping the partition to signal the driver.
"Good."
"Oh, and Elena?"
He leaned back into the shadows, his eyes completely dead.
"Be careful around Camille."
"She isn't just a mistress."
I frowned, wiping the tears from my face.
"What do you mean?"
"I ran a background check on her while planning this little extraction," Dante smiled darkly.
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"Camille Renard died twelve years ago in a car crash."
"The woman sleeping with my brother is an undercover federal agent."
