Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT WE WENT TO WAR FOR THEM
Our daughters.
I realized only later that Gabriel had said it that way.
Not his daughter.
Our daughters.
Harper wasn't mine.
Maisie wasn't mine.
But somewhere between duct-taped shoes, hot chocolate, hidden recordings, and gunfire, the rules had changed.
Blood was no longer the only thing that made a family.
We reached the abandoned steel plant at 11:51.
Agent Hayes wanted tactical teams.
There wasn't time.
Victor sat handcuffed in the rear of Hayes's vehicle, furious that federal agents had taken custody of him after the cemetery.
The kidnappers wanted him.
Hayes refused.
I understood.
If Victor entered that building, he might escape.
If he didn't, Harper and Maisie might die.
“I'll wear his coat,” I said.
Hayes looked at me like I was insane.
Gabriel nodded.
“From a distance, same height.”
“That's your plan?”
“No,” I said. “That's the distraction.”
The real plan involved tunnels.
My grandfather had used them to move steel during strikes decades earlier.
Victor knew about the main passage.
He didn't know Luca had once found a second service route while playing there at age four.
I remembered because Isabella made me promise to seal it.
I never did.
For once, my failure became useful.
At 11:55, I walked through the main entrance wearing Victor's coat.
Two men watched from above.
“Hands!”
I raised them.
“Where's Victor?”
“In the car.”
“Bring him.”
“I see the girls first.”
A spotlight switched on.
Harper sat on a metal platform thirty feet above the factory floor.
Maisie was tied beside her.
The furnace behind them was not active.
The threat had been visual.
Still dangerous.
The masked leader stepped forward.
He removed his mask.
Caleb Mercer.
Reed's deputy.
I stared.
“You said Victor threatened your family.”
“He did.”
“Hayes rescued them.”
“I know.”
“Then untie the girls.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“I wasn't working for Victor because of my family.”
Behind me, Gabriel should have been entering the service tunnel.
I needed time.
“Then why?”
Caleb looked exhausted.
“Because Victor promised me your empire.”
I almost smiled.
“There it is.”
“You treat men like tools.”
“Maybe I did.”
“You sit in that mansion while everyone else bleeds.”
“Probably true.”
His anger grew because I wasn't fighting him.
“I gave you six years.”
“And I should have known you better.”
He hesitated.
That landed.
“You never asked about my wife.”
“No.”
“Or my sons.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I was not a good man, Caleb. That doesn't make what you're doing to two children my fault.”
His face hardened.
“Bring Victor.”
“Release Harper first.”
“No.”
“Then Maisie.”
“No.”
“Then you don't get Victor.”
A noise came from below.
Gabriel.
Caleb heard it.
“Check the tunnels!”
Two men ran.
Too late.
The factory lights died.
Reed.
Gunfire erupted.
I ran toward the stairs.
Harper kicked one guard behind the knee despite being tied.
Maisie ducked beneath the railing.
Caleb grabbed her.
“Stop!”
Gabriel emerged from the darkness.
His injured arm hung uselessly.
His pistol was in the other hand.
“Put her down.”
Caleb pressed a gun against Maisie's head.
Gabriel froze.
“Dad!”
Caleb smiled.
“Drop it.”
Gabriel did.
I reached the platform below.
Caleb saw me.
“Stay back!”
“Take me.”
He laughed.
“You?”
“You want Marchetti power?”
“Yes.”
“Then I'm worth more than an eight-year-old.”
Maisie was crying.
Gabriel stared at me.
“Elias—”
“Shut up.”
I stepped closer.
“Let her go. I'll walk over.”
Caleb considered.
Greed won.
He pushed Maisie toward Gabriel.
I walked forward.
For one second, we passed each other.
Maisie grabbed my coat.
“Don't.”
“Go to your dad.”
She did.
Caleb seized me.
Gun against my ribs.
“Now we leave.”
He dragged me toward the stairs.
Then Harper shouted.
“Blue November!”
Caleb turned instinctively.
Maisie threw the stuffed fox.
It hit his face.
Ridiculous.
Perfect.
I drove my elbow into his throat.
The gun fired.
Pain exploded through my side.
Gabriel tackled him.
Reed reached Harper.
Hayes's agents flooded the building.
Caleb fired wildly.
One bullet struck a gas line.
Everyone heard the hiss.
“MOVE!”
The first explosion lifted the floor.
Gabriel grabbed Maisie.
Reed cut Harper free.
I couldn't stand.
Blood soaked my shirt.
Harper ran back.
“No!”
“Go!”
“I'm not leaving you!”
The steel platform above us collapsed.
I covered her.
Heat roared through the building.
Gabriel returned.
He hooked my arm over his shoulder.
“You always were heavy.”
“You always complained.”
We staggered toward the service tunnel.
Behind us, Caleb screamed.
I looked back.
A beam pinned his leg.
Fire moved toward him.
He had tried to kill us.
He had betrayed us.
I still turned.
Gabriel stared.
“Elias.”
“Get them out.”
He understood.
I went back.
Caleb saw me.
Confusion replaced terror.
“Why?”
I lifted the beam enough for him to pull free.
“Because I'm done letting Victor decide what kind of man I am.”
We made it into the tunnel seconds before the factory floor exploded.
The pressure wave threw us forward.
Darkness.
Smoke.
Then Maisie's voice.
“Mr. Elias!”
I tried to answer.
Blood filled my mouth.
Someone dragged me.
Hands pressed against my side.
Harper.
“Stay awake.”
“Bossy.”
“Stay awake!”
I heard Gabriel shouting for medics.
Sirens.
Cold air.
Snow against my face.
Maisie crying.
Then nothing.
When I opened my eyes, bright hospital lights burned above me.
Harper was asleep in a chair.
Maisie curled beside her.
Gabriel stood at the window.
“You died for forty-seven seconds,” he said.
My throat was raw.
“Sounds dramatic.”
“It was inconvenient.”
I tried to sit.
Pain stopped me.
“Victor?”
“In custody.”
“Caleb?”
“Alive.”
“The evidence?”
“Hayes has everything.”
I looked at the girls.
“Safe?”
“Yes.”
For the first time in weeks, I exhaled.
Gabriel didn't.
Something was wrong.
“What?”
He turned.
“Victor gave Hayes a statement.”
“So?”
“He named everyone involved in your organization.”
“Expected.”
“He also gave her proof of crimes you actually committed.”
I stared.
Gabriel continued.
“Not Victor's crimes.”
“Mine.”
“Yes.”
The door opened.
Agent Hayes entered carrying handcuffs.
Harper woke.
Maisie sat up.
Hayes stopped beside my bed.
“Elias Marchetti.”
Harper stood.
“No.”
Hayes's expression was almost apologetic.
“You're under arrest.”
Maisie grabbed my hand.
I looked at the cuffs.
Then at Isabella's wedding ring still hanging on a chain around my neck.
For nine years, I had told myself everything I did was necessary.
May you like
Maybe this was the first time I would find out what responsibility actually cost.
I held out my wrists.
