Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT SOPHIE WALKED INTO THE TRAP
Nicholas should have known Sophie would not obey him.
He had met her because she refused to surrender to a package of crackers.
Expecting obedience now was almost insulting.
He left her with four guards at a secure Falcone property downtown.
Thirty-two minutes later, Sophie climbed out the bathroom window.
It was not graceful.
She tore her coat.
Lost one shoe.
And landed in a hedge.
Still worth it.
Gabriel was waiting in the alley.
Sophie stared at him.
“You knew?”
“That you'd escape?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You and Evelyn make the same face before doing something reckless.”
Sophie brushed leaves from her hair.
“You're helping me?”
“No.”
He opened the passenger door of his car.
“I'm failing to stop you efficiently.”
“That's basically helping.”
“Don't tell Nicholas.”
“If we survive, he's going to kill both of us.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Now you understand being his brother.”
They drove toward the abandoned industrial district.
The address Vittorio had provided belonged to an old Falcone shipping warehouse.
Gabriel had supposedly died there fifteen years earlier when his vehicle exploded after leaving a meeting.
“You really think Isabella is there?” Sophie asked.
“Yes.”
“And Nicholas?”
“Already inside.”
Sophie looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because my brother has always believed he can carry every burden alone.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
“For him or everyone else?”
“Yes.”
The warehouse stood beside the river.
Half its windows were broken.
Nicholas's SUV was parked outside.
No guards.
Sophie frowned.
“Where's his security?”
“Probably positioned nearby.”
“Probably?”
Gabriel checked his weapon.
“Vittorio demanded Nicholas come alone.”
“And Nicholas listened?”
“No. He interprets rules creatively.”
“That I believe.”
They entered through a side door.
Inside, old shipping containers formed narrow corridors.
Voices echoed somewhere ahead.
Gabriel motioned for silence.
They moved toward a raised office.
Nicholas stood in the center of the warehouse.
Alone.
The black ledger rested on a table.
Vittorio Falcone faced him.
Sophie recognized him from charity photographs.
Silver hair.
Tailored suit.
Warm grandfatherly face.
Nothing about him looked dangerous.
That made him worse.
Beside him stood Camille Laurent.
She held a gun against Isabella's ribs.
Nicholas spoke.
“Let my mother go.”
Vittorio smiled.
“You sound exactly like Salvatore when you're angry.”
“Don't insult me.”
“I meant it as a compliment.”
“Then you never knew me.”
Vittorio's smile faded.
“You've become sentimental.”
Nicholas said nothing.
“A librarian, Nicholas?”
Camille laughed.
“I expected better.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“I didn't.”
Her expression tightened.
Sophie almost cheered.
Gabriel touched her shoulder.
Stay quiet.
Vittorio opened the ledger.
“You know what this is worth?”
“Enough that you've murdered people for it.”
“People murder for thousands. This is worth governments.”
Nicholas's eyes remained on Isabella.
“You have it. Release her.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because there's a missing page.”
Nicholas frowned.
“What?”
“Evelyn removed page ninety-two.”
Sophie looked at Gabriel.
He appeared surprised.
Vittorio continued.
“That page contained the access information for an offshore archive.”
Nicholas laughed.
“You've spent fifteen years searching for a page?”
“Not the page.”
Vittorio looked toward the darkness.
“For Evelyn's daughter.”
Sophie felt Gabriel tense.
Nicholas's face changed.
“She doesn't know anything.”
“I believe that.”
“Then why do you want her?”
“Because Evelyn was clever.”
Vittorio reached into his pocket.
He removed a small audio cassette.
“She left instructions.”
Sophie stopped breathing.
Her mother's voice?
Vittorio smiled.
“The final piece only opens with Sophie's birthday.”
Nicholas stared.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
Vittorio's smile disappeared.
“And I am tired of not knowing.”
Sophie looked at Gabriel.
He whispered, “Stay here.”
Then he stepped from the shadows.
“Hello, Uncle.”
Everyone turned.
Nicholas's expression went from shock to fury.
“Gabriel.”
Vittorio laughed softly.
“The dead keep arriving.”
Camille pointed her weapon toward Gabriel.
Nicholas moved.
“Don't.”
Gabriel raised his hands.
“Release Mother.”
Vittorio studied him.
“You were always the disappointing one.”
“And yet I'm alive.”
“For now.”
Sophie remained hidden.
She could see Nicholas calculating.
Distances.
Weapons.
Angles.
Vittorio's men appeared on the upper walkways.
Too many.
Then Sophie's phone vibrated.
She nearly screamed.
A message.
Unknown number.
DON'T MOVE.
Another message appeared.
LOOK LEFT.
Sophie slowly turned.
Marco Bellini crouched behind another shipping container.
He raised one finger to his lips.
Relief hit her.
Then another message.
WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT, GET ISABELLA.
Sophie typed:
HOW?
Marco replied:
IMPROVISE.
She almost threw the phone.
Apparently all Falcone men considered plans optional.
Vittorio was still speaking.
“Where is Sophie?”
Nicholas's voice was cold.
“Safe.”
Vittorio looked at Camille.
She smiled.
“Are you sure?”
Nicholas's expression changed.
Camille held up a phone.
Security footage.
The bathroom window.
Empty room.
Nicholas closed his eyes briefly.
“Sophie.”
Even from hiding, she could hear the exhaustion in her name.
Gabriel coughed to hide a laugh.
Vittorio looked around.
“She came.”
Nicholas shouted, “Sophie, stay where you are.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Come out.”
Sophie didn't move.
Camille pressed the gun harder against Isabella.
The older woman winced.
Nicholas stepped forward.
“Touch her again—”
“You'll what?”
Camille smiled.
“You never loved me this much.”
Nicholas's voice was flat.
“I never loved you.”
The cruelty of the truth struck harder than shouting.
Camille's face twisted.
She turned the gun toward Nicholas.
At that exact moment, the lights died.
Darkness.
Gunfire.
Screams.
Sophie ran.
She knew roughly where Isabella stood.
Her shoulder collided with someone.
Hands grabbed her.
She fought.
“Sophie!”
Isabella.
Sophie grabbed her arm.
“This way.”
They crouched behind a container.
Emergency lights flickered.
Red.
Nicholas was fighting one of Vittorio's men.
Gabriel fired from behind a pillar.
Marco's security team entered through both sides.
Camille disappeared.
Vittorio grabbed the ledger.
Sophie saw him running toward a rear exit.
“Gabriel!”
Gabriel turned.
She pointed.
He chased Vittorio.
Nicholas saw Sophie.
His expression became furious.
Even in the middle of a gunfight.
“You.”
“Later!”
A bullet struck the container beside her.
Nicholas reached them.
He pulled Isabella behind cover.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He looked at Sophie.
“You climbed out a window.”
“Technically.”
“Do you have any idea—”
“Can we fight about this after people stop shooting?”
Nicholas stared at her.
“Fine.”
Another shot.
“Definitely.”
They moved toward the exit.
Then Sophie's eyes landed on the table.
The cassette.
Vittorio had left it.
“My mother's recording.”
Nicholas grabbed her before she could run toward it.
“No.”
“I need it.”
“I'll get it.”
“You're injured.”
“So are you if you move.”
Before either could act, Camille emerged.
She held the cassette in one hand.
Gun in the other.
“Looking for this?”
Nicholas pushed Sophie behind him.
Camille laughed.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“The way you look at her.”
Nicholas said nothing.
“You never looked at me like that.”
“You never gave me a reason.”
Camille's eyes filled with rage.
She aimed at Sophie.
Nicholas moved.
Sophie grabbed a metal hook from the floor and threw it.
Terrible throw.
It struck Camille's wrist anyway.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Nicholas tackled her.
The cassette fell.
Sophie grabbed it.
Camille screamed as Marco restrained her.
Nicholas stood.
He looked at Sophie.
She held up the cassette.
“I got it.”
His face was furious.
And relieved.
Then Gabriel's voice shouted from outside.
“Nicholas!”
They ran.
At the river's edge, Vittorio stood on an old loading dock.
Gabriel faced him.
The ledger lay between them.
Vittorio held a gun.
“Don't come closer.”
Nicholas stopped.
“It's over.”
Vittorio laughed.
“Nothing is over.”
He kicked the ledger toward the water.
Gabriel lunged.
Vittorio fired.
Gabriel fell.
Nicholas shouted.
Sophie froze.
The ledger slid across the wet dock.
Stopped at the edge.
Vittorio ran toward a waiting boat.
Nicholas dropped beside Gabriel.
Blood spread across his brother's shoulder.
“I'm fine,” Gabriel gasped.
“Everyone in your family says that after being shot,” Sophie muttered.
Gabriel almost laughed.
Police sirens approached.
Vittorio's boat disappeared into darkness.
Nicholas looked at the ledger.
Then at the cassette in Sophie's hand.
“We have him.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Nicholas looked down.
“What?”
“Page ninety-two.”
Gabriel's breathing was strained.
“If Vittorio is right, the ledger isn't the real weapon.”
Sophie held up the cassette.
“Then maybe this is.”
Hours later, in a secure room at Falcone House, they found an old cassette player.
Sophie inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice.
Her mother's.
Sophie covered her mouth.
“My darling Sophie. If you're hearing this, then you are old enough to understand why I kept secrets from you.”
Tears filled Sophie's eyes.
Nicholas stood beside her.
Evelyn continued.
“Gabriel and I discovered that Vittorio created a second archive containing evidence against people far more dangerous than Salvatore understood.”
The tape hissed.
“The archive is protected by three questions.”
Sophie frowned.
“Questions?”
“The first answer is the day you were born.”
Sophie whispered her birthday.
“The second is the thing I always told you mattered more than being right.”
Sophie smiled through tears.
“Being kind.”
“The third answer…”
Static swallowed the recording.
“No,” Sophie whispered.
The tape distorted.
Then Evelyn's voice returned.
“The third answer is the name of the man I trusted to protect you if I couldn't.”
Everyone looked at Nicholas.
Sophie did too.
But Evelyn said one final word.
“Gabriel.”
Nicholas slowly turned toward his brother.
Gabriel's face had gone white.
Then the mansion alarm began screaming.
Marco ran into the room.
“Someone accessed the archive.”
Nicholas stood.
“How?”
Marco stared at the computer.
“They answered all three questions.”
Sophie looked at Gabriel.
Only a handful of people knew those answers.
The screen flashed.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Then another message appeared.
ARCHIVE DELETION INITIATED.
May you like
Time remaining:
09:59.
