Chapter 7 - The Midnight Siege
The gunshot tore through the silence of the estate like a whip crack.
Mia flinched violently, knocking the chalkboard slate face-down onto the rug. In an instant, she was curling back into a defensive ball, hyperventilating.
I didn't hesitate. I threw myself across the rug, wrapping my arms completely around her small frame, shielding her body with mine.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered fiercely into her hair. “I’m not letting anyone hurt you. Breathe, Mia. Breathe.”
Footsteps pounded up the stairs—heavy, deliberate, two steps at a time.
I grabbed the heavy bronze lamp base from the bedside table, raising it like a club, positioning myself between the doorway and the child.
Nico burst into the room.
His white shirt was splattered across the right sleeve with fresh blood. In his right hand was a matte-black semiautomatic pistol, its slide locked back. His face was pale, his eyes burning with controlled, lethal fury.
“Nico!” I gasped, lowering the lamp an inch. “What happened?”
“Salvatore didn't want to wait for the judge,” Nico said, his breathing hard and ragged. He dropped the empty magazine from the weapon, slapped a fresh one home with the heel of his palm, and chambered a round with a sharp clack. “Three men breached the perimeter through the service garage. They weren't here to threaten us. They were here to take Mia.”
Mia whined, a tiny, terrified sound from behind my legs.
“Are they gone?” I demanded.
“Two are down. One fled back toward the highway,” Nico said. He looked down at Mia, then at the blood on his sleeve. With a grimace of self-disgust, he quickly turned his arm away to hide the stain from the child. “We can't stay here. Salvatore has compromised two of my perimeter guards. The estate isn't secure.”
“Where can we go?” I asked. “If Salvatore owns the police and the judges, nowhere in the city is safe.”
“The courthouse,” Nico said, checking his watch. It was two in the morning. “The Queens County Surrogate’s Court opens its secure administrative annex at six. If we are physically inside the federal building under judicial protective protocol, Salvatore cannot touch us without starting a full-scale federal investigation.”
“He has people inside,” I countered.
“He has city judges,” Nico growled. “He doesn't have the U.S. Marshals who guard the building doors.”
He stepped forward to lift Mia, but the little girl shrank away, terrified by the weapon and the blood on his cuffs.
“Don't,” I warned Nico softly.
I knelt down in front of Mia. I picked up the chalkboard slate she had dropped. The chalk markings were slightly smudged, but the letters D.W. and the crude drawing of Daniel’s freight logo were still clearly visible.
I held the slate out toward Nico.
“Look at this,” I said.
Nico stared down at the board. The anger in his eyes morphed into frozen shock.
“Daniel,” Nico whispered. “Daniel wasn't just coordinating routes. He was driving the trail vehicle.”
“She saw him, Nico,” I said, my voice shaking with fury. “Daniel didn't run away out of panic. He helped execute your brother. And he sold me to you today because he knew that if I was tied to you, I would take the fall for his company’s fraudulent logistics when the police finally opened the investigation!”
Nico’s jaw tightened until I thought his teeth would crack. “Daniel isn't in Costa Rica.”
I looked at him. “What?”
“When I took you at the church,” Nico said slowly, his voice dropping into an icy register, “I had my men put a tracking transponder in the wheel well of Daniel’s town car. I told him he was free to go, but I never intended to let him leave the tri-state area. He’s currently holed up in a private marina in Red Hook, waiting for a boat at dawn.”
“He’s meeting Salvatore,” I realized with sickening clarity. “Salvatore isn't just trying to kidnap Mia. He’s tying up loose ends. Daniel is the only living witness who can link Salvatore to Matteo’s murder.”
“And Salvatore will kill him the second he steps onto that dock,” Nico said.
“Then we go to Red Hook,” I declared, standing up.
Nico stared at me as if I had lost my mind. “Are you insane? You’re a kindergarten teacher. You’re supposed to be hiding in a safe room.”
“That coward used my name to help kill this little girl’s father!” I shouted, keeping my voice low enough not to rattle Mia. “He put my name on the bills of lading for those trucks! If Daniel dies tonight, Salvatore pins the entire conspiracy on Daniel and me. I go to federal prison for murder and enterprise corruption, and Salvatore walks away with Mia!”
Nico stared at me, his gaze shifting from cold appraisal to genuine, profound respect.
“Rosa!” Nico yelled down the hallway.
The housekeeper appeared at the door, clutching a rosary, her face white.
“Pack Mia’s emergency bag,” Nico commanded. “Bring the reinforced Suburban to the underground tunnel exit. We have forty-five minutes before the tide turns in Brooklyn.”
Mia stood up from the rug. Without a word, she reached down, picked up Matteo’s bloodstained Rolex, and walked over to me.
She didn't offer the watch to Nico.
She reached up with both hands and slipped the heavy gold band around my wrist. It was far too large; it slid loosely down my forearm, resting against the dark bruises Daniel had left behind.
Then, for the first time in four months, Mia leaned her forehead against my hip, letting out a long, shuddering sigh of absolute trust.
May you like
I wrapped my arm around her tiny shoulders, looking straight into Nico’s eyes.
“Let’s go get my life back,” I said.
