Chapter 8 - THE CONFESSION
The sudden darkness was a shock to everyone’s system.
The rival gunmen shouted, firing blindly into the fog, but the lack of light ruined their aim.
Luca didn’t hesitate. He dove to the ground, snatching his dropped gun, and fired twice. Two of the rival thugs dropped to the concrete with cries of pain. The third bolted into the maze of containers, abandoning the job.
I ran forward in the dark, sliding on my knees across the wet concrete until I bumped into Marco.
“Hold still,” I whispered, pulling the small butter knife from my pocket—the one Luca had used to open my father’s watch. I sawed frantically at the thick plastic zip-ties binding Marco’s wrists.
“You’re Arthur’s girl,” Marco rasped, his voice filled with awe.
“He saved you,” I said, snapping the plastic. “Now it’s my turn.”
Suddenly, a hand grabbed my hair, yanking me backward.
Vanessa hauled me to my feet, pressing the cold barrel of her silver pistol against my temple.
“Luca! Stop right there!” she screamed into the fog.
Luca froze ten yards away. He could barely see us, but he could see the silhouette of the gun against my head.
“It’s over, Vanessa,” Luca said, his voice deadly calm. “Your men are gone. Marcus is in police custody. Put the gun down.”
“No!” she shrieked, hysterical. “I spent years building this! I killed Sarah so I could take her place, so I could control you! I kept this miserable brother of yours alive to keep the rivals off my back! I won’t lose it to a bus driver’s daughter!”
“You already have,” Marco said, standing up painfully, holding his ribs. He looked at Vanessa with pure disgust. “You killed Sarah because she found out you were embezzling from the family charities. You ran her off the bridge to silence her.”
I gasped. The hit-and-run wasn’t an accident. It was a cold-blooded assassination to cover up theft.
“And Arthur saw it,” Marco continued, walking slowly toward Vanessa, ignoring the gun. “Arthur saw you. So you threatened his wife. But Arthur came to me. He told me the truth. And we set a trap.”
“Shut up!” Vanessa screamed, her hand shaking violently against my head.
“We faked my death,” Marco smiled, blood on his teeth. “Arthur drove the bus that picked me up on that bridge, making it look like I jumped. We set it up so I could investigate your offshore accounts in secret. But you got lucky. You caught me before I could bring the evidence to Luca.”
Vanessa’s finger tightened on the trigger. “I’ll kill her, Luca! I’ll blow her brains out!”
Before she could pull the trigger, a small, dark shape dropped from the shipping container directly onto Vanessa’s shoulders.
It was Ben.
He wrapped his arms around Vanessa’s face, pulling her backward.
Vanessa screamed, wildly firing the gun into the air as she lost her balance.
I broke free, tackling Vanessa to the ground. Luca sprinted forward, kicking the gun out of her hand and pinning her to the concrete.
Ben scrambled away, running straight into my arms. I held him so tight I thought I might break him, tears streaming down my face.
“Are you okay?” I sobbed, checking his head.
Ben nodded, burying his face in my neck.
In the distance, the wail of police sirens cut through the fog. My mother had followed my instructions perfectly. Before we left the bank, I had sent her a text, telling her to use her relay service to call the police to Pier 44.
Luca hauled Vanessa to her feet, her hands cuffed behind her back with Marco’s broken zip-ties. She looked utterly defeated, her designer clothes ruined, her legacy of lies destroyed.
Marco walked over to me. He looked at my face, then down at my father’s broken watch, which I had safely transferred to my coat pocket.
May you like
He reached out and gently touched my shoulder.
“Your father didn’t just save me, Emily,” Marco said, his eyes filled with tears. “He saved my brother’s empire. He saved little Ben from a monster. Arthur Hayes was the bravest man I ever knew.”
