Chapter 6 - THE EXCHANGE
The silence in the boathouse was absolute.
I stared at the black phone in Matteo’s hand, the reality of Constanza’s words sinking into my bones like lead.
Bring me Elena. Alone.
“You’re not going,” Matteo said immediately. He shoved the phone into his pocket and turned to Luca. “Call the capos. All of them. We hit Pier 44 from the water and the street. We slaughter everyone who stands between me and my daughter.”
“No!” I stepped between them. “Matteo, did you hear her? She’ll kill Mia. She’ll drop her in the water before you even breach the gates.”
“I am not trading my wife for my daughter!” Matteo exploded, grabbing my shoulders. His eyes were wild, panicked. The terrifying mafia don was gone; this was a husband and a father pushed to the absolute edge. “I lost you for four years, Elena. I spent every night wishing I was in that fire with you. I will not send you to your death.”
“She’s my baby, Matteo,” I sobbed, resting my forehead against his chest. I could hear his heart hammering, frantic and broken. “I never got to hold her. I never got to hear her first word. I won’t let her die in the dark because we were too proud to play the game.”
I pulled back, wiping my face, my resolve hardening into steel.
“I’m going. Alone.”
Matteo stared at me. He saw the fire in my eyes—the stubborn, relentless fire that he had fallen in love with all those years ago. He knew he couldn’t stop me.
He cursed violently in Italian, kicking a wooden crate across the boathouse.
He turned to Luca. “Take Nico to the safehouse. If we don’t call you by dawn, you take him to Switzerland. You disappear.”
Luca nodded grimly, scooping the terrified little boy into his arms. I kissed Nico’s forehead, leaving a tear on his cheek. “I love you, my brave boy. I’ll bring your sister home.”
Twenty minutes later, Matteo parked a stolen sedan three blocks from Pier 44.
The Seattle harbor was shrouded in thick, freezing fog. The massive shipping containers loomed in the dark like iron monoliths.
Matteo handed me a small earpiece. “Keep this hidden beneath your hair. I have a sniper rifle in the trunk. I’m going to climb the crane overlooking the pier. If anyone touches you—if my mother even looks at you wrong—I’ll put a bullet through her skull.”
I took the earpiece. Then, I pulled him down by his collar and kissed him. It was desperate, bruising, and tasted of blood and rain.
“Don’t miss,” I whispered.
I stepped out into the freezing fog and walked toward Pier 44.
My footsteps echoed on the wet concrete. Ahead, illuminated by the harsh yellow glare of halogen floodlights, stood Constanza Bellandi.
She was wrapped in a black cashmere coat, looking like a queen surveying her kingdom. Flanking her were a dozen men with assault rifles.
And standing next to her, gripping a small hand, was Dr. Evelyn Vance.
The child holding Evelyn’s hand had dark, curly hair and Matteo’s striking gray eyes. She was wearing a small pink coat, clutching a stuffed rabbit.
Mia.
My heart physically ached in my chest. A phantom pain of missing pieces snapping violently back together.
I stopped twenty feet away.
“You always were remarkably stupid, Elena,” Constanza sneered. “Sacrificing yourself for a child who doesn’t even know your name.”
“Let her go,” I demanded, ignoring the weapons pointed at my chest. “You have me. I’m the one you want dead.”
“You’re right,” Constanza smiled thinly. “I never wanted Matteo to marry you. You were a meddler. A bleeding heart. You found my offshore ledgers. You found out I orchestrated the hit on my own husband to take control of the family.”
In my ear, Matteo’s voice hissed over the radio. “I have the shot. Tell me to take it.”
“Wait,” I whispered under my breath. “If you shoot her, the men will open fire. Mia will be caught in the crossfire.”
Constanza snapped her fingers. “Evelyn. Bring the girl forward.”
Evelyn walked forward, dragging Mia by the hand. The little girl looked terrified, her wide gray eyes darting around the dark pier.
She looked at me. There was no recognition. Just fear.
“Mommy, I’m scared,” Mia whimpered.
My heart soared. She felt it. She knew I was her mother.
I dropped to my knees, holding my arms wide. “It’s okay, baby. Come here. Come to me.”
Mia let go of Evelyn’s hand. She ran.
But she didn’t run toward me.
May you like
She turned around and buried her face into Evelyn Vance’s white coat, sobbing.
“It’s okay, darling,” Evelyn cooed, stroking Mia’s dark curls. She looked at me, a twisted, triumphant smile spreading across her face. “She wasn’t talking to you, Elena. I raised her. I’m her mother now.”
