Chương 6 - THE GIRL THEY TRIED TO TAKESofia disappeared on Friday afternoon.
At 3:12, she texted me.
Can I come help with cupcakes after school?
At 3:15, I replied.
Only if you promise not to eat the inventory.
At 3:16, she sent:
No legally enforceable promises.
At 3:41, her security driver called Matteo.
She had never reached the car.
By four, half the Vescari organization was searching Chicago.
I learned about it because Matteo stormed into the bakery looking like a man holding himself together through pure violence.
“Where is she?”
“What?”
“Sofia.”
“I haven’t seen her.”
He showed me her message.
“She was coming here.”
My stomach dropped.
“Matteo—”
“Did anyone call?”
“No.”
“Anything unusual?”
“No.”
Then I remembered.
A delivery.
Twenty minutes earlier.
A box had arrived without a return address.
I had assumed it was supplies.
It sat unopened near the back.
Matteo saw my expression.
“What?”
I pointed.
His guard opened it.
Inside was Sofia’s backpack.
My knees weakened.
On top rested a note.
THE LEDGER FOR THE GIRL.
Matteo didn’t react at first.
That frightened me more than shouting would have.
Then he whispered, “Dante.”
I grabbed his arm.
“What are we doing?”
“We?”
“Yes, we.”
“No.”
“Do not start.”
“This is my family.”
“She came here because of me.”
“She came here because she likes you.”
“That is not making me feel better.”
His gaze met mine.
For the first time since I had met him, Matteo looked helpless.
“I promised Elena I would protect her.”
“And we’re going to.”
He pulled away.
“I know what Dante wants.”
“The ledger.”
“No. Control.”
He called Dante.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Ten minutes later, a message arrived from an unknown number.
MIDNIGHT.
OLD VESCARI WAREHOUSE.
COME ALONE.
BRING THE ORIGINAL.
I read it twice.
“The warehouse that burned?”
Matteo nodded.
“It was rebuilt.”
“Who owns it?”
“Dante.”
Of course he did.
Matteo started issuing orders.
Men moved.
Vehicles arrived.
Weapons appeared.
I hated all of it.
“No.”
He turned.
“No what?”
“We’re calling the police.”
“That could get Sofia killed.”
“And storming a warehouse with twenty armed men couldn’t?”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t understand.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you don’t.”
“Then explain.”
He looked at me.
I expected anger.
Instead, he spoke quietly.
“Men like Dante believe police are weakness.”
“Men like Dante depend on everyone believing that.”
He stared.
I stepped closer.
“You want to beat him at his game. He has spent sixty years playing it.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We change the game.”
For the next six hours, we built the least Vescari plan imaginable.
Lawyers.
Police.
Federal contacts.
Copies of the ledger.
Digital backups.
A scheduled file release.
Matteo hated every second.
Sofia would later call it his “forced evolution into civilization.”
At 11:48 p.m., Matteo entered the warehouse carrying the ledger.
I was three blocks away in an unmarked police command van.
Yes, I hated that too.
Detective Maria Alvarez sat beside me.
“If he deviates from the plan, we go.”
“He’ll deviate.”
“You sound confident.”
“He’s a man.”
She smiled.
“Fair.”
Matteo wore a wire.
His voice came through the speakers.
“Where is she?”
Dante answered.
“Still impatient.”
“Where is Sofia?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Footsteps.
Then Sofia’s voice.
“Uncle Matteo?”
I covered my mouth.
Alive.
She sounded terrified, but alive.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Dante laughed.
“A touching reunion.”
“Let her go.”
“The ledger.”
“First Sofia.”
“No.”
Long silence.
Then Matteo said, “You know this doesn’t solve anything.”
“It solves what matters.”
“There are copies.”
“Then tell me where.”
“Let Sofia go.”
Dante sighed.
“You always cared too much.”
“So did Carlo.”
Silence.
The words struck.
Matteo continued.
“That’s why you hate him, isn’t it?”
“You never knew Carlo.”
“I know he tried to build something better.”
“He abandoned his blood.”
“He tried to save his son.”
Dante’s voice rose.
“You think that baker is his legacy?”
My fingers dug into my palm.
“You think Lena belongs in our world because some dead woman slept with the wrong brother?”
Detective Alvarez looked at me.
I looked away.
Matteo answered quietly.
“Lena doesn’t belong to anyone.”
Something in my chest shifted.
Dante said, “Give me the ledger.”
A metallic click sounded through the wire.
Gun.
Alvarez raised her hand.
Officers prepared to move.
Then another sound.
Sofia screamed.
I couldn’t breathe.
Matteo’s voice sharpened.
“Point that at me.”
“Give me the ledger.”
“Point it at me.”
Dante laughed.
“You really would die for this girl.”
“For Sofia? Yes.”
“I wasn’t talking about Sofia.”
Silence.
My heart stopped.
Dante knew.
Matteo knew.
Apparently everyone knew except me.
Then Matteo said, “That’s your problem, Dante. You think loving someone creates weakness.”
A gunshot cracked through the speakers.
I screamed his name.
Police moved.
Doors slammed.
Engines roared.
The warehouse erupted with shouting.
I heard Sofia crying.
Then static.
Nothing.
“Where is he?”
No one answered me.
I tried to get out.
Alvarez stopped me.
“You stay.”
“Matteo!”
“Stay here.”
Minutes became hours.
Maybe they were only four minutes.
They felt like years.
Then a police officer appeared at the van door.
“Sofia’s safe.”
“And Matteo?”
The officer hesitated.
My stomach dropped.
Then behind him, a familiar voice said:
“Unfortunately still alive.”
I shoved past the officer.
Matteo stood beside an ambulance.
Blood covered his shirt.
I stopped.
He held up one hand.
“Shoulder.”
“You were shot.”
“Technically grazed.”
“You were shot.”
“I feel like we’re arguing vocabulary.”
I hit him.
Not hard.
Then grabbed him.
His good arm wrapped around me.
For several seconds, neither of us cared who was watching.
Then Sofia came running.
We pulled her into the embrace.
She was shaking.
But safe.
Across the warehouse yard, police pushed Dante into a cruiser.
He looked toward us.
The expression on his face wasn’t defeat.
It was hatred.
And I knew this wasn’t finished.
Because when officers searched the warehouse, they found weapons.
Cash.
Documents.
Evidence.
But the ledger was gone.
Matteo had brought it inside.
Dante had touched it.
Police had seen it.
And somewhere during the raid, someone had taken it.
Only four people had been close enough.
Matteo.
Dante.
Sofia.
May you like
And one Vescari security guard named Gabriel Russo.
By sunrise, Gabriel had disappeared.
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