Chapter 6 – THE TRAITOR IN RED

The rain turned from a mist into a heavy downpour, washing over the marble gravestones.

Vanessa stared at the cracked silver pocket watch in Adrian’s hand as if it were a live grenade.

“You want me to hand Carlo the access codes to two billion dollars?” Vanessa asked, her voice trembling. “He won’t believe I just found it. He knows I betrayed him.”

“He knows you are desperate,” Adrian corrected coldly. “Tell him you stole it from me. Tell him you seduced Matteo’s location out of one of my loyal men, sneaked in, and took the watch while I was sleeping. Carlo thinks you’re a survivor. He’ll believe you traded my fortune for your life.”

“And when the New York Commission tracks the login?” Matteo asked, crossing his arms. “They’ll send a hit squad to the steel mill, sure. But Carlo will have an army waiting. It’ll be a bloodbath.”

“Let them bleed each other dry,” Adrian said without an ounce of pity. He closed the watch casing and pressed it into Vanessa’s trembling hand. “You walk in. You hand him the watch. And you walk out before the New York hitters arrive. It’s your only chance to survive this.”

Vanessa clutched the watch to her chest. She looked at me, then at Adrian.

“If I do this,” she whispered, “you let me walk away? Clean?”

“You leave Chicago tonight, and I will never look for you,” Adrian promised.

Vanessa nodded slowly. She stood up, brushing the mud from her knees, and walked back toward the cemetery gates without looking back.

I watched her disappear into the rain. “Do you trust her?”

“Not for a second,” Adrian replied. He picked up the black ledger from the gravestone and wrapped it back in the oilcloth. “She’s going to try and double-cross us. She’s going to use that watch to try and buy her way back into Carlo’s good graces.”

“Then why give it to her?” I asked, confused.

Adrian turned to me, a small, genuine smile breaking through his hardened expression.

“Because the micro-SD card in that watch doesn’t hold the access codes to the family fortune,” he said softly.

Matteo let out a barking laugh. “What’s on it, then?”

“A GPS tracker,” Adrian said. “And an audio transmitter. I haven’t contacted New York yet. But I’m going to. And when Carlo starts talking to Vanessa at the steel mill, the heads of the Five Families will hear every single word of his confession broadcasted live into their boardroom.”

My jaw dropped. Adrian wasn’t just planning to kill Carlo in a shootout. He was going to expose him to the highest power in their world, destroying his legacy permanently.

“We have work to do,” Adrian said. “We need to get to a secure communications terminal to contact New York. Matteo, take Elena and Sophie back to the safehouse. Lock the doors. Don’t let anyone in.”

“I’m not leaving you,” I said immediately, grabbing his arm. “I just found you, Adrian. I’m not letting you walk into a war zone alone.”

“You have a daughter to protect, Elena,” Adrian said gently, touching the side of my face. “My mother died to keep you safe. Don’t make her sacrifice worthless.”

I knew he was right. I couldn’t risk Sophie.

I hugged him tightly. “Come back to us.”

“I swear it,” he whispered.

Matteo drove us back to the meatpacking district. The safehouse was quiet and dark. Sophie was exactly where I left her, still sleeping under my mother’s heavy coat.

I sat by the window for hours, watching the rain streak the dirty glass, praying for Adrian’s safety. Matteo sat by the door, cleaning his revolvers with practiced, rhythmic motions.

At 11:30 PM, Matteo’s burner phone rang.

Matteo answered it. He listened for a few seconds, his expression darkening.

He hung up and looked at me.

“That was one of Adrian’s men,” Matteo said gruffly. “The plan went sideways.”

My heart plummeted into my stomach. “What happened? Did Vanessa warn Carlo?”

“Worse,” Matteo said, standing up and grabbing his coat. “Vanessa didn’t go to the steel mill. She took the watch to the Mayor. She traded the GPS tracker and the audio bug for police protection. The Mayor tipped Carlo off.”

“Oh my god,” I gasped. “Does Carlo know about the broadcast?”

“He knows,” Matteo said grimly. “And he knows Adrian is at the communication hub downtown trying to patch the call through to New York. Carlo just sent fifty men to the hub. They’re going to slaughter him before he can make the call.”

“We have to help him!” I panicked, shaking Sophie awake.

“You stay here,” Matteo ordered. “I’ll go.”

“No!” I yelled, surprising myself with the ferocity in my voice. “I am done hiding. My mother hid for twenty years, and it cost her everything. I am not losing my brother!”

Matteo stared at me. Then, he reached into his bag and pulled out a heavy, Kevlar vest. He tossed it to me.

“Put it on. And keep the kid low in the car.”

We sped downtown, ignoring red lights and speed limits. The communication hub was hidden inside an unassuming, high-rise corporate building in the financial district.

As we pulled up to the loading dock, we heard the terrifying, unmistakable sound of automatic gunfire echoing from the upper floors.

“Stay in the car!” Matteo roared, kicking his door open and drawing his weapons.

He sprinted into the building.

I locked the doors, holding Sophie so tightly she whimpered. “It’s okay, baby. We’re okay.”

Ten agonizing minutes passed. The gunfire stopped.

I stared at the loading dock doors, praying for Adrian to walk out.

Instead, the doors burst open, and a man stumbled out into the alley.

It wasn’t Adrian.

It was Uncle Carlo.

His expensive suit was torn, and he was bleeding from a gunshot wound in his shoulder. He looked panicked, desperately clutching his cell phone.

He looked up and saw our car idling in the alley. He saw me through the windshield.

A cruel, desperate smile spread across his face.

Carlo raised his gun and pointed it directly at the windshield.

Before he could pull the trigger, the backdoor of the SUV was violently ripped open from the outside.

I screamed, spinning around.

Standing in the rain, holding a sleek, silver briefcase, was Vanessa.

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