Chapter 4 - The Trap at Pier 42
At 5:30 AM, rain began to pour over the city of Chicago, heavy drops hammering against the high windows of the estate.
Luca’s study was lit only by a single desk lamp. I sat in a leather chair, sipping warm tea, while Daniel—Luca’s towering, scarred head of security—stood near the door, shaking water off his trench coat.
“She wasn't in Milwaukee, Boss,” Daniel reported grimly.
Luca didn't look up from his desk. “Where was she?”
“Arthur Bellini’s men got to her home two hours before I arrived,” Daniel said. “They cleared out her apartment. But my guys intercepted a radio frequency from the Bellini security detail. They didn't kill her, Boss. They're holding her at Pier 42.”
My heart hammered. Pier 42 was the largest, most isolated container yard on the South Chicago docks—the core of the Moretti shipping territory.
“Why hold her there?” I asked nervously.
“Because Arthur Bellini knows I’m tracking her,” Luca said softly, finally standing up from his desk. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a sleek, black 9mm handgun, checking the magazine before sliding it into his shoulder holster. “It's a trap. He wants me to come to the pier so he can eliminate the nurse, the evidence, and me in one clean stroke.”
“You can't go there alone!” I cried out, standing up. “It's too dangerous!”
Luca walked over to me. For a second, the dangerous mafia boss vanished, replaced by a man looking at me with gentle, fierce protection. He reached out, his warm fingers brushing against my cheek.
“I’m not going alone, Emma. Daniel has twenty armed men surrounding the perimeter of Pier 42 as we speak.” He paused, looking down at my bandaged hand. “I need you to stay here with Mrs. Carter.”
“No,” I said firmly, taking a step closer to him.
Luca raised an eyebrow. “No?”
“I am the one who pulled that letter from the fire,” I said, my voice shaking with a courage I didn't know I possessed. “Vanessa knows I saw her. If she realizes you left me here while you went to the pier, she will try to finish what she started in this house. I am safer with you.”
Luca stared at me for three long seconds. A rare, faint smile touched the corner of his lips. “You have more steel in you than anyone in this house, Emma Reed.”
He turned to Daniel. “Put her in the armored SUV. We leave in two minutes.”
Twenty minutes later, three black SUVs cut through the torrential rain, pulling into the vast, towering maze of shipping containers at Pier 42. Giant iron cranes loomed like skeletal giants in the fog. The smell of salt, diesel fuel, and wet steel hung thick in the air.
Our SUV stopped near Warehouse 9.
Daniel checked his tablet screen. “Thermal imaging shows four armed men inside the main office building on the second floor. Nurse Higgins is tied to a chair in the center of the room.”
“And Arthur Bellini?” Luca asked coldly.
“His car is parked behind the north crane. He’s inside.”
Luca unbuckled his seatbelt. He turned to me, his hand resting reassuringly over my uninjured hand. “Stay inside this vehicle with the driver. The glass is bulletproof. Do not step out under any circumstances.”
“Luca... please be careful,” I whispered, squeezing his fingers.
He looked into my eyes, a solemn promise hanging between us. “I’m bringing back my mother's justice, Emma.”
He stepped out into the pouring rain, Daniel and four heavy-armed tactical men falling in behind him as they disappeared into the shadowy maze of steel containers.
I sat in the dark back seat of the SUV, counting every second, my heart pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird.
Five minutes passed. The rain grew heavier.
Suddenly, a loud CLANG echoed right above my head on the roof of the SUV!
Before the driver could react, the front driver's side window was smashed with a heavy steel crowbar! An armed man in a black raincoat reached inside, unlocking the door and dragging the driver out onto the wet asphalt!
I shrieked, scrambling toward the far door!
I grabbed the handle and threw the door open, tumbling out into the freezing rain!
“Grab the girl!” a sharp, familiar voice yelled through the storm.
May you like
I turned around, wiping rain from my eyes.
Standing ten feet away, holding an umbrella and a silver revolver, was Vanessa Bellini.
