Chapter 4 - An Unlikely Alliance
Maria gently picked up the aluminum drive, cradling it in her palms like it was fragile glass. A quiet, shuddering sigh escaped her lips, and for the first time since she had walked through my iron gates, the crushing weight on her shoulders seemed to lift just a fraction.
"What are you going to do with it?" she whispered, looking up at me.
"That depends," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "If you hand this over to local law enforcement, half of whom are on Vincent's payroll or tied to the rival families, it will disappear into an evidence locker, and nothing will happen. If you want true justice—the kind that doesn't get buried under bureaucratic red tape—we need to play this smart."
Maria’s brow furrowed. "Play it how? You're a mafia boss, Daniel. You operate outside the law."
"Precisely because I operate outside the law, I have resources the police can only dream of," I retorted calmly. "Vincent thinks he’s safe hiding in New Jersey. He thinks that because I haven't sent a hit squad after him yet, I’ve moved on. He’s waiting for the heat to die down so he can sell my remaining shipping contacts to the Russians."
"And you want to use the disk as bait," Maria realized, her analytical mind—honed by years of covering for her husband's clandestine work—suddenly clicking into place.
"I want to use the disk to draw him out of his hole," I corrected, a cold, dangerous light entering my eyes. "Not just for your husband, Maria. But for the three men of mine Vincent murdered when he sold us out. In my world, a traitor doesn't get a trial. He gets a reckoning."
Maria looked down at her sleeping daughter, then back at me. The mother protecting her child and the grieving widow seeking closure merged into a single, terrifyingly resolute woman.
"If I help you draw him out," Maria said firmly, "I want guarantees. I want full federal witness protection for Sofia and me once it's over. And I want to be the one who hands the decryption key to the federal prosecutor."
I studied her for a long moment, feeling a deep, unexpected surge of respect. Most people in her position would have begged for money and a bus ticket out of the state. She was bargaining for justice and a future.
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"Deal," I said, extending my hand across the table.
Maria hesitated for a fraction of a second, then slid her small, warm hand into mine. Her grip was surprisingly firm.
