Chapter 5 - The Deadly Equation
The ride back across the river into Manhattan was suffocating. Marco drove the black SUV with professional detachment, his gun resting plainly on the console between them, while Rebecca rubbed the deep, purple grooves that the zip-ties had gouged into her wrists. Every instinct screamed at her to flee, to run to the nearest police precinct, but Vittorio’s threat was absolute. In the mafia hierarchy, collateral damage was an afterthought; Camille and that baby would be executed before any tactical team could even locate the warehouse.
When the vehicle pulled into the private alleyway beside the Romano high-rise, Marco kept the engine running. ""You have twenty minutes, Rebecca. You go up the private elevator, open the library safe, get the drive, and come back down. If twenty-one minutes pass, I call the boys upstate, and Camille’s living room gets repainted in crimson.""
Rebecca stepped out of the vehicle without a word, pulling her coat tightly around her trembling frame. The doorman in the lobby, an elderly man who had worked for the Romano family for two decades, tipped his cap with genuine warmth. ""Good morning, Mrs. Romano. Mr. Alessandro has been frantic searching for you all morning. He’s up in the library right now.""
Rebecca froze, her heart leaping into her throat. Alessandro was inside the penthouse. That changed the entire calculation.
She stepped into the private elevator, her thumb tracing the edge of her smartphone inside her pocket. As the elevator ascended rapidly toward the top floor, a desperate, brilliant plan began to take shape in her mind. Vittorio believed she was merely a scorned, heartbroken woman consumed by petty jealousy and terrorized by threats. Alessandro believed she was a fragile civilian whom he needed to shelter and control. Both men had grossly underestimated what a woman was capable of when everything she loved had already been stolen from her.
The elevator doors slid open into the penthouse foyer. The silence inside was thick, almost suffocating, broken only by the sound of muffled voices coming from the grand library down the hall. Rebecca stepped quietly across the polished marble, her leather boots making no sound.
As she reached the heavy mahogany double doors, she paused. Through the crack, she saw Alessandro standing behind his massive desk, his sleeves rolled up, pointing a loaded Beretta at a man kneeling on the Persian carpet—one of his own senior lieutenants.
""You were tasked with securing Camille’s location!"" Alessandro’s voice boomed with terrifying fury, a terrifying display of the underworld kingpin he truly was. ""How did Vittorio’s scouts bypass our perimeter? Who took the bribe?!""
""Boss, I swear on my mother’s life, we didn't see them!"" the lieutenant sobbed, trembling violently. ""They hit the safe house from the rear treeline! They took her and the baby before the secondary team could deploy!""
""Find them,"" Alessandro hissed, lowering the weapon slightly, his gray eyes burning with pure, murderous hatred. ""Turn this entire city inside out. If a single hair on my daughter’s head is harmed, I will burn Vittorio and every man who shares his bloodline to absolute ash.""
""Alessandro.""
Rebecca’s voice cut through the tense room like a silver blade.
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Alessandro spun around, his eyes widening in shock and overwhelming relief as he saw his wife standing in the doorway. ""Rebecca! Dear God, where were you? Your studio was completely trashed—we thought Vittorio had taken you!""
""He did,"" Rebecca said, stepping into the room and closing the heavy mahogany doors behind her. She looked at the terrified lieutenant kneeling on the floor, then back at Alessandro. ""Tell your man to leave. We have five minutes to save your daughter's life, and after that, we are going to destroy Vittorio Romano once and for all.""
