Chapter 5 - The Safe in Hell’s Kitchen
Victor Hale swallowed hard, his eyes darting frantically toward the warehouse exits. But Marco and Leo had already secured the perimeter, their weapons trained on the catwalks.
""You won't shoot me, Dante,"" Victor rasped, his voice trembling despite his best efforts to sound defiant. ""Kill me here, and you prove every single thing the federal prosecutors said about you. You become the butcher they want you to be.""
""I don't need to shoot you,"" Dante replied, his voice terrifyingly calm. He lowered his weapon and delivered a thunderous right hook that sent Victor crashing onto the concrete, his expensive umbrella skittering across the floor. ""Shooting you is too easy. I want to watch you rot in a federal penitentiary for the rest of your pathetic life.""
Elena stepped through the side doors, her leather notebook clutched under her arm, rain clinging to her dark wool coat. Her eyes moved past Dante and locked onto Victor, who was groveling on the floor, holding his bloody nose.
""You killed Lucas,"" Elena said, her voice dropping into a register of icy, chilling venom.
Victor looked up at her, coughing blood onto the gray dust. ""Lucas was a stupid kid who couldn't keep his mouth shut. He thought business was about truth. It’s about power, girl. It has always been about power.""
""Where is the master hard drive, Victor?"" Elena stepped closer, kneeling down so her eyes were level with his. ""We know the primary server wasn't at the corporate office. The mirrored logs came from a private node. Where is it?""
Victor spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor and laughed bitterly. ""Go to hell. Both of you. The injunction goes through in ninety minutes. Even if you hold me here, my legal team has automatic triggers. Without that server, Dante's accounts are locked permanently.""
""He doesn't have the drive here,"" Dante said, looking at the layout of the warehouse. ""Victor is paranoid. He never keeps his real insurance where his associates can touch it.""
Thomas Vance, cowering near the rear tires of the ambulance, raised his trembling hands. ""I know where it is! Don't let them kill me, please! I'll tell you everything!""
Dante turned toward his former chief financial officer, his gaze predatory. ""Speak.""
""Hell’s Kitchen,"" Vance stammered, tears streaming down his ruddy face. ""The old St. Jude’s rectory on 48th Street. Victor bought the abandoned building through a charity trust four years ago. The lower vault in the basement... he keeps an air-gapped server and three million in bearer bonds there. It contains the raw communication logs with the hit team that targeted Lucas Brooks, and the wire transfers that framed Moretti Holdings!""
Victor lunged toward Vance, screaming curses, but Leo pinned Hale to the floor with a heavy boot to his spine.
Elena checked the time on her silver watch. ""It’s 2:10 p.m. Judge Caldwell reconvenes at 3:30. Traffic across Midtown during this storm will take at least forty minutes.""
""Then we don't take the main roads,"" Dante said. He turned to Marco. ""Tie Hale and Vance together. Put them in the back of the ambulance. Take them directly to the federal marshal processing facility on Foley Square. If anyone tries to intercept you, use full force.""
""Understood, boss,"" Marco replied, drawing zip-ties from his tactical vest.
Dante turned to Elena, grabbing her hand. Her fingers were ice-cold from the rain. He pulled her gently toward the idling SUV. ""Let's go get your brother's justice.""
They jumped into the armored vehicle, the engine roaring to life with a deep, primal rumble. Dante slammed the transmission into gear, tearing out of Pier 42 with tires smoking against the wet asphalt.
As they barreled onto the West Side Highway, weaving through heavy lunchtime traffic at terrifying speeds, Elena held onto the dashboard, her breath catching in her throat.
""You're risking your entire life for this,"" she said over the sound of the rain lashing the windshield. ""If we miss the 3:30 deadline, you won't just lose your businesses. They'll issue a fugitive warrant for your arrest.""
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Dante kept both hands locked on the wheel, his eyes laser-focused on the gray ribbon of highway ahead. ""For twenty years, I thought building an empire meant protecting everyone under my name. But I let men like Victor poison the foundation. If I lose the money today, Elena, I can rebuild it tomorrow. But if I let your brother's memory die in that river... then I'm already dead.""
Elena looked at him, the harsh lines of his profile illuminated by the green glow of the dashboard. For the first time, she saw beyond the mafia boss, beyond the terrifying surname. She saw a man fighting with every breath to reclaim his honor.
