Chapter 7 - The Midnight Interrogation Inside the Iron Vaults of Lake Michigan
The Bellini kidnapping crew was transported in unmarked vans to an abandoned shipping terminal on the southern edge of Lake Michigan.
The facility was cold, industrial, and completely soundproof.
Leo Bellini was strapped to a steel chair under a single hanging lightbulb, his wounded hand crudely bandaged.
Luca sat across from him, sipping a cup of black coffee that I had poured for him.
“You made a terrible mistake today, Leo,” Luca said quietly, setting the cup down on a metal drum.
Leo spat blood onto the concrete.
“My father is going to wipe you out, Moretti. Vanessa has already met with District Attorney Miller. They have warrants being drafted for your arrest right now. Racketeering, corporate fraud, extortion.”
Luca didn't flinch.
Julian Vance stepped forward from the shadows, holding a tablet displaying live security feeds from the downtown federal courthouse.
“District Attorney Miller was arrested forty minutes ago by federal marshals,” Julian announced smoothly. “It turns out the five million dollars your father wired to Miller’s Cayman Islands account was flagged by the Department of the Treasury.”
Leo’s sneer vanished. His face went ashen.
“You’re bluffing.”
“I don't bluff, Leo,” Luca said, leaning forward. “Vanessa thought she was clever using encrypted offshore routing. But she used the same account codes Antonio Moretti set up twenty-five years ago. I own those routing lines. Every dollar she transferred went through my monitoring servers.”
Luca stood up, towering over the terrified young man.
“Your father is bankrupt. His shipping licenses have been revoked. His political allies are in handcuffs. And your sister is currently hiding in your family’s Lake Shore penthouse, packing suitcases like a common thief.”
Leo began to tremble. “Luca... please. We were family. We were supposed to merge!”
“You ceased being family the moment you burned an old woman’s kitchen and laid your filthy hands on Emma Reed.”
Luca turned to Marco.
“Hand him over to the federal marshals. Let him spend the next twenty years in a federal penitentiary for attempted kidnapping and attempted murder.”
“No! Luca, don't give me to the feds!” Leo screamed as Marco’s men dragged the chair away.
Luca walked over to where I stood by the warehouse doors, watching the dark waves of Lake Michigan crash against the pier outside.
“It’s almost over, Emma,” he said softly, standing beside me in the cold wind.
“What happens to Vanessa and Carmine?” I asked.
May you like
Luca looked out over the black water.
“Tomorrow night is the grand reopening of Caruso’s Trattoria. Carmine and Vanessa will try one last desperate move. And when they do... we will close the trap.”
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