The Man Standing In The Driveway

“Lily?” I gasped, the air completely leaving my lungs.

My younger sister, Lily, was a freshman at NYU. She was brilliant, innocent, and completely disconnected from the dark world my father had apparently belonged to. I had worked double shifts for years just to help pay her tuition.

“Let her go, Victor,” I begged, tears spilling over my cheeks. “She has nothing to do with this!”

Answer One: Victor wasn’t targeting Luca directly. He was using my family as leverage to break us.

“She has everything to do with it,” Victor replied smoothly. “Your father’s debt transferred to his bloodline. Luca walked away from his empire, leaving a vacuum. I want the territory, Luca. I want the offshore accounts, the properties, and the politicians.”

“Take it,” Luca said fiercely. “It’s yours. I don’t care.”

“I need you to sign the transfer deeds in person,” Victor said. “Pier 44. Midnight. Come alone. If you bring your men, or the police, the girl ends up at the bottom of the lake.”

The line went dead.

I dropped the phone on the coffee table, a sob tearing from my throat.

“I’ll go,” Luca said immediately, grabbing his jacket. “I’ll sign whatever he wants. I’ll get her back, Emma. I promise you.”

“He’s going to kill you the second you sign those papers,” I cried. “And then he’ll kill Lily to leave no witnesses. You know he will!”

Luca stopped. He knew I was right. Victor was a cleaner. He didn’t leave loose ends.

Open Two: How could we outsmart a man who held all the cards and had a hostage?

I wiped my tears fiercely, staring at the child’s drawing on the table.

My father had been a driver. He had navigated the most dangerous situations in the city using speed, precision, and strategy. I had his blood in my veins. I wasn’t going to let Victor destroy the family I had left, or the family I had just found.

“Luca,” I said, my voice hardening into steel. “I need you to call Dante.”

“Emma, this is syndicate business. You can’t—”

“Call him,” I interrupted, stepping into his space, my eyes fierce. “Victor wants the properties. He wants the offshore accounts. But those accounts are still flagged by the feds from Bianca’s arrest.”

Reversal: The very thing Victor wanted was the weapon we could use against him.

Luca’s eyes widened as he realized what I was suggesting.

“If we transfer the deeds to him while the federal freeze is still active…” Luca started.

“The FBI will trace the ownership directly to Victor Vance,” I finished. “He won’t just inherit your empire, Luca. He’ll inherit the federal RICO case your lawyers have been fighting for two years.”

It was a brilliant, suicidal plan. But it required bait.

“I’m going to Pier 44,” I said.

“Absolutely not,” Luca growled. “It’s too dangerous.”

“He expects you to be a hero, Luca,” I argued. “He expects you to come in guns blazing. He doesn’t expect the maid.”

Midnight. Pier 44.

The rain had stopped, but the fog rolling off Lake Michigan was thick and freezing.

I walked alone down the wooden planks of the pier, clutching a leather briefcase to my chest.

Victor was waiting at the end of the dock, flanked by four armed men. Beside him, kneeling on the wet wood with her hands tied behind her back, was Lily. She was crying, her mascara running down her cheeks.

“Emma!” Lily sobbed as I approached.

“It’s okay, Lily,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “I’ve got you.”

Victor smiled, a cold, calculating grin.

“Where is Luca?” he asked, his men raising their rifles.

“He didn’t come,” I said, lifting the briefcase. “He gave me the power of attorney. I have the deeds. I have the account numbers. Let her go, and it’s yours.”

Victor laughed. “The great Luca Moretti, hiding behind a waitress.”

He gestured to one of his men. The man walked over, snatched the briefcase from my hands, and opened it. He inspected the signed documents and nodded to Victor.

“Everything is here, boss.”

Victor smiled in triumph. He had just stolen Chicago.

“Good,” Victor said. He pulled a suppressed pistol from his coat and pointed it directly at my chest. “Now, say goodbye to your sister.”

I didn’t flinch. I stared right into his scarred face.