Chapter 6 - THE VAULT TRAP
The air in the small viewing room instantly felt suffocating.
I stared at the intercom speaker, the reality of Silas’s words crashing over me.
“Silas,” Dante said, his voice a low, vibrating growl of pure, unrestrained hatred. “Open this door.”
“I don't think so, Dante,” Silas chuckled through the static. “You see, I’ve spent twenty years building the Rossi empire by your side. I let you play the boss while I pulled the strings. But Falcone offered me a partnership. And all I needed was to erase the last remaining Rossi heirs. You. And little Leo.”
I pulled Leo close to my chest, shielding him in the corner of the room. The little boy buried his face in my neck, shaking violently.
Answer One. Sarah Voss wasn't a thief. She was a loyal accountant who witnessed Silas murder Dante’s parents. She grabbed the bonds and the bracelet to keep them out of Silas’s hands, then fled to protect me, wiping my memory so I could never be interrogated.
“You won't get away with this,” I yelled at the speaker. “The bank has cameras!”
“The bank manager works for me, sweetheart,” Silas replied coldly. “In about three minutes, he’s going to pump carbon monoxide through the ventilation system into that room. You’ll all fall asleep. When the police find you, it will look like a tragic mafia murder-suicide. The disgraced boss killed his nephew and his lover, then himself. I take the bonds, I take the empire, and nobody asks questions.”
The intercom clicked off.
A faint hissing sound began echoing from the metal grate near the ceiling.
Panic seized my chest. “Dante, we have to get out of here.”
Dante didn't panic. He moved with absolute, terrifying precision. He walked to the heavy steel door and inspected the electronic locking mechanism.
“It’s a dead-latch system,” Dante said, pulling his gun from his holster. “Bulletproof steel. But the wiring runs through the wall panel.”
“Can you shoot it open?” I asked.
“No. A bullet will just fuse the wires and permanently lock us in.” Dante turned to me. He looked at the heavy brass key in my hand. “Give me the key.”
I handed it to him. Dante placed the brass key over the electronic keypad and used the butt of his gun to smash the key into the plastic, shattering the casing. He pulled the exposed wires out.
The hissing from the vent grew louder. The air was already starting to feel heavy. My vision blurred slightly, and Leo coughed.
“Elena,” Dante said, his voice urgent but entirely focused. “I need you to hold these two red wires apart. Do not let them touch, or the failsafe will lock the door forever. Understand?”
I nodded, stepping forward and gripping the tiny copper wires. My hands were shaking, but I held them steady.
Dante moved behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, just like he had in the apartment, but this time, it wasn't a threat. It was protection. He leaned over my shoulder, using the sharp edge of the broken brass key to carefully strip the blue wire hidden deep inside the wall.
“You’re doing perfectly,” he murmured, his breath warm against my cheek. “Just hold on.”
I felt dizzy. The gas was working fast.
“Dante,” I whispered, my voice slurring slightly. “If we don't make it… thank you. For keeping him safe.” I looked down at Leo, who was slumped against the wall, his eyes drooping.
“We are making it out, Elena,” Dante swore fiercely. “I lost Isabella. I lost my parents. I am not losing you.”
Reversal. He wasn't just protecting me because of the bonds. He was protecting me because in the last forty-eight hours, I had become his family.
“Got it,” Dante grunted. He crossed the blue wire with the yellow one.
A loud CLANG echoed through the room. The deadbolts retracted.
Dante kicked the heavy steel door open. Fresh air rushed in.
He scooped Leo up in one arm, grabbed the box of bonds and the bracelet, and grabbed my hand with his other.
We stumbled out of the vault and down the hallway.
The bank manager was standing near the elevator, holding a radio. When he saw us, his eyes widened in terror.
Dante didn't even break stride. He threw a devastating right hook, shattering the manager’s jaw and sending him unconscious to the marble floor.
We burst out of the bank’s side exit into the blinding daylight of a Manhattan alley.
I fell against the brick wall, gasping for clean air, my lungs burning. Leo was coughing, but he was awake and breathing deeply.
“We have the bonds,” I panted, looking at Dante. “We can go to the police. We can give them the proof about Silas.”
“The police won't touch Silas,” Dante said, his face a mask of cold fury. “He has too many judges on his payroll. If we go to the cops, we’ll be dead before we reach trial.”
“Then what do we do?”
Dante looked at me. His gray eyes were entirely devoid of mercy. The loving father was gone. The Mafia Boss had returned.
“We don't go to the police, Elena. We go to a meeting.”
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
“Silas,” Dante said into the phone. “I’m alive. And I have the bonds. Meet me at Vespers in one hour. Just you and me. We settle this where it started.”
Dante hung up.
But Open Two. Why was Dante taking the bonds back to the very place where Silas’s men had nearly killed me?
“Take Leo,” Dante said, handing me a set of keys. “There is a safehouse in Queens. Take the SUV. Hide.”
“No,” I said, grabbing his arm. “I’m not leaving you to die.”
“Elena, you have to—”
“I said no!” I yelled, surprising myself with my own ferocity. “You are not doing this alone. I’m going with you.”
Dante stared at me, seeing the stubborn fire in my eyes. He reached into the velvet box and pulled out his mother’s silver and sapphire bracelet.
May you like
He gently clasped it around my wrist.
“Then we finish this together,” he said.
