Chapter 9 - The Trap Inside the MansionMarco’s plan depended on one thing Anthony had never understood.
Evelyn gave him water.
He looked personally offended.
“You almost got Mina killed,” she said. “You’re not drinking in my house.”
Dennis wrapped both hands around the glass.
“I didn’t know they were going to hurt her.”
Mina stared.
“You pointed a gun at me.”
“I was supposed to scare you.”
“Excellent distinction.”
Dennis lowered his head.
Marco stood behind him.
“Start from the beginning.”
Dennis swallowed.
“Anthony came to me six years ago.”
“You knew him?”
“No. He used another name.”
“What did he want?”
“Information about Anna.”
Mina stiffened.
“My mother?”
“He knew she used to work at the café. He paid me to report anyone asking about her.”
“Anyone ever did?”
“No.”
“Then why keep paying?”
“He was waiting.”
Mina thought about every late shift.
Every strange customer.
Every time Dennis seemed to watch her.
“You knew who I was.”
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“About three years ago.”
Her stomach turned.
“And you said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
“You liked the money.”
Dennis did not answer.
Marco leaned closer.
“What happened this week?”
“He contacted me. Said Evelyn Castellano would come to the café and that I should make sure Mina was working.”
Mina froze.
“You scheduled me.”
Dennis nodded.
Her entire life had been manipulated down to a shift change.
“Why did Anthony attack Evelyn?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
Dennis looked toward the guards.
“I heard them talking.”
“Who?”
“The men Anthony sent.”
“And?”
“He didn’t want Evelyn dead.”
Marco’s expression sharpened.
“Then what?”
“He wanted her frightened enough to run to family.”
Victor cursed.
“He wanted everyone in one place.”
Dennis nodded.
“He said once Anna learned Mina had been exposed, she would come out of hiding.”
Mina looked at her mother.
Anthony had built a trap across states and years.
And they had all stepped into it.
“What happens next?” Marco asked.
Dennis rubbed his hands.
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
Marco leaned down.
“You set fire to the café.”
“I opened the back door. Someone else started it.”
“Who?”
Dennis whispered a name.
“Officer Bradley Kane.”
Victor laughed darkly.
“A police lieutenant.”
Dennis nodded.
“Anthony owns half the organized crime unit.”
Marco straightened.
“Then local police are compromised.”
Evelyn looked toward Mina.
“We need federal authorities.”
Victor shook his head.
“Which ones? Anthony has spent twenty years buying people.”
Mina stared at Gabriel’s notebook.
Then remembered something.
“Page forty-two.”
Marco looked at her.
“What?”
“There was a name circled.”
She retrieved the notebook.
Page forty-two.
ELIZABETH WARREN — FBI INTERNAL AFFAIRS.
Marco frowned.
“She still active?”
One of his men searched.
“Deputy Director now.”
Anna whispered, “Gabriel trusted her.”
“Then we go directly to her.”
Victor nodded.
“No intermediaries.”
Mina looked around the room.
“And copies?”
“Already being made,” Marco said.
She blinked.
“When?”
“While you were yelling at Dennis.”
“I wasn’t yelling.”
Dennis raised a hand.
“You were definitely yelling.”
Mina pointed at him.
“Not helping.”
By afternoon, encrypted copies had been prepared.
One went to a federal prosecutor.
One to a national newspaper.
One to a law firm in New York.
One stayed with Mina.
Marco gave her a phone.
“What is this?”
“Emergency satellite connection.”
“My current phone works.”
“Your current phone costs forty dollars.”
“It was on sale.”
He looked at her.
“Take it.”
She did.
Their fingers touched.
For half a second, neither moved.
Mina noticed his exhaustion.
The dark circles beneath his eyes.
The tension he carried like armor.
“You okay?” she asked.
Marco looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because you learned yesterday that your father is alive and evil.”
“That is a very concise summary.”
“You didn’t answer.”
“No.”
Mina softened.
“Okay.”
He looked toward Anthony’s file.
“When I was nineteen, my father disappeared. My mother died two years later thinking he had abandoned us.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Evelyn paid for my schooling.”
Mina looked toward the older woman.
“She raised you.”
“In a way.”
“Then you’re family too.”
Marco’s eyes returned to hers.
“Family is complicated here.”
“Clearly.”
His mouth curved.
That was the first real smile Mina had seen.
It disappeared when the alarms began.
A guard shouted from downstairs.
“LOCKDOWN!”
Marco pulled Mina behind him.
Lights switched red.
Evelyn entered the hall.
“What happened?”
“Perimeter breach.”
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
A loud explosion shook the windows.
Mina flinched.
Marco grabbed her hand.
“Safe room.”
“No.”
“Mina.”
“My mother is downstairs.”
“Anna is already moving.”
They reached the staircase.
Smoke seeped through the lower corridor.
Attackers had breached the west wing.
Security exchanged fire outside.
Mina followed Marco through a hidden passage behind the library.
Anna and Evelyn waited inside a reinforced room.
Victor arrived seconds later.
“Where’s Dennis?”
Nobody knew.
Marco slammed the door.
Security monitors showed armed men moving through the grounds.
Mina stared at one screen.
A figure walked calmly between them.
Anthony.
“He came himself.”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
Victor looked at the security system.
“He wants something badly.”
“The originals,” Anna said.
Mina looked toward the files.
Marco shook his head.
“He can’t know where they are.”
Then Mina realized.
Dennis.
“Where is Dennis?”
The safe-room intercom clicked.
A voice filled the room.
Anthony.
“Marina.”
Evelyn’s hand tightened around Mina’s.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Mina walked toward the speaker.
Marco caught her wrist.
She shook him off.
“The evidence belongs to my father.”
Anthony laughed.
“Gabriel is dead.”
“And you’re the reason.”
“Open the safe-room door.”
“No.”
“Then someone else dies.”
A second monitor activated.
Dennis appeared on-screen.
Kneeling.
A gun pressed behind his head.
Mina stared.
Dennis looked terrified.
“I’m sorry.”
Anthony’s voice came through.
“Ten seconds.”
Marco whispered, “Don’t.”
Mina knew Dennis had betrayed her.
He had helped burn the café.
He had endangered her mother.
But she also knew what her father had died trying to prove.
People were not expendable.
Not even cowards.
Mina stepped toward the door.
Marco blocked her.
“No.”
“He’ll kill him.”
“He may kill you either way.”
“Then what do we do?”
Marco looked at the security feed.
Then smiled.
Not warmly.
May you like
Dangerously.
“We make Anthony think he won.”
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