Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO RUN
|
Alexander wanted to move Clare somewhere Richard could never find her. Clare refused to disappear. She agreed to stay in a secure location while Daniel coordinated with law enforcement, but she would not be used as bait without knowing the plan. Evelyn insisted on a full briefing, and for once Alexander accepted that the women in the room had a right to understand the danger.
Richard had chosen an abandoned private club near the river, a property owned by one of the Romano shell companies. He demanded that Alexander arrive alone with Clare and the storage-unit key. Vanessa would be allowed to leave with her father once the exchange was complete.
“It isn't an exchange,” Daniel said. “It's a hostage situation designed to put all of you in one room.”
“Then we don't give him the room he expects,” Clare replied.
They worked through the details for hours. Law enforcement would establish a perimeter without making an obvious show of force. Daniel would carry a decoy key while Vanessa gave investigators the storage-unit location. Alexander would wear a concealed recording device. Clare would remain in a protected vehicle nearby, with a direct line to the team. If Richard demanded to see her, the team would use that demand to delay him while officers moved toward the hostage.
Alexander hated every part of the plan that involved Clare being close to danger. But he did not overrule her. Instead, he asked what would make her feel safer, and they agreed on a signal that would stop the operation if she felt threatened or unwell.
Before they left, Alexander knelt in front of her. His broad shoulders looked strange in that position, stripped of the authority that usually surrounded him.
“I can't promise you nothing will happen,” he said. “I can promise I won't lie to you about the risk.”
Clare touched his cheek. “That's a beginning.”
At the club, Richard waited in a private dining room with two armed men. Vanessa's father sat bound to a chair, bruised but conscious. Richard looked pleased when Alexander entered.
“You brought the key.”
“Let him go first.”
Richard laughed. “Still trying to negotiate like your father. Vittorio believed every problem had a moral solution. It made him easy to predict.”
“You killed him because he found the accounts.”
“I allowed a situation to unfold. Leonard was supposed to frighten him into silence. The road was wet. The driver panicked. These things happen.”
Alexander's hands curled, but he kept his voice steady. “You watched me bury him.”
“I helped you survive.”
“You taught me to confuse fear with loyalty.”
Richard's smile vanished. He demanded the key. Vanessa handed over the decoy, then stepped toward her father. One of Richard's men caught her by the arm. The old man shouted for her to run.
Outside, Clare listened through the secure line. She heard the scrape of a chair, the crack of a slap, and Alexander's breathing change.
Richard had discovered the key was false.
“You brought me a toy,” he snarled.
“I brought you time,” Alexander said.
The signal came from Daniel: officers had reached the rear corridor. Richard saw movement through the glass and pulled a gun from beneath the table. He aimed it at Vanessa's father.
Clare's signal came too late. A second voice entered the room, calm and cold.
“Put the weapon down, Richard.”
Leonard Voss stepped out from a side door, carrying a leather case.
Everyone turned toward him.
Leonard looked directly at Alexander. “Your uncle is expendable. I have the real ledger. And if you want to know who ordered your father's death, you'll let me walk out of here.”
May you like
The room froze. Richard's face drained of color.
For the first time, the man who had orchestrated the scheme looked afraid of someone else.
