Chapter 4 - The Enemy Inside the HouseFor 6 days, nothing happened.
That was worse than gunfire.
Dante understood violence.
Violence was honest.
A bullet had direction. A bomb had purpose. A body on the pavement provided information.
Silence provided nothing.
Vincent Caruso had announced his return and disappeared again.
Dante slept less than 2 hours each night.
Harper knew because she slept beside him.
Or tried to.
At 3:12 on Wednesday morning, she opened her eyes and found his side of the bed empty.
She discovered him in the office staring at security reports.
“You’re doing it again.”
Dante did not look up.
“Doing what?”
“Pretending insomnia is a management strategy.”
He turned another page.
Harper took the report from his hand.
“Sleep.”
“No.”
“Dante.”
“There is a leak.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“Vincent knew about Warehouse 6.”
“Half the organization knows about it.”
“He knew about us.”
Her expression changed.
“That list is shorter.”
“Exactly.”
Harper sat across from him.
“How short?”
“Leo. Carter. Hayes. Maybe 3 capos.”
“And building security.”
“They see you staying here. They don’t know what you mean to me.”
“Anyone with basic pattern recognition knows what I mean to you.”
Dante’s expression remained grim.
Harper thought carefully.
“Then we give the leak something to steal.”
He looked at her.
She smiled faintly.
“Finally interested?”
The fake information was simple.
Dante would supposedly meet a Swiss banker at an abandoned textile factory Friday at midnight.
Only 6 people received the information.
Each received a different entrance location.
Leo was told north.
Carter south.
Hayes east.
Capo Marco Bellini west.
Capo Anthony Russo rooftop.
Security chief Peter Walsh basement.
Then they waited.
Friday night arrived with freezing rain.
Dante sat in a surveillance van 3 blocks from the factory.
Harper sat beside him.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“We completed this argument 4 hours ago.”
“I can restart it.”
“I can leave.”
Dante glared.
Harper smiled sweetly.
“Thought so.”
At 11:53 p.m., a black SUV appeared.
It stopped at the west entrance.
Dante’s face changed.
“Bellini.”
Harper felt disappointment rather than surprise.
Marco Bellini had served Dante for 9 years.
He had attended Christmas dinners.
He had toasted victories.
He had once taken a bullet protecting Leo.
Dante reached for the door.
Harper grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Another vehicle appeared.
Then another.
12 men emerged.
They entered through the west side.
Dante’s phone rang.
Marco Bellini.
He answered.
“Boss?”
Dante said nothing.
“Something’s wrong. I just got word there may be movement near the textile factory.”
Harper looked at Dante.
Bellini continued.
“You should cancel the meeting.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“What meeting?”
Silence.
Then Bellini understood.
“Oh.”
Dante’s voice became terrifyingly calm.
“Where are you, Marco?”
“Dante—”
“Where?”
The call ended.
Dante opened the van door.
Harper followed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Stay with Carter.”
“You need someone thinking clearly.”
“I am thinking clearly.”
“That’s exactly what worries me.”
Gunfire erupted inside the factory.
Both froze.
“That wasn’t us,” Harper said.
Dante drew his pistol.
They entered through the south door with Carter and 4 men.
Inside, chaos had erupted.
The attackers were firing at someone on the upper catwalk.
Dante recognized Marco.
Bellini had arrived first.
And he was shooting at Vincent’s men.
“Cover!” Dante shouted.
Bullets struck steel columns.
Harper crouched behind an industrial press while Carter returned fire.
Dante moved with frightening precision.
Within minutes, Vincent’s crew retreated.
2 were captured.
3 were dead.
The others escaped.
Marco descended the stairs with blood running from his shoulder.
Dante aimed at him.
Marco raised both hands.
“I didn’t betray you.”
“You gave them the entrance.”
“No.”
“They came west.”
“I know.”
“Explain.”
Marco looked toward Harper.
Then back at Dante.
“My phone is compromised.”
Harper immediately understood.
“Who had access?”
“My son.”
Dante’s expression darkened.
Marco swallowed.
“Vincent has him.”
Silence.
“He took Michael 4 days ago. Told me if I didn’t feed him information, he’d send my boy home in pieces.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he said if I did, Michael died.”
“You betrayed this family.”
“I tried to give him useless information.”
“You gave him my location.”
“I knew you’d survive.”
Dante stepped closer.
Marco’s face collapsed.
“I’m sorry.”
Harper moved between them.
Dante stared at her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“He betrayed me.”
“He tried to warn you.”
“After giving Vincent the information.”
“Because his son is being held.”
“That does not erase what he did.”
“No. But killing him doesn’t rescue Michael.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
Marco whispered, “Please.”
Dante lowered the gun.
Not because he forgave Marco.
Because Harper was right.
“Where is your son?”
“I don’t know.”
Harper crouched beside one of the captured attackers.
He was young.
Terrified.
Bleeding from the arm.
She looked at him.
“What’s your name?”
He said nothing.
Harper removed his phone from his pocket.
Locked.
She held it toward his face.
Facial recognition opened it.
Dante almost smiled.
Harper searched recent messages.
One conversation contained only coordinates.
She showed Dante.
“Found him.”
The coordinates led to a motel 40 miles outside the city.
Michael Bellini was alive.
Barely.
They found him tied to a chair in Room 17.
Marco collapsed beside his son.
Dante stood in the doorway.
Something changed in his face.
Harper knew why.
For Dante, family had always been a vulnerability.
Vincent believed that made people controllable.
Harper saw something else.
It made them human.
On the drive home, Dante said nothing for almost an hour.
Then:
“I would have killed him.”
“Marco?”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
“You stopped me.”
“Yes.”
“What happens the next time you aren’t there?”
Harper looked at him.
“Then you remember why I stopped you.”
Dante stared through the windshield.
“You think you can make me better.”
“No.”
That surprised him.
“I think you decide what kind of man you are every time you have the opportunity to become worse.”
He looked at her.
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
Then his phone rang.
Leo.
Dante answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“What?”
Harper watched the blood drain from his face.
Dante turned toward her.
“Penthouse security has been breached.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What did they take?”
“Nothing.”
“Then what?”
Dante listened.
His hand tightened around the phone.
“Leo found another envelope.”
Harper closed her eyes.
“What does it say?”
Dante looked at her.
“He wants to meet you.”
“Me?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Where?”
May you like
Dante’s voice became ice.
“Alone.”
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