Chapter 8 - The Last MorettiHarper woke furious.
Not frightened.
Not confused.
Furious.
She sat upright so quickly the room tilted.
Leo stood nearby.
She threw a pillow at him.
“You drugged me!”
“Technically Dante did.”
“You helped!”
“Yes.”
“I will kill both of you.”
“Get in line.”
Harper climbed from bed.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“How long?”
“40 minutes.”
She checked the clock.
11:21 p.m.
“He’ll reach the terminal before midnight.”
“Yes.”
Harper grabbed her laptop.
Leo stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving my idiot fiancé.”
“You were specifically sedated to prevent that.”
“And yet here we are.”
“Harper—”
“Do you want Dante alive?”
Leo sighed.
“Yes.”
“Then get Carter.”
Dante arrived at Northern Terminal at 11:58.
No weapon.
Vincent’s condition.
The old shipping terminal stretched along the frozen river.
Floodlights illuminated stacked containers.
Dante walked into the center.
Vincent appeared on an elevated platform.
“You came.”
“You knew I would.”
5 hostages knelt nearby.
Walsh’s daughter.
Michael Bellini.
Others.
All alive.
Vincent smiled.
“You finally learned sacrifice.”
“No.”
Dante looked up.
“I learned loyalty.”
Vincent descended.
“You always were sentimental beneath all that ice.”
“You murdered Elena.”
“Yes.”
The admission landed quietly.
Dante had waited 11 years.
Vincent smiled.
“I wondered whether you knew.”
“I knew.”
“She made you weak.”
“No.”
“She made you angry. Anger made you careless. I expected it to destroy you.”
“It didn’t.”
“Then Harper came along.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“And suddenly the great Dante Moretti became human.”
Dante smiled.
“You say that like it’s an insult.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“That woman ruined you.”
“No.”
Dante looked around the empty terminal.
“She saved me.”
Vincent raised his gun.
At that moment, every floodlight went dark.
Vincent spun.
“What—”
The fire alarm activated.
Sprinklers erupted.
Then the container cranes began moving.
Harper sat 400 yards away inside a maintenance van.
Her laptop was connected to the terminal’s industrial control network.
Leo stared at her.
“You can control cranes?”
“I can control software.”
“That does not answer my question.”
“Tonight it does.”
Carter’s team entered through the eastern fence.
Harper opened the hostage gate remotely.
“Now.”
Dante moved.
He struck Vincent’s gun hand.
The weapon slid across wet concrete.
Vincent punched him.
Dante staggered.
They fought without elegance.
2 old enemies.
11 years of hatred.
Vincent produced a knife.
The blade cut Dante’s side.
Harper saw it through the camera.
“Dante!”
He could not hear her.
Vincent attacked again.
Dante caught his wrist.
Twisted.
The knife fell.
Vincent laughed breathlessly.
“She’ll never survive your world.”
Dante struck him.
“You don’t know her.”
“She’ll become Elena.”
Dante stopped.
Vincent smiled.
There it was.
The wound.
The old one.
Then Dante did something Vincent did not expect.
He stepped backward.
He did not kill him.
Sirens approached.
Federal agents.
Harper had anonymously sent them evidence linking Vincent to kidnapping, extortion, money laundering, and Elena’s murder.
Vincent heard the sirens.
His face changed.
“What did you do?”
Dante smiled.
“Nothing.”
He looked toward the security camera.
“She did.”
Vincent turned.
For the first time, he understood.
Harper had beaten him.
Not Dante.
Harper.
“You coward.”
Dante laughed.
“Maybe.”
Federal vehicles surrounded the terminal.
Vincent reached for the gun.
Dante kicked it away.
“No.”
“You should kill me.”
“I wanted to.”
“Then do it.”
Dante looked at him.
“For 11 years, I thought killing you would end what you did to me.”
He stepped closer.
“But death is easy.”
Agents entered.
Dante raised his hands.
Vincent stared.
“You’ll go to prison too.”
“Maybe.”
“You’ve lost everything.”
Dante smiled.
“No.”
He looked toward the entrance.
Harper stood there.
Furious.
Wet.
Alive.
Dante’s smile became real.
“I haven’t.”
Harper reached him before the agents did.
She slapped him.
Hard.
Everyone froze.
Dante touched his cheek.
“That seems fair.”
“You drugged me.”
“Yes.”
“You left me.”
“Yes.”
“You attempted to sacrifice yourself 6 hours after proposing.”
“Yes.”
She slapped him again.
“That one seems less fair.”
Harper grabbed his face and kissed him.
The federal agents looked uncomfortable.
Leo laughed.
Then an agent approached.
“Dante Moretti?”
Dante turned.
“Yes.”
“You’re under arrest.”
Harper tightened her grip on his hand.
Dante looked at her.
“Harper.”
“No.”
“I have to.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You really need another word.”
She was crying now.
Dante kissed her forehead.
“Call Evelyn Price.”
“The attorney?”
“Yes.”
“She charges $2,000 an hour.”
“Apparently I’m poor now.”
Harper laughed through tears.
The agents handcuffed him.
Dante walked away.
Harper watched.
This time, he was not disappearing into darkness.
May you like
He was walking toward consequences.
And for the first time in his life, Dante Moretti was willing to face them.
