Cruz steps forward with his fists clenched. “I would, for what he’s done to you and the other women locked up on the third level.”
Ryan steps forward, his jaw clenching as he glances at The Duke.No. Please.I meet her eyes, and I want to scream at the horrors I see in them. Gritting my teeth, I tilt my head toward him.
Leaving the others, I walk around the room, my hands clasped behind my back. Various snippets of conversations I had with the girls run through my mind. I think of all the evil he’s done, the fear and panic he’s caused, the untold grief so many have suffered at his hands.
I run through what was done to me, Rebecca, Susannah, The Duke, and Cruz. I consider the weapons we have, the machinery at our disposal, and the wealth of things available in this room.
Then I consider what’s important to my father, the things he doesn’t yet know. Turning back, the faintest smile twitches my lips. I meet every pair of eyes as my back straightens. And then I explain my plan.
I change into the spare set of clothes I stashed on the helicopter before coming here. It’s ironic, really, what I chose to bring with me.
For most of my career, I’ve thumbed my nose at tradition. Told the authority to go fuck itself. I stalked through the halls of the FBI wearing ripped jeans and Doc Martens and sleeveless shirts that showed off my tattoos, just daring someone to give me lip.
As I stare at myself in the full-length mirror of the bedroom I’m in, I feel pride for the first time in the job I worked so hard to obtain. I’m wearing fitted black slacks and a crisp white button-down blouse. My hair is tied back in a ponytail, and I’m wearing a Kevlar vest with FBI emblazoned over it. My badge dangles from my neck, and on my feet?
Well, I’m not perfect, okay? I’m never giving up my Docs.
I jog down the stairs, then come to a stop when I notice everyone fanned out at the bottom. Nate. Eric. Tessa. The Duke. Trey. Rebecca. Susannah. Theo. Justin. Ryan. Kian. Jase.
I’m no longer that lost girl all alone in the world. I have friends now, true ones. I have an army at my back. I have the kind of love most can only dream of and a new family I’ve chosen for myself. Not bad for that little girl once locked in a cage.
I make my way to the false wall, the others following behind me. Nate slips a balaclava over his head—we’re not ready yet for Vincenzo to see him. I situate myself under a camera and nod to Jase. He switches them back on, and I grin at the lens. “Vincenzo! You have one minute to surrender to us and come out.”
Jase turns them back off, and Trey and Eric step forward, guns pointed at the door. Of course, he’s not going to make this easy on us, and the minute deadline comes and goes. Removing several canisters from a bag, Kian goes into the room adjacent to the panic room. Using the ax we left there, he tears into the wall until he finds the air ducts. Twisting the caps on the canisters, he tosses them inside the ducts, then rushes out of the room, closing the door behind him so that the tear gas doesn’t affect us.
Moments later, the wall panel opens, revealing the hidden door. But no Vincenzo. “He might have passed out,” Kian offers, and I agree. Staring at the lock code, I turn to Cruz and raise a brow, the corner of my mouth lifting in a smirk, then enter the same code I did when we were in the tunnels sneaking into Dante’s house.
Of course, it works. He’s a creature of habit, after all. Vincenzo lies on the floor, his gun dangling from his fingertips. I kick it away, and Nate and Eric drag him out, taking him downstairs. Using the handcuffs attached to my belt, we bind his hands and toss him onto one of the bunk beds, closing the cell door behind him.
Switching the lights off, we wait in the dark for him to wake.
Chapter 69
Vincenzo
Deep,wrackingcoughsrattlemy chest, and I sit up, banging my head on something. Clutching my head, I stumble off whatever I was lying on, gasping in the precious air. Memories of the poisoned smoke pouring into the panic room leave me fumbling around the floor for my gun.
It’s pitch black, not a sliver of light anywhere. Fuckers must have cut the power. At least they couldn’t have breached the panic room, there’s no way Daniella could know the code.
I fully believe that until I stumble into metal bars. There aren’t any of those in the panic room. A sliver of fear skates down my spine, chilling my blood. Patting around me, I wrap my hands around the bars, my heart thumping with dread.
Backing away, I use my hands and feet to feel around the room, determining I’m in one of the cells on the first level. Swallowing down the terror rising inside me, I try not to think about all the torture devices I stocked this level with.
The sound of a movie projector eviscerates the silence of the room, a sound I’m familiar with from my childhood, of teachers allowing us a movie day when they were too fed up trying to teach us.
A beam of light shines from farther back in the room, illuminating the wall at the back of the cell. There’s just enough light for me to make out the bed, so I sit on the corner, staring at the wall.
A mix of anger and dismay swirls through me as the movie plays out. Cruz and Daniella skate through Dante’s house, culminating in scaring him to death. My fists clench so tightly my knuckles turn white, and it’s all I can do to keep my composure. I want to shout and rail at the slut for what she’s done, but I won’t give her the satisfaction.
When the movie is over, the room goes dark. A minute passes, then it whirs to life again. This time, it shows a group of people, one whose face is blanked out, talking about how they’ll fake news stories. The reports I had seen about my buildings blowing up are revealed to be fakes, along with the FBI arresting my contacts.
The movie switches to show the same black man I saw wave to me earlier on the cameras sitting at a desk, surrounded by monitors. He’s talking to me on the phone, pretending to be Detective Frost. He turns to the cameraman and smiles, putting his thumb up.
Once again, there’s a pause, then a video showing my remaining nieces and nephews boarding a private plane. Daniella’s voice comes on to explain how they are being sent to an exclusive boarding school in Europe, where they will be banished, unable to return to the States.
My teeth clench as it goes dark again, and I wait to see if there’s more. There is. This time, the movie shows an area of Chicago I know well. It shows a dark-haired man, and another, still blanked out, meeting with Ricardo. I sit forward, betrayal lancing through me as it shows them talking and laughing together.
I watch, unbelieving, as they fake Ricardo’s death, then send me the so-called proof. Ricardo comes on the screen, his eyes seeming to bore into mine. “Hello, old friend. I shouldn’t be surprised by your lack of honesty or the depths to which you would go to grab more power. Unfortunately for you, this time, you’ve been played. And I’ll let you in on a little secret—your daughter is far more worthy of the Gianelli name than you are. Once you’re gone, I’ll be taking over your empire, with Daniella’s blessing.” His smile stretches wide and he tsks. “To think, the great Vincenzo Gianelli destroyed by a mere slip of a girl—and his daughter, no less.Arrivederci, Vincenzo. Until we meet again in another life.”
