Chapter 5: The Price of Obedience
Serena moved in front of Dante.
“You used Mom to get inside.”
Vincent shut the doors.
“Your mother understood that family requires obedience.”
“Where is she?”
“Alive, for the moment.”
Carlo held out his hand.
“Give me the drive.”
Dante looked at Arthur.
“Did they hurt you?”
Arthur adjusted his coat.
“Not enough to improve my mood.”
Vincent’s smile vanished.
“Do not mistake age for courage, Arthur.
Your usefulness has limits.”
Arthur placed Dante’s security card on the desk.
“So does yours.”
Carlo stepped toward him, but Vincent raised one finger.
“Serena,” Vincent said, “take the drive out of the clock.
If Dante interferes, Patricia pays for it.”
Serena’s hands began to shake.
Dante leaned close.
“Look at me.”
“I put all of you in danger.”
“No.
He did.”
“The papers—” Her voice broke.
“You came to leave me because I never trusted you enough to tell you.”
“I came to leave because I never trusted your silence enough to question it.”
Vincent laughed softly.
“How touching.
Three years wasted, and now you discover honesty while surrounded.”
Serena’s shoulders folded.
Dante caught her face gently between his hands.
“Listen to me.
I signed those papers because I thought freedom meant being away from me.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“And I made you believe that.”
“You were afraid.”
“I was also wrong.”
“So was I.”
Carlo struck the desk with his palm.
“Enough!”
Serena flinched, but she did not step away from Dante.
She turned toward the clock.
“If I give it to you, Mom walks out with us.”
Vincent smiled.
“Of course.”
“No,” Patricia called from the hall.
“He’s lying.”
Carlo opened the door and dragged her inside by the arm.
A red mark crossed her cheek, but she remained standing.
Serena rushed forward.
“Mom!”
Patricia shook her head.
“Do not give him anything.”
Vincent seized her shoulder.
“You have mistaken my patience for weakness.”
“No,” Patricia said.
“I mistook your control for love.”
His fingers tightened.
Dante stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“Give Carlo your w*apon.”
“If I do, all four of us leave.”
Vincent looked amused.
“You are not negotiating.”
Dante set the p*stol on the floor and pushed it away with his shoe.
Carlo picked it up.
“Now the clock.”
Serena reached behind the brass pendulum and removed a small silver drive.
She held it between two fingers.
Vincent’s eyes fixed on it.
“Bring it to me.”
She crossed the room and placed it in his palm.
Vincent handed it to Carlo.
“Destroy it.”
Carlo inserted the drive into the desk computer.
A folder appeared, filled with financial records and audio files.
“There it is,” Carlo said.
He selected everything and pressed DELETE.
Serena’s face drained of color.
Vincent looked at Dante.
“Three years of sacrifice erased by one keystroke.”
Carlo emptied the recycle folder and snapped the drive in half.
“Finished.”
Arthur lowered his eyes.
Vincent released Patricia.
“Take Dante downstairs.
Serena comes with me.”
“That was not our agreement,” Serena said.
“Agreements are for equals.”
Two men entered from the hallway and closed in around Dante.
Carlo raised the p*stol toward his chest.
Vincent took Serena by the arm.
“Your husband loses the docks tonight.
Tomorrow, his companies belong to me.”
Dante did not move.
Vincent leaned closer.
“And when he is gone, you will tell everyone he planned the attack himself.”
Serena stared at him.
“No one will believe you.”
“They will when Arthur confirms it.”
Every face turned toward the lawyer.
Arthur slowly removed his glasses.
“I’m sorry, Dante,” he said.
May you like
“Vincent has my signed statement.”
Vincent’s smile returned as the building lights went dark.
