Chapter 12 - Taken
Salvatore moved Leo to a fortified penthouse.
Only six people knew the location.
By morning, Marco knew too.
That meant the leak remained inside Salvatore’s circle.
Carmine suspected everyone.
Russo.
Nora.
The lawyers.
Even federal agents.
Salvatore suspected himself.
Maybe he had built an organization where betrayal was inevitable.
Leo watched adults whisper behind doors.
He hated it.
One afternoon, his tutor brought schoolbooks.
The tutor had worked for the Morettis for years.
Nobody questioned him.
That was the mistake.
At 3:12 p.m., Titan began barking.
At 3:14, the tutor was found unconscious.
At 3:15, Leo was gone.
Salvatore arrived six minutes later.
The world ended quietly.
No screaming.
No rage.
He simply stared at the empty room.
Titan had blood on his muzzle.
A tranquilizer dart lay near the window.
Carmine limped in.
“We’re tracking cameras.”
Salvatore did not respond.
“Boss.”
Nothing.
Carmine grabbed his shoulder.
“We’ll find him.”
Salvatore turned.
For the first time Carmine had ever seen, Salvatore Moretti looked afraid.
Not angry.
Afraid.
A phone rang.
Marco.
Salvatore answered.
“You have my son.”
“I do.”
“If you touch him—”
“You’ve said that before.”
Marco sounded amused.
“I want the original files.”
“You know they’re copied.”
“I want every copy and Shaw’s evidence.”
“Impossible.”
“Then the boy dies.”
Salvatore closed his eyes.
“Let me speak to him.”
Silence.
Then Leo’s voice.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
“They tied my hands.”
Salvatore’s jaw trembled.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
A pause.
Then Leo said something strange.
“It smells like bread.”
Marco took the phone.
“Enough.”
The call ended.
Carmine stared.
“Bread.”
Salvatore immediately understood.
Elena had lived behind a bakery.
Leo noticed smells.
Carmine searched old Moretti properties near industrial bakeries.
Three possibilities.
At the same time, Leo sat tied to a chair inside an abandoned warehouse.
Barrett stood nearby.
He looked ashamed.
Leo stared at him.
“You’re afraid of Marco.”
Barrett laughed.
“I’m not afraid of anyone.”
“You keep touching your watch when he talks.”
Barrett stopped.
Leo had learned from his mother.
Watch what people protect.
Marco entered.
He crouched before Leo.
“You’re observant.”
“My mother said stupid people think children are stupid.”
Marco smiled.
“She always did have a mouth.”
“Did you kill her?”
Marco’s smile disappeared.
“No.”
“You tried.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she made your father weak.”
Leo shook his head.
“No.”
Marco leaned closer.
“You don’t know him.”
“I know he got shot protecting me.”
Marco froze.
Leo continued.
“I know he didn’t kill Barrett even though he wanted to.”
Barrett looked away.
“I know my mother trusted him at the end.”
Marco slapped him.
Hard.
Leo fell sideways with the chair.
Barrett flinched.
Marco stood.
“Your father destroys everyone he loves.”
Leo tasted blood.
“Then why are you the one hurting me?”
Marco stared.
For one second, something cracked.
Then alarms sounded outside.
Police?
No.
Fire.
Smoke poured through the rear loading dock.
Barrett looked toward the exit.
“What did you do?”
Leo smiled through the blood on his lip.
“Nothing.”
Titan exploded through the smoke.
May you like
The mastiff hit one gunman like a truck.
Behind him came Salvatore.
