Chapter 9 - Marco's Offer
Valentina pressed Lily’s face against her shoulder as another round punched through glass.
“Stay low.”
Evelyn groaned somewhere to the left.
Valentina could not see where she had been hit.
Marco’s voice returned through the speakers.
“Put the card on the center table.”
Valentina looked at the dark silhouette of the table ten feet away.
“No.”
A pause.
“You always were stubborn.”
“My father said you were patient.”
“He was right.”
“You killed him.”
Silence.
Then Marco laughed softly.
“Domenico was going to tear apart everything he built because he became afraid of his own shadow.”
“That is not a denial.”
“He wanted legitimacy. Audits. Clean books. He wanted to turn wolves into accountants.”
Lily was trembling against her.
Valentina kissed the top of her head.
“Why Gerald?”
“Because greedy men are useful.”
“Why Evelyn?”
“Because frightened women are useful too.”
Evelyn whispered from the darkness, “Go to hell.”
A light snapped on outside.
Then another.
Marco had men surrounding the greenhouse.
Valentina counted shadows.
Six.
Maybe eight.
“Let Lily walk out,” she said.
“No.”
“She’s three.”
“She’s leverage.”
Valentina’s jaw locked.
Marco continued.
“Your father understood leverage better than anyone. He just lost the stomach for using it.”
Valentina slipped the duplicate card into her palm.
“What do you want?”
“The archive fragment. The Garden Seven key. Then I end this cleanly.”
“And Gerald?”
“Exposed.”
“You?”
“Necessary.”
That word told her everything.
A phone vibrated in her pocket.
Unknown video call.
She answered.
Nico appeared on-screen.
Kneeling.
Gun against the back of his head.
He was inside the main house.
Marco stepped into frame behind him.
Impossible.
The voice had been prerecorded or routed.
Valentina looked toward the speaker.
Then back at the video.
Marco smiled.
“Come home.”
Nico lifted his eyes to the camera.
Behind him, barely visible, three senior capos stood with their hands empty.
Marco pressed the muzzle harder into Nico’s skull.
“Bring the card, Valentina.”
He leaned toward the camera.
May you like
“Or the next thing Lily hears is Nico dying.”
