Chapter 7 - THE MAN BEHIND RAYMONDConrad Voss smiled into the camera.
He looked exactly as he did in charity photographs.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
Grandfatherly eyes.
Only the gun in his hand ruined the illusion.
Lucia Castellano sat tied to a wooden chair.
There was blood near her temple, but she was conscious.
Raymond stood behind her.
“Dante,” Voss said, “I believe it’s time we stopped pretending this is business.”
The video had been sent to Dante’s personal phone.
Federal prosecutor Rebecca Sloan watched beside him.
Ethan stood across the room.
Amelia watched from the doorway.
Voss continued.
“Bring Ethan Hayes and the complete ledger to Pier Nineteen tomorrow at midnight.”
Rebecca muttered, “Standard hostage demand.”
Dante didn’t look away from the screen.
“If law enforcement approaches, Lucia dies. If Ethan fails to come, Lucia dies. If the files are corrupted, Lucia dies.”
Lucia suddenly spoke.
“Dante, don’t—”
Raymond slapped her.
Dante lunged toward the screen as though he could cross it.
Voss sighed.
“Raymond.”
“What?”
“Control yourself.”
The irony nearly made Amelia sick.
Voss smiled again.
“Tomorrow, Dante.”
The video ended.
Dante immediately turned toward Ethan.
“No.”
Ethan blinked.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re not going.”
“That’s my decision.”
“No.”
“My data caused this.”
“Voss caused this.”
“He wants me.”
“He wants you dead.”
Ethan folded his arms.
“So what do you suggest?”
Dante looked at Rebecca.
“We find Lucia before tomorrow.”
Agents analyzed the video.
Background noise suggested an industrial property.
A faint train horn.
Aircraft overhead.
Concrete interior.
Chicago had hundreds of possible sites.
Voss had planned carefully.
Amelia followed Dante into an empty hallway.
“You can’t trade Ethan.”
“I know.”
“You can’t attack Voss either.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
Dante stopped.
“What would you like me to say?”
“That you aren’t going to do something stupid.”
“My sister is tied to a chair because someone wanted to hurt me.”
“Then think like the man who built twelve restaurants instead of the boy whose father taught him revenge.”
His eyes flashed.
“You know nothing about my father.”
“No. I know about men who make pain contagious.”
That stopped him.
Amelia stepped closer.
“Raymond hurt me, so for years I built my life around Raymond. Where I lived. Where I worked. Who I trusted. Even how loudly I laughed in public.”
Dante looked at her.
“He wasn’t physically there, but he still controlled the room.”
She touched his chest lightly.
“Don’t let Voss control this one.”
Her hand remained there a second too long.
Both noticed.
Amelia withdrew it.
“There’s something else.”
Dante waited.
She handed him the DNA report.
He stared at the paper.
His face became unreadable.
“It’s confirmed?”
“Yes.”
He sat down.
For perhaps ten seconds, neither spoke.
Then Dante gave a strange, broken laugh.
“I have a son.”
“Yes.”
“Ben.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward her.
“Does he know?”
“No.”
Dante nodded.
“Okay.”
Amelia had expected more.
“You’re not angry?”
“At you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t tell you.”
“You didn’t know who I was.”
“I knew there was somebody.”
Dante shook his head.
“You owed me nothing.”
The simplicity of that answer almost made her cry.
“You’re his father.”
“Biologically.”
“That matters.”
“It does.”
His eyes lifted to hers.
“But you raised him.”
“We can figure out what happens afterward.”
“After Lucia.”
“Yes.”
That one word created something between them.
A future.
Uncertain.
Complicated.
But possible.
They returned to the command room.
Ethan had discovered something.
Voss’s companies owned three industrial properties near Pier Nineteen.
One had been abandoned two years earlier.
A refrigeration warehouse.
Federal agents obtained satellite imagery.
Three vehicles were parked outside.
One matched Raymond’s SUV.
Rebecca began coordinating tactical surveillance.
“Quietly,” she warned. “Nobody moves until we know Lucia is there.”
An undercover drone confirmed activity near the warehouse.
Then a thermal camera showed four people inside.
One seated.
Three moving.
Lucia.
“Go,” Rebecca ordered.
The raid began at 9:43 p.m., more than twenty-six hours before Voss’s planned exchange.
Agents entered through two sides.
Raymond fled through a rear loading dock.
Voss escaped through a hidden service tunnel.
Two hired guards surrendered.
Lucia was recovered alive.
Dante met the ambulance.
His sister stepped out wrapped in a blanket.
She was thirty-six, with dark hair like his and the same stubborn jaw.
She slapped him.
Amelia stared.
Lucia then hugged him.
“You idiot.”
Dante hugged her back.
“You’re welcome.”
“I told you ten years ago your life would get me kidnapped.”
“Technically, you said shot.”
“I was being optimistic.”
Amelia unexpectedly laughed.
Lucia noticed.
“And who are you?”
“Amelia.”
Lucia’s eyes shifted between them.
Then to Ben, who had arrived with Mrs. Alvarez under heavy security.
She stared at the boy.
Then at Dante.
“Oh.”
Dante frowned.
“What?”
Lucia smiled despite her bruised face.
“He has your ears.”
Dante looked genuinely offended.
“My ears are normal.”
“No, they aren’t.”
Ben approached.
“Are you Mr. Dante’s sister?”
Lucia crouched.
“Yes.”
“Did bad guys get you?”
Everyone went quiet.
Lucia nodded.
“One did.”
“I kicked a bad guy.”
“I heard.”
Ben considered her.
“You can have my dinosaur.”
Lucia’s eyes filled.
“Why?”
“So you’re not scared.”
Dante looked away.
Amelia saw him wipe his eye.
She pretended she hadn’t.
The moment lasted until Rebecca received another call.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She listened.
“When?”
Dante approached.
“What happened?”
Rebecca ended the call.
“Federal search teams executed warrants at three Vantage North offices.”
“And?”
“Empty.”
“Files?”
“Servers wiped.”
“Voss?”
“Gone.”
Ethan looked furious.
“He knew.”
“Apparently.”
“Someone warned him.”
Rebecca’s expression became grim.
The corruption ran deeper than expected.
Then Amelia’s phone rang.
Raymond.
She looked at the screen.
Dante said, “Don’t.”
She answered.
“Where are you?”
Raymond laughed.
“You think this is over because you found the sister?”
“It’s over because you lost.”
“I haven’t lost anything.”
“You lost me three years ago.”
Silence.
She continued.
“And Ben was never yours.”
Raymond’s breathing sharpened.
Dante’s hand tightened.
Amelia knew she was provoking him.
This time intentionally.
“You want to know who his father is?”
“Shut your mouth.”
“He’s standing beside me.”
Raymond screamed.
The call cut off.
Rebecca stared at Amelia.
“That was extremely reckless.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Amelia held up her phone.
“Because Ethan installed a trace.”
Ethan smiled.
“Got him.”
Raymond had called from a motel thirty miles west.
Police surrounded it within minutes.
They found the room.
The window open.
Blood in the bathroom.
No Raymond.
But they discovered something more important.
A handwritten schedule.
Voss’s escape route.
Private airfield.
6:00 a.m.
Destination: Cayman Islands.
Rebecca looked at Dante.
“We can stop him.”
Dante nodded.
But Ethan was staring at another paper.
“What?”
Ethan picked it up.
A list of names.
At the bottom, one had been underlined twice.
AMELIA HAYES — BEFORE DEPARTURE.
May you like
Raymond had one final job.
Voss wasn’t leaving Chicago until Amelia was dead.
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