Chapter 14 - THE AIRFIELDThe Westchester airfield was dark except for the runway lights and the private jet waiting like a white knife in the rain.
Dante counted twelve guards.
Federal uniforms.
Private weapons.
Fake badges.
“Malcolm’s people,” Nico said.
Dante watched through binoculars as Malcolm stepped from a black SUV, no handcuffs, no limp, his wrist properly bandaged.
Beside him walked a woman in a cream coat.
Arabella sucked in a breath.
Dante looked at her. “Who?”
“Senator Elaine Cross.”
Caleb, sitting behind them, said, “She chairs the committee that regulates Vale Global’s shipping contracts.”
“Of course she does,” Dante said.
Arabella’s face hardened. “She came to my funeral.”
Nobody spoke.
On the tarmac, Senator Cross kissed Malcolm’s cheek.
Then she slapped him.
Even from a distance, it looked personal.
Dante lowered the binoculars.
“Interesting.”
Arabella watched Malcolm argue with the senator. His composure was gone. He pointed toward the jet. She pointed toward the road. Then Malcolm said something that made her step back.
Caleb leaned forward. “We need sound.”
Nico smiled and held up a small receiver.
Already done.
Static crackled, then Malcolm’s voice came through.
“—you promised containment.”
The senator snapped, “You promised the girl was dead.”
“She was.”
“She walked out of your house on live television.”
Arabella’s jaw tightened.
The senator continued, “Do you understand what happens if they open Sterling Vale’s old files? It is not just your company. It is everyone.”
Malcolm said, “Then kill her.”
The words landed inside the SUV like ice.
Dante looked at Arabella.
She did not flinch.
The senator lowered her voice.
“No more bodies. Bodies create questions.”
“My brother’s body ended questions.”
“So did Antonio Serrano’s, and now his son is standing beside your niece.”
Dante’s grip tightened around the binoculars until the casing cracked.
Malcolm stepped closer to the senator.
“There is another option.”
“No.”
“You know where Mara is.”
Arabella stopped breathing.
Dante’s head turned slowly.
The senator’s face went pale.
“Never say that name.”
Malcolm smiled.
“You moved her. Not me.”
Arabella opened the SUV door.
Dante grabbed her arm.
“Wait.”
“No.”
“We need them alive.”
“I need my mother.”
“And if you run out there now, you die before you reach her.”
She hated that he was right.
On the tarmac, Malcolm boarded the jet.
The senator stayed behind.
Dante made a choice.
“Nico, stop the plane. No explosions.”
Nico sighed. “You take the fun out of everything.”
“Arabella, you’re with me. Caleb stays.”
Caleb protested. “I can help.”
Arabella looked back at him.
“You already did enough.”
Dante and Arabella moved through the rain toward the senator’s car.
Nico’s team hit the runway lights.
Darkness fell.
The jet’s engines whined.
A truck suddenly rolled across the runway, blocking takeoff.
Men shouted.
Dante reached Senator Cross before her driver could react. He opened the back door, slid inside, and pressed a gun against the seat beside her.
“Don’t scream.”
Arabella entered from the other side.
The senator stared at her.
For a moment, all the power drained from her face.
“You look like Mara,” she whispered.
Arabella leaned forward.
“Where is my mother?”
The senator swallowed.
“Dead.”
Dante smiled coldly.
“Try again.”
Outside, gunfire erupted near the runway.
Inside the car, Senator Cross looked from Dante to Arabella and realized the old world was cracking.
“She was alive two years ago,” the senator said. “After that, I don’t know.”
Arabella’s eyes filled.
“Where?”
The senator whispered an address.
Not a prison.
Not a hospital.
A convent in Vermont.
May you like
Then she added the sentence that changed everything.
“Mara Vale doesn’t know she has a daughter anymore.”
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