Chapter 5 - The Deputy Mayor's UltimatumThe silence inside the office was so absolute I could hear the mechanical whir of the security cameras mounted in the corners of the ceiling.
Clack. Clack.
Deputy Mayor Arthur Vance tapped his knuckles lightly against the heavy oak door.
"Mr. Miller," Vance continued, his tone remaining infuriatingly polite. "Let’s not be dramatic. Luca Ravellini is a businessman, not a saint. He doesn't harbor runaway teenagers out of the goodness of his cold, black heart. He wants leverage. And I am simply here to offer a much better price for what's currently sitting on his mahogany desk."
I didn't answer. I kept my arms locked tightly around Sofia, pressing her head into my chest so she wouldn't have to listen to the monster standing inches away from us.
"Think about it," Vance urged, his voice softening into a persuasive purr. "If you stay with Luca, you become a permanent target for the Triad, the federal marshals, and every crooked cop on the payroll. But if you give me that paper... I wipe your family's records clean. New names, new lives, fifty thousand dollars cash deposited into an offshore account by morning. You and your sister get to walk away."
It sounded tempting. God, it sounded like salvation.
A clean slate. Fifty grand. No more running, no more blood on school skirts, no more mafia bosses playing chess with our lives.
Then I remembered the slashed sofa in our apartment. I remembered the shattered glass over our mother's photograph. I remembered the cold, dead eyes of District Attorney Marcus Webb lying in an alley behind a high school dumpster.
Men like Arthur Vance didn't hand out fifty thousand dollars and new lives. They buried witnesses in concrete.
Before I could find my voice to tell him to go to hell, a sudden, sharp sound cut through the hallway outside.
Click.
It wasn't a door unlocking. It was the distinct, unmistakable sound of a shotgun shell being racked into position.
"You've got three seconds to get away from my door, Arthur," Luca Ravellini’s voice echoed down the corridor, cold enough to shatter glass.
There was a brief, tense pause.
Then Vance laughed—a smooth, dry, aristocratic sound.
"Luca. Always the dramatic host. I thought we had an understanding regarding municipal zoning permits for your downtown properties, old friend."
"Zoning permits don't cover home invasions, Arthur," Luca replied, his footsteps drawing closer. I could hear the muffled shift of combat gear and the low, dangerous murmur of Dante’s voice right behind him. "And you're standing on my floor without an invitation. That's a zoning violation I handle personally."
"You're protecting a dead man's mistake," Vance warned, his pleasant facade slipping just enough to reveal the sharp, vicious steel underneath. "That paper destroys the city council, Luca. It destroys the syndicate. It destroys us. You think you can shield two nobodies from an entire institutional collapse? You're a smart man. Don't go down with a sinking ship for a pair of charity cases."
"They aren't charity cases," Luca said quietly.
A heartbeat later, a heavy thud echoed against the outer wall—the sound of a body being slammed hard into the wainscoting.
"They're my guests," Luca said. "And nobody touches my guests."
Footsteps scuffled in the hallway, followed by the rough, gasping cough of someone losing their breath under a chokehold.
"Dante," Luca ordered. "Escort the Deputy Mayor off the premises. If his shoes touch my driveway again, don't use a warning shot."
"Gladly, Boss," Dante growled.
More scuffling, fading down the corridor toward the grand staircase, until silence reclaimed the hallway once more.
A moment later, the electronic lock on our door beeped green.
The heavy wood swung open.
Luca stood on the threshold. His suit jacket was gone, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing lean, muscular forearms flecked with a tiny drop of fresh blood that didn't look like his own.
May you like
He looked down at me and Sofia, still huddled on the floor.
"Get your things," Luca said, his eyes hard as flint. "The front door is compromised. We're taking the subterranean exit. We have twenty minutes before Vance's backup arrives."
