Chapter 12 - THE NIGHT CLAIRE BECAME BAIT
Z
Claire volunteered before anyone could suggest it.
“No.”
Marco’s answer came immediately.
“You didn’t even hear the plan.”
“You used the word bait.”
“I did not.”
“You were about to.”
Daniel looked between them.
“She’s right.”
Marco glared at him.
Daniel continued, “Rosario thinks Claire doesn’t know he’s compromised.”
Claire folded her arms.
“So I go back to work.”
“No.”
“Marco.”
“No.”
“Victor needs the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“He knows I had access.”
“Yes.”
“He knows I’m angry at you.”
Marco paused.
Claire saw it.
“Exactly.”
“You want to pretend we’ve fallen out.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“You’re adorable when you think you’re in charge of me.”
Daniel looked at the ceiling.
Marco’s expression darkened.
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“And I am trying to end this before Lily has to change houses every three days for the rest of her childhood.”
That silenced him.
The plan was simple enough to sound dangerous.
Claire would return to Palazzo Nero.
Rosario would believe Marco had pushed her away after Evan’s death.
She would complain about Marco.
Mention that she had copied part of her mother’s ledger.
Then wait.
Marco hated every piece of it.
“You wear a wire.”
“Fine.”
“Daniel is inside.”
“Fine.”
“Three teams outside.”
“Fine.”
“If anything changes—”
“I leave.”
“If Rosario asks you to go somewhere—”
“I do not.”
“If you lose the signal—”
“I leave.”
Claire touched his arm.
“I understand.”
His voice lowered.
“You don’t understand what it does to me watching you walk into danger.”
She looked at him.
“Then imagine being my mother.”
Marco had no answer.
Palazzo Nero reopened six days after the bombing.
New windows.
New sedan outside.
Same rosemary in the kitchen.
Rosario hugged Claire.
Too warmly.
“I thought you were gone.”
“So did I.”
“How is your daughter?”
“Confused.”
“And Mr. Keane?”
Claire rolled her eyes convincingly.
“Marco Keane can go to hell.”
Rosario smiled.
In the surveillance van outside, Claire imagined Marco hearing it.
She almost enjoyed that.
For two hours, nothing happened.
Then Rosario approached near closing.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“There’s someone downstairs who wants to speak with you.”
Every nerve tightened.
“Who?”
“He said he knew Evan.”
“No.”
Rosario lowered his voice.
“He has information about your mother.”
Claire pretended to hesitate.
Then remembered the rule.
Do not go somewhere.
“I’m not interested.”
Rosario’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But Claire saw it.
“He came a long way.”
“So did I. I’m tired.”
She turned.
Rosario grabbed her wrist.
Claire froze.
Outside, Marco’s voice came through her hidden earpiece.
“Claire, walk away.”
She pulled free.
“Don’t touch me.”
Rosario smiled apologetically.
“Sorry.”
Then the lights went out.
Claire’s heart stopped.
The emergency system did not activate.
Marco’s voice disappeared from the earpiece.
Signal gone.
Claire ran.
The kitchen doors slammed shut.
A man stepped from behind the bar.
Then another.
Rosario moved toward the rear exit.
Claire grabbed a wine bottle.
The first man reached her.
She smashed it against the counter, not his head, sending glass everywhere.
He flinched.
She ran between tables.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Marco’s teams were entering.
Rosario shouted, “Take her!”
Claire threw a chair into the aisle.
Someone caught her coat.
She slipped out of it.
Reached the kitchen.
The back door opened.
Marco stood there.
Gun in hand.
Rain behind him.
“Down.”
Claire dropped.
Marco fired past her.
A man collapsed.
Daniel entered seconds later.
Rosario was captured near the freezer.
The remaining attackers surrendered.
Claire stood against a counter, breathing hard.
Marco crossed the room.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Anywhere?”
“No.”
He grabbed her shoulders.
“Claire.”
“I said I’m okay.”
Then she saw his hands shaking.
Marco Keane.
The man who had remained calm beside an exploding car.
Was shaking.
Claire touched his face.
“I’m here.”
He closed his eyes.
Only for a moment.
Then sirens approached.
Daniel appeared.
“Rosario wants a deal.”
Marco opened his eyes.
“What does he have?”
“Victor’s location.”
Claire looked at him.
“Real?”
“He says Victor is leaving the country tomorrow night.”
“Where?”
Daniel hesitated.
“St. Michael’s Church.”
Marco frowned.
“The old church in Queens?”
“Yes.”
Claire remembered something.
Mara’s letter.
A sentence she had thought was personal.
When I was afraid, I went to St. Michael’s because nobody thought criminals prayed.
She looked at Marco.
“My mother used that church.”
Marco understood.
Victor was not choosing the place randomly.
He was returning to where Mara had once hidden from his father.
Rosario smiled from across the kitchen.
“He says Victor has one last thing belonging to your mother.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
Daniel’s expression became grim.
“A recording Mara made the night Lucia Keane died.”
May you like
Marco’s face changed.
For the first time, the trap became irresistible.
