Chapter 7 - The Exchange
The meeting location was an abandoned grain silo at the edge of the shipping yards.
Floodlights mounted on steel poles cast stark, harsh light across the wet concrete floor. Six armed Moretti soldiers stood stationed along the high steel gantries, their assault rifles aimed down at the central floor.
In the middle of the room, bound to a heavy wooden chair, was Elena.
Her silk gown was torn and stained with dirt, her dark hair unkempt, but her head remained held high. Her face bore a dark bruise along her jaw, yet her eyes burned with quiet, dangerous defiance.
Standing beside her was Victor Moretti—a sneering, heavy-set man in an expensive leather trench coat, twirling a heavy revolver in his hand.
The heavy steel sliding doors of the silo groaned open, echoing like a thunderclap through the empty space.
Matteo walked inside alone, carrying a heavy leather briefcase in his left hand. His right hand rested casually inside his coat pocket.
"Matteo Vance!" Victor laughed, his booming voice echoing off the corrugated walls. "The king of the docks, coming to beg for his wife! You're ten minutes early, Matteo. I didn't think you had the stomach to show up without your army."
"I don't need an army to deal with a street rat like you, Victor," Matteo said coldly, stopping thirty feet away from the chair.
Elena’s eyes widened in terror as she looked at her husband. "Matteo, no! It's a trap! He isn't going to let us leave!"
"Shut your mouth!" Victor barked, slamming the butt of his revolver against the back of Elena's chair. He glared at Matteo. "Where is the ledger?"
Matteo lifted the leather briefcase, holding it high. "It's right here. Every name, every offshore account, every bribe your father paid to state judges. It's all inside."
"Set it on the ground and kick it over!" Victor commanded, his fingers clenching around his revolver.
"First, show me my wife is unharmed," Matteo demanded.
Victor sneered, stepping behind Elena and pressing the cold barrel of his gun against her temple. "She's fine, Vance. Now give me the ledger, or I splash her brains across this floor!"
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Matteo set the briefcase down, but he didn't kick it forward. Instead, he looked up toward the high shadows of the ceiling rafters.
"I brought the ledger, Victor," Matteo said, his voice loud and clear. "But I didn't come alone. I brought the real owner."
