Chapter 7 - The Interrogation
The squad leader, whose name was Viktor, was tied securely to a heavy iron chair in the middle of the warehouse floor. His face was bruised, and he was breathing heavily, terrified eyes darting between Vanessa and Damien.
Damien sat across from him on a wooden crate, holding a glass of bourbon that Vanessa had brought him. His charcoal jacket was gone, his black shirt unbuttoned at the neck, revealing the white bandages covering his shoulder. Beside him stood Vanessa, resting her hip against a workbench, tossing a heavy silver lighter between her hands.
"I'm going to ask you once, Viktor," Damien said, his voice low, gravelly, carrying the full authority of the Moretti name. "How did Luca know where to find us?"
Viktor spit blood onto the floor. "Screw you, Moretti. You're a ghost walking. Carmine has fifty men taking over your territory right now. Your Capos think you're dead. Luca showed them the video of you getting shot at the Ashford."
Damien’s jaw tightened. "A video?"
"Luca had a button camera," Vanessa supplied smoothly from the workbench. "He filmed the ambush. He needed proof of death to claim your seat at the Commission table."
Viktor sneered. "Yeah. And by midnight, Carmine takes total control. You lost, Moretti. And your little assassin bitch isn't going to save you when the whole city wants you dead."
Vanessa didn't get angry. She didn't even raise an eyebrow. She simply stopped flipping the lighter, walked over to Viktor, and stood beside his chair.
"You think Damien lost because you don't understand how power works," Vanessa said softly, bending down until her face was inches from Viktor's ear. "Damien built his empire on loyalty and fear. Luca built his treason on greed. Greed is easy to break."
She reached into her vest, pulled out a sleek, black encrypted satellite phone, and placed it on the small table in front of Viktor.
"Call Carmine," Vanessa instructed.
Viktor blinked, confused. "What?"
"Call him," she repeated. "Tell him that you killed Damien Moretti, but that his wife escaped with the black case. Tell him she's heading to the docks to sell the encrypted drives to the Russian syndicate."
Damien raised an eyebrow at his wife. "Vanessa..."
Vanessa raised a hand slightly, keeping her eyes fixed on Viktor. "If Carmine thinks the black case is leaving the country, he won't wait to consolidate your territory. He will send his best men—and Luca—to the docks to secure it personally. He won't be able to resist."
Viktor swallowed hard. "Why would I do that?"
Vanessa pressed the cold tip of her pistol gently against the base of Viktor’s neck. "Because if you do, you live to see tomorrow. If you don't, I let my husband show you why people were afraid of him long before I came along."
Damien leaned forward, setting his glass of bourbon down with a heavy clunk. His eyes were cold, dark, and utterly devoid of mercy. "And trust me, Viktor. My wife is much nicer than I am."
Viktor looked at Damien, then up at Vanessa’s unblinking, terrifying stare.
He broke.
"Give me... give me the phone," Viktor whispered.
Ten minutes later, the call was done. The trap was set.
Viktor slumped in his chair, sweating profusely. "I did it. He bought it. Carmine is sending Luca and twenty men to Pier 42 in an hour."
Vanessa picked up the phone, clicked it off, and knocked Viktor out cold with the butt of her gun.
She turned to Damien. "Pier 42. It’s an open container yard. Good lines of sight, plenty of cover."
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Damien stood up slowly, looking at her with a mix of fascination and respect. "You just turned my entire war into an ambush in less than twenty minutes."
"I told you," Vanessa said, walking over to help him put on a heavy tactical coat. "You were too nice to these people, Damien. It's time to show them what happens when they touch what belongs to us."
