Chapter 2 - Warehouse 17
"You're staying here."
Nora blocked Damien's path.
"No."
Damien stared at her.
Victor quietly looked away.
Nora continued.
"Claire is my sister. I'm coming."
"This isn't a negotiation."
"Then stop talking like we're negotiating."
Victor almost smiled.
Damien didn't.
"People usually become more careful after I threaten them."
"People usually aren't looking for their kidnapped sister."
Damien studied her for several seconds.
"Fine."
Victor stepped forward. "Boss—"
"She stays in the vehicle."
Nora opened her mouth.
Damien pointed at her.
"That part isn't negotiable."
Twenty-five minutes later, three black SUVs stopped two blocks from the Chicago River.
Warehouse 17 appeared abandoned.
No exterior lights.
Rusting doors.
Broken windows.
Victor examined his tablet.
"Thermal shows four people inside."
Nora leaned forward.
"Claire?"
"Can't tell."
Damien looked at Victor.
"Take two men around back."
"And you?"
"I'm going through the front."
Nora grabbed Damien's sleeve.
"You can't just walk in."
He glanced at her hand.
She released him.
"Sorry."
Damien opened the door.
"I've found that walking through the front saves time."
The men disappeared into the darkness.
Nora waited.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
Then shouting.
A crash.
Nora's hand tightened around the door handle.
A gunshot cracked inside the warehouse.
She jumped out.
The driver caught her.
"Miss Bennett!"
"My sister is in there!"
"You were ordered—"
Another gunshot.
Nora ran.
Inside, Damien had one man pinned against a steel support.
Victor's guards were restraining two others.
A fourth lay groaning beside a table.
"Claire!"
Nora searched the warehouse.
No answer.
Then she saw a chair.
Rope lay around its legs.
Beside it was a woman's silver bracelet.
Nora picked it up.
Her knees nearly failed.
"It's Claire's."
Damien released the man.
"Where is she?"
The captive spat blood.
"I don't know."
Damien pulled a chair forward and sat opposite him.
"You kidnapped a twenty-two-year-old woman from her apartment."
"I didn't."
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
Damien leaned closer.
"Tell me who did."
The man looked toward Victor.
That tiny movement was enough.
Damien noticed.
So did Nora.
Victor stepped forward.
"Boss, he's wasting time."
"Apparently not."
Damien stood.
"Victor."
"Yes?"
"Give me your phone."
Victor hesitated.
Barely a second.
But Nora saw it.
So did Damien.
"Why?"
The warehouse became silent.
Damien's voice lowered.
"That's the second question tonight one of my employees has asked after receiving an order."
Victor slowly reached into his jacket.
Instead of producing his phone—
he drew a pistol.
Nora screamed.
Damien moved sideways.
The gun fired.
Glass exploded behind him.
Victor ran.
"Stop him!" Damien shouted.
Two guards chased him through a side exit.
Damien turned to the captive.
"Where is Claire?"
The man's courage disappeared.
"Santoro moved her."
"Where?"
"I don't know!"
Damien slammed both palms onto the table.
"WHERE?"
"Lake house!"
Nora stepped closer.
"What lake house?"
"Santoro has a place near Lake Geneva."
Damien looked at him.
"Luca doesn't own property there."
"Not under his name."
"Whose?"
The man hesitated.
"Elena Romano."
Damien stopped moving.
Nora saw the color drain from his face.
"Who is Elena?" she asked.
Damien didn't answer.
The captive did.
"His wife."
Nora stared at Damien.
"But you said she died."
"She did."
The man shook his head.
"Santoro's been using her identity for years."
Damien's expression became terrifyingly calm.
"Why?"
"I only know what I heard. Accounts. Property. Companies."
Damien looked at the chair where Claire had been tied.
It was no longer simply a kidnapping.
Someone had built an entire secret operation beneath his organization.
Using his dead wife's identity.
Nora's phone suddenly rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone looked at her.
She answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then—
"Nora?"
Her heart stopped.
"Claire!"
"Nora, don't—"
A man's hand apparently grabbed the phone.
Luca Santoro's voice replaced hers.
"Good evening, Miss Bennett."
Nora shook with rage.
"Let her go."
"I will."
Damien extended his hand.
Nora gave him the phone.
"Luca."
Silence.
Then Santoro laughed softly.
"Damien."
"You have something that belongs with her family."
"And you have something that belongs to me."
"What?"
"The photograph."
"We don't have it."
"Claire says otherwise."
Damien looked at Nora.
Santoro continued.
"Midnight. Romano Shipping. Come alone."
"Claire leaves first."
"No."
"Then we have nothing to discuss."
Santoro laughed.
"You're forgetting something, old friend."
"What?"
"I know where all your bodies are buried."
Damien's expression didn't change.
"Then you should know something else."
"What?"
"I've never been afraid of graves."
He ended the call.
Nora stared at him.
"You can't go alone."
Damien handed back her phone.
"I'm not going alone."
"But he said—"
"I heard him."
He looked toward the shattered warehouse window.
"We're bringing the one person Luca doesn't know he's fighting."
"Who?"
May you like
Damien looked at Nora.
"You."
