Chapter 3 - The Broken Alliance
The emergency stairwell was a vertical maze of echoing footsteps and cold concrete. Vincent carried Sophia with an ease that belied the frantic racing of his mind. Behind him, his men moved in a tight, defensive formation, their flashlights cutting through the gloom.
"Why did you run to me, Sophia?" Vincent asked quietly as they climbed toward the mid-level safe rooms of the building. "The man who came to your apartment... why did he tell you to watch the cars?"
Sophia looked up, her large, expressive eyes reflecting the dim red light of the stairwell. "He said you were the only one who could stop the bad people from hurting my mommy. He said... he said he was sorry he took the money, but they have her."
Vincent froze on the landing. "Your mommy? Who is your mommy, child?"
"Elena," she whispered. "Elena Vance."
Vincent’s jaw tightened so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek. Vance. Elena Vance was the chief financial officer of his legitimate shipping operations. She was also the woman who held the decryption keys to every Swiss account the Torino family owned. If someone had her, they didn't just want Vincent in prison—they were systematically bleeding his entire legacy dry before he even set foot in a courtroom.
"Frankie," Vincent barked, not looking back. "The financial servers. Have they been touched?"
Frankie looked at his encrypted tablet, which was slowly regaining a faint signal as they climbed higher away from the garage jammers. His face went entirely pale. "Boss... a massive data transfer just initiated three minutes ago from Elena’s terminal on the 14th floor. It’s routing through an offshore bounce in Panama. If that transfer hits one hundred percent, we are completely broke by sunrise."
"It's a setup," Vincent realized, the pieces of the puzzle crashing together with violent clarity. "Marco forces the FBI raid downstairs to keep us pinned in the garage. While we're dealing with a tactical team, his people are upstairs using Elena to drain the accounts, making it look like I'm liquidating my assets to flee the country. By the time the dust settles, I'm a broke fugitive, and Marco walks away with everything."
"What about the FBI agent?" Frankie asked, his hand on his sidearm. "Agent Miller. She’s ruthless, boss. If she’s on the roof, she’s coming down with a full tactical team."
"Agent Miller isn't a fool," Vincent said, his eyes narrowing. "She’s ambitious. If she’s here, it’s because Marco gave her something undeniable. We need to reach the 14th floor before she does. We need to find Elena."
He looked down at Sophia, whose lips were blue from fear and the chilly drafts of the stairwell. He unbuttoned his heavy coat and wrapped it around her like a blanket, tucking her safely against his shoulder.
"Listen to me, Sophia," Vincent said, his voice softer than any of his men had ever heard it. "I am going to find your mommy. I promise you that. But you have to be very brave for me right now. Can you do that?"
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Sophia nodded slowly, wiping a tear from her cheek with the back of her dirty hand. "I can be brave. Like the purple dinosaur in my book."
Vincent let out a short, unexpected breath that might have been a laugh in another life. "Good. Let's go hunt a ghost."
