Chapter 7 - The Trap in Brooklyn
By Thursday night, the tension in the city had reached a boiling point. The Newark shipping docks had ground to a complete halt, and the price of illicit goods across the East Coast skyrocketed as both families locked down their supply lines.
Dominic had forbidden June from leaving the house, but June knew that as long as she remained a passive pawn in this game, the bloodshed would never end.
While her father was down in the war room coordinating a strike on Silvio’s primary distribution hub in Elizabeth, June slipped into the main foyer. She had taken a small, black semi-automatic pistol from the library gun cabinet—a weapon Matteo had taught her how to load and clear just two days prior.
"Where are you going, Miss Vale?" a voice asked from the top of the stairs.
It was Marco, the guard who had dragged the Keenes away. He didn't look angry; he looked like a man who knew he was about to lose his job if she walked out that door.
"I need to go to Brooklyn, Marco," June said, her hand resting inside her coat pocket where the cold weight of the gun lay. "Silvio wants me. If I don't go, he will keep killing my father's men until there is nothing left of this family but a name."
"The Don will kill me if I let you leave," Marco said, stepping down the stairs.
"The Don will die if I stay," June countered, looking him dead in the eye. "You know Silvio’s numbers. He has the New York families behind him. My father is fighting a war on two fronts for a girl he barely knows. If I turn myself in, it buys him the time he needs to convince the commission that Silvio was the one who violated the truce twenty-four years ago."
Marco stared at her for a long moment, the conflict evident in his weathered face. He looked at the heavy iron doors of the mansion, then back at the young woman who carried the absolute, reckless bravery of Isabella Vale.
"I won't let you go alone," Marco said, pulling his car keys from his pocket. "If we're going to hell, Miss June, we're going in a fast car."
The drive to Brooklyn was an exercise in terror. The rain was coming down in sheets, the wipers on the black sedan slicing through the glare of incoming headlights.
They reached the industrial sector of Red Hook by midnight. Silvio’s office was located inside an old, abandoned sugar refinery near the water, its crumbling brick facade lit by a single, flickering halogen lamp.
Marco parked the car two blocks away, his hand tight on his steering wheel. "We walk in there, and we don't have backup, June. The moment they see me, they might just open fire."
"They won't fire until they have the drive," June said, pulling out a small encrypted hard drive she had stolen from her father’s desk before leaving—a drive containing the financial routing numbers for the entire Vale enterprise. "Silvio doesn't just want me. He wants the empire. I’m giving him the bait."
They walked into the refinery, the air smelling of rust, wet concrete, and old molasses. At the end of the long central corridor, under a circle of harsh white light, sat Silvio Lucchese, surrounded by a dozen armed soldiers.
"Well, well, well," Silvio smiled, rising from his chair as June and Marco stepped into the light. "Look who decided to be a good girl. I knew you'd come, June. You have that same stupid, self-sacrificing streak your mother had."
"I have the drive, Silvio," June said, holding up the black rectangle. "Every dollar my father owns is routed through this encryption key. Let the Keenes go, pull your men out of Newark, and you can have the empire."
Silvio’s smile widened, revealing his gold teeth. "You're a very sweet girl, June. But you see... I don't just want the money. I want Dominic Vale to watch his world end, just like he made mine end when he took the docks thirty years ago."
From the shadows behind the sugar vats, a figure stepped forward.
It wasn't a Lucchese soldier.
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It was Daniel Keene, his face bruised from his time in the basement, holding a heavy iron pipe in his hand. He looked at June with a madness born of absolute terror and greed.
"I told you she'd come, Silvio!" Daniel shouted, his voice echoing through the rafters. "I told you she was soft! Now give me my money! Give me the cash you promised!"
