The SUV carrying Harper’s mother and sister disappeared from the tracking system three minutes later.
Harper stared at the blank map.
“No.”
She refreshed it.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
“Harper.”
“No.”
Vincent reached toward her.
She pulled away.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“My mother trusts your people because I told her she could.”
“Daniel has driven me for seven years.”
“And Gideon has been your brother in everything but blood.”
Vincent flinched.
Harper regretted the words immediately.
But fear had stripped away diplomacy.
Marcus approached.
“We found where the tracker died.”
“Where?” Vincent asked.
“Near Cicero.”
“Traffic cameras?”
“Checking.”
Harper forced herself to breathe.
She could panic later.
Right now, Emily and her mother needed the version of Harper who could solve impossible problems while everyone else was losing their minds.
“Daniel’s company phone,” she said.
Marcus shook his head.
“Off.”
“Vehicle diagnostics?”
Vincent looked at her.
“What?”
“The GPS system can be disabled, but the engine computer still reports maintenance data to Romano Fleet Services.”
Marcus immediately understood.
He called the fleet manager.
Within minutes, they had something.
The SUV was moving southwest.
Harper enlarged the map.
“Where is he going?”
Vincent studied the route.
Then his expression changed.
“Bellwood.”
Marcus swore.
Harper looked between them.
“What’s in Bellwood?”
“An old Romano warehouse.”
“Gideon controls it?”
“He used to.”
Vincent grabbed his coat.
Marcus blocked him.
“You can’t go.”
“My family is there.”
“They’re Harper’s family.”
Vincent looked at him.
Marcus sighed.
“Which apparently means they’re your family now too.”
Harper’s heart reacted to the words, but there was no time to examine why.
They left Romano Tower through a service exit.
Rain had flooded sections of Lower Wacker Drive.
Vincent put Harper in an armored SUV with Marcus while two additional vehicles followed.
She spent the drive searching financial records.
Then she saw it.
“Stop.”
Vincent looked over.
“What?”
“The warehouse utility account.”
“What about it?”
“It reactivated three weeks ago.”
Marcus glanced into the rearview mirror.
“Gideon planned this.”
“Yes.”
Harper opened another database.
“Power usage jumped yesterday. Heating. Exterior lights. Something else drawing a lot of electricity.”
“Equipment?”
“Maybe.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“What are you thinking?”
“That Gideon didn’t improvise tonight.”
Silence.
Harper continued.
“He knew I was investigating. He expected me to make a move eventually. The warehouse isn’t an escape location.”
Vincent understood.
“It’s a trap.”
Harper nodded.
Marcus looked at Vincent.
“We turn around.”
“No.”
“Boss—”
“No.”
Harper grabbed Vincent’s arm.
“If Gideon wants you there, walking through the front door is exactly what he expects.”
Vincent looked at her.
“So what do you suggest?”
Harper opened satellite maps.
“I suggest we disappoint him.”
Twenty minutes later, the convoy stopped six blocks from the warehouse.
Harper’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone went silent.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Gideon’s voice.
“Harper.”
Her stomach tightened.
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“Let me hear them.”
“You’re becoming demanding.”
“Let me hear my mother.”
A pause.
Then another voice.
“Harper?”
Her mother.
Harper closed her eyes.
“Mom.”
“Honey, we’re okay.”
“Is Emily with you?”
“I’m here,” Emily called.
Harper nearly cried.
Gideon returned.
“Reassuring?”
“For the moment.”
“I want the drive.”
“You know that.”
“Come alone.”
“No.”
Gideon laughed.
“I wasn’t speaking to you, Vincent.”
Harper looked at Vincent.
So Gideon knew he was listening.
“Harper comes alone,” Gideon continued. “She brings the drive. Your mother and sister leave.”
“And me?” Harper asked.
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Vincent took the phone.
“You want me, Gideon. Stop hiding behind women who have nothing to do with this.”
“Everything has to do with this now.”
“You killed Anthony.”
“And you still think tonight is about revenge.”
“What is it about?”
“Succession.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
Gideon continued.
“Your organization is already divided. Half the old guard thinks you’ve become soft. The other half is loyal to the Romano name, not specifically to you. You die tonight, and by morning they need someone.”
“You?”
“Who else?”
Vincent almost laughed.
“You betrayed the organization to Morello.”
“Morello will be gone within six months.”
“And you think the men will follow you?”
“They won’t know.”
Harper spoke.
“They will when I release the records.”
Gideon’s voice became cold.
“That is why you won’t leave the warehouse.”
Vincent’s hand tightened around the phone.
Harper continued calmly.
“You made another mistake.”
“What?”
“You assume the drive is the only copy.”
Silence.
“I sent the files off-site.”
Gideon didn’t answer.
“Kill me and they’re released automatically.”
Harper heard him breathe.
Then he laughed.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Ask yourself why I resigned tonight instead of running eleven days ago.”
The line went dead.
Vincent stared at her.
“You just made yourself more valuable alive.”
“That was the idea.”
“And more dangerous.”
“That too.”
Marcus turned from the front seat.
“We have the warehouse plans.”
Harper studied them.
Three entrances.
Main loading dock.
Office entrance.
Rail access in back.
But something else caught her attention.
An old drainage tunnel ran beneath the property.
Thirty minutes later, Harper found herself crouched beside Vincent in freezing rain behind an abandoned manufacturing plant.
“This is insane,” she whispered.
“You designed it.”
“I suggested it.”
“Same thing.”
Marcus and his team would create a distraction at the front.
Vincent and Harper would enter through the drainage system.
Harper looked at him.
“You could stay outside.”
“So could you.”
“My family is in there.”
Vincent’s gaze held hers.
“Exactly.”
She had no answer.
The diversion began.
Two vehicles approached the front gate.
Warehouse lights shifted.
Vincent and Harper entered through the drainage tunnel.
They emerged inside a utility room.
Voices echoed beyond the wall.
Vincent checked his weapon.
Harper hated the sight of it.
He noticed.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She frowned.
“Good?”
“People who enjoy this are the ones I worry about.”
They moved quietly.
Harper found a security terminal.
Four camera feeds.
Loading bay.
Office.
Hallway.
Storage room.
Her breath caught.
Emily and her mother sat inside the storage room.
Daniel Cross stood outside.
Harper whispered, “There.”
Vincent studied the screen.
“Two guards nearby.”
“Daniel makes three.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“Maybe.”
“What?”
“I know Daniel.”
“You thought you knew Gideon.”
“I did.”
Harper regretted it again.
Vincent nodded slowly.
“You’re right.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Vincent pulled Harper behind a stack of pallets.
Daniel entered.
Alone.
His weapon was lowered.
Vincent stepped out.
Daniel froze.
“Boss.”
“Give me one reason.”
Daniel slowly placed his gun on the floor.
“They threatened my son.”
Harper stared.
Daniel’s eyes were red.
“Gideon has people outside his dorm at Northwestern. Sent me pictures. Told me if I didn’t bring Mrs. Hayes and Emily here, my boy was dead.”
Vincent’s anger changed direction instantly.
“Is your son secure now?”
“I don’t know.”
Vincent handed Daniel a phone.
“Call Marcus. Tell him. We’ll get someone there.”
Daniel’s face crumpled with relief.
Harper realized something important.
Gideon’s empire wasn’t built on loyalty.
It was built on fear.
And fear eventually cracked.
Daniel unlocked the storage room.
“Harper!”
Emily ran into her arms.
Harper held her sister so tightly Emily laughed through tears.
“I can’t breathe.”
“I don’t care.”
Her mother hugged both daughters.
Vincent turned away slightly, giving them privacy.
Harper noticed.
She always noticed.
Then alarms began screaming.
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“He knows.”
Vincent grabbed Harper.
“Move.”
They hurried toward the drainage route.
A metal shutter crashed down across the corridor.
Another dropped behind them.
Trapped.
Speakers crackled.
Gideon’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t know about the tunnel?”
Vincent looked upward.
“Let them go.”
“I will.”
A door opened at the end of the corridor.
Gideon stood there.
Alone.
“After Harper gives me the drive.”
Harper stepped forward.
Vincent stopped her.
“No.”
“Vincent.”
“No.”
Gideon smiled.
“How touching.”
Harper looked at her mother.
At Emily.
Then at Vincent.
She removed the chain from around her neck.
The tiny drive rested in her palm.
“Harper,” Vincent warned.
She whispered, “Trust me.”
Then she walked toward Gideon.
“Open the exit.”
“Drive first.”
“Family first.”
Gideon considered it.
Then pressed a remote.
One shutter rose.
Daniel moved Harper’s mother and Emily toward the exit.
Harper waited until they were through.
Then she tossed Gideon the drive.
He caught it.
Smiled.
And raised his gun toward Vincent.
Harper didn’t move.
“You promised.”
“I promised your family could leave.”
“You need me alive to stop the files from releasing.”
Gideon smiled.
“No, I don’t.”
He held up the drive.
“I only needed this to locate your encryption key.”
Harper’s stomach dropped.
He knew.
Gideon aimed at Vincent.
“You should have let her resign, cousin.”
A gunshot thundered through the warehouse.
Harper screamed.
Vincent staggered backward.
And blood spread across his white shirt.