Chapter 7
The docks were empty at midnight.
Cold wind blowing off the water, carrying the smell of salt and old fish. The only light came from a single streetlamp at the end of the pier, flickering, casting long shadows across the wet wood.
I parked the truck a block away.
Got out. Walked slowly toward the light.
My hands were shaking.
I didn’t have a gun. I didn’t have a weapon. Just a small voice recorder I’d taken from the kitchen, tucked in the pocket of my jacket, turned on.
I saw them before they saw me.
My father.
Standing at the end of the pier.
Two big men with him, both holding guns, faces hidden in the shadows.
No Lila.
Good.
I’d been right. He never had her. It was all a trap to get me there.
“Dad,” I called out.
He turned.
Smiled when he saw me.
A cold, cruel smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“There you are,” he said. “I knew you’d come. You’re still my daughter, after all. You know where your loyalties lie.”
I stopped a few feet away from him.
“I’m not here because I’m loyal to you,” I said. “I’m here because you threatened a pregnant girl and a baby. Because you’re a coward who can’t fight his own battles, so he hides behind innocent people.”
His smile faded.
“Watch your mouth,” he snapped. “You think you’re something now? Running with the Rizzos? Playing hero? You’re still the same spoiled little girl who needs her father to fix her mistakes.”
“I don’t need you to fix anything,” I said. “I’m fixing my own mistakes. And I’m going to make sure you never hurt anyone again.”
He laughed.
“You and what army? Dominic’s little crew? The DA? Please. I have friends in high places, Elara. Friends who will make sure none of this ever sees the inside of a courtroom. All I have to do is give them the word, and all that evidence you worked so hard on disappears. Poof. Gone.”
He stepped toward me.
“Here’s the deal,” he said. “You come back with me. You tell Dominic the engagement is back on. You tell the DA you made everything up. That you were angry. That you lied. And in return, I don’t hurt Lila. I don’t hurt the baby. We all walk away happy.”
I stared at him.
This was the man who’d raised me.
The man I’d spent my whole life trying to please.
And he was offering me a choice.
Go back to being his pawn. Let him get away with everything. Or say no, and risk him hurting Lila anyway.
I didn’t hesitate.
“No,” I said.
His face went red with rage.
“What did you say?”
“I said no,” I repeated. “I’m not going back. I’m not lying. You’re going to jail. For the debts. For the bribes. For threatening Lila. For every terrible thing you’ve ever done. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
He raised his hand.
Slapped me hard across the face.
My head snapped to the side.
My cheek burned. Tears stung my eyes. But I didn’t back down. I looked him right in the eye.
“Hit me all you want,” I said. “It’s not going to change anything. The DA has everything. All the names. All the numbers. All the recordings. Even this conversation.”
I tapped the pocket of my jacket.
His eyes went wide.
“You recorded me?”
“Every word,” I said.
He lunged at me.
Grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me so hard my teeth rattled.
“Give it to me,” he yelled. “Give it to me now, or I swear to God—”
A loud voice cut through the dark.
“Let her go.”
Dominic.
He stepped out of the shadows behind a stack of shipping containers.
Tony and three other men with him. All holding guns.
The two men with my father raised their weapons.
For a second, no one moved.
Just the sound of the waves crashing against the pier. The wind howling.
“Let her go, Arthur,” Dominic said again. His voice was calm. Cold. “This is between you and me. Leave her out of it.”
My father laughed.
He tightened his grip on my shoulders.
“Between us? You ruined me, Rizzo. You took my deals. You took my money. You turned my own daughter against me. You think I’m going to let you walk away from this?”
He pulled a gun from his waistband.
Pressed it to the side of my head.
My breath caught in my throat.
“Nobody moves,” he yelled. “Nobody says a word. Or I blow her brains out right here.”
Tears ran down my face.
I looked at Dominic.
He was staring at the gun against my head. His face was white. His hands were clenched so tight around his own weapon his knuckles were white.
I looked past him.
Saw Lila.
Standing behind Tony, her face white, one hand pressed to her mouth, the other resting on her belly. She’d come with them.
I closed my eyes.
This was it.
This was how it ended.
I’d tried to do the right thing. Tried to make amends. And now I was going to die on a cold pier, at the hands of my own father.
Then I heard it.
Sirens.
Loud, getting closer.
Red and blue lights flashing in the distance.
DA Chen.
I’d called her before I left the house. Told her where I was going. Told her to bring the cops.
My father heard them too.
His grip on the gun loosened just a little.
His eyes darted toward the lights.
That was all the chance I needed.
I drove my elbow back as hard as I could into his stomach.
He grunted.
The gun fell out of his hand.
I dove to the side.
Dominic and his men moved.
Shots rang out.
Loud, sharp, echoing across the water.
I hit the wet wood of the pier, curled into a ball, my hands over my head.
A minute later, it was quiet.
“Elara?”
Dominic’s voice.
I looked up.
My father was on the ground, hands cuffed behind his back, two cops holding him down. His two men were on the ground too, both wounded, being tended to by paramedics.
DA Chen was standing there, badge in her hand.
Dominic ran to me.
Helped me up.
Held me tight, like he was scared I’d disappear.
“You idiot,” he said, but his voice was shaking. “You stupid, brave idiot. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”
“I had to,” I said. “I had to make sure he didn’t hurt Lila.”
Lila ran over.
Threw her arms around both of us.
She was crying.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” she said, hitting my arm softly. “Never. Do you hear me? Never.”
I hugged her back.
The cops led my father past us.
He looked at me.
Rage in his eyes.
“You’ll regret this,” he spat. “You’ll regret turning your back on your own family.”
I looked right at him.
“I don’t have a family,” I said. “Not anymore.”
He was led to a police car.
The door slammed shut behind him.
DA Chen walked over.
Held out her hand.
“Good work,” she said. “That recording of his confession? It’s the nail in the coffin. He’ll never see the outside of a prison cell again.”
I took her hand.
May you like
Shook it.
For the first time in my life, I felt free.
