Chapter 14 Giovanni #2
Demi doesn’t miss a beat, and I realize how badly she wants to make a difference within the infamously corrupt NYPD. “My clothes got wet, kiddo. So, your sister very kindly offered to lend me hers. What do you think?” She makes a pretend curtsy in front of us. “Do they suit me?”
Amber shrugs. “You look like Meggie.”
Demi stands next to Meggie, cheek-to-cheek. “Your sister is more beautiful though, huh?”
“You’re beautiful too, Demi.”
The kid melts my heart. This kind of innocence deserves to be preserved. It doesn’t deserve a biological father with the empathy of a fucking slab of granite.
“Love you, kiddo.” Demi ruffles Amber’s hair. “Ready?”
Meggie throws her arms around Amber and hugs her tightly. “Love you, baby girl. Remember to point out all the things we’ve seen on the ferry to Gio. He hasn’t been on the ferry before.”
“I will.”
“And hold Demi’s hand when you’re walking to the car, okay?”
“Okay.” Her bottom lip quivers. “Meggie…?”
“Yes, sweetie.”
“What about Bella? Why can’t she come on vacation with us?”
Meggie swallows, her eyes brimming with tears, and I take over.
“How about, when Bella is ready to come and live with us, I bring her up to the cabin to see you?”
Meggie sniffs loudly. Demi squeezes Amber’s hand.
“Okay.” Amber raises huge eyes my way. “Don’t forget to bring her bed.”
“I won’t.”
“And her food.”
“Sure.”
“And her teddies.”
“I’ll bring all the teddies, I promise.”
I look at Meggie. I don’t want to say goodbye.
I don’t want it to sound final, but I don’t know how else to do this without ripping open my chest and offering her my heart to keep safe.
What I want to do is pull her into my arms, scrap the plan, and disappear with her and Amber someplace no one will ever think to look.
Right now, the Antarctic sounds like our best option.
So, when Meggie comes to me, stands on tiptoes and kisses me on the lips, I can’t resist wrapping my free arm around her, and pulling her against me. I breathe in the fragrance of her shampoo, the feel of her body against mine, the way she molds herself to me like two halves of an infinity symbol.
I don’t say goodbye.
I release her and walk away with Amber and Demi.
I sense Meggie’s eyes follow us, but I don’t look around. I can’t. If I do, I’ll be the one to ruin this plan before we’ve even entered the first stage, and this isn’t about me. This is about them.
In the elevator, Demi asks Amber about the dog. “Where did you find her?”
“In the rescue center. Gio took us.” Amber is reserved away from her sister, but Demi keeps her talking.
“That’s amazing, Amber. Can I come and see her when she’s at home with you?”
I keep my eyes fixed straight ahead at the elevator’s digital display counting down the levels.
Amber smiles up at the woman pretending to be her sister. “She’s very friendly. I’m going to teach her tricks.”
“You’ll be a great teacher.”
Demi lowers the sunglasses to cover her eyes as we reach the hotel lobby and wait for the door to slide open. She casually takes Amber’s hand.
Then we’re crossing the lobby, and my security team falls into step behind us. The concierge greets me with a “Good evening, Mr. Sabatelli,” and I nod in response.
My car is waiting outside the entrance. The driver climbs out and opens the rear passenger door. I guide Demi and Amber into the back seat with a smile and climb in behind them while Demi fastens Amber’s safety belt.
My team follows us in another vehicle as we join the traffic. I focus on the people inside the car rather than scanning the faces on the sidewalk. Smile. Point out a horse and carriage to Amber as we approach Central Park. FAO Schwarz. The Natural History Museum.
Demi talks about her favorite things to do in New York. She’s got a lot to say when there’s a potential promotion riding on it. There’s no fakery. She’s just playing a role to catch the bad guy.
That’s how I eventually sold it to her.
We’re not simply helping Meggie and Amber escape The Fish. We’re taking down the bad guy and saving the lives of his future victims. And Demi is going to help me do it.
Across the bridge and we’re soon leaving the city behind.
About now, Meggie will be leaving the apartment with Ric. She’ll climb into a vehicle with a fake registration plate, lie down in the rear footwell, and Ric will set off for the rendezvous point.
I try to put myself in her shoes. She’ll be terrified, but she’ll repeat the mantra in her head: We’re doing this for Amber. We’re doing this for Amber. We’re doing this for Amber. I can track Ric’s route across the map with my eyes closed, heading north-west towards Albany.
I refrain from checking in with him on the two-way radio set; the longer we can maintain radio silence the better. Instead, I incline my head towards Amber and listen to her stories about what she has seen from the ferry during her outings with Ric.
We don’t head directly to the airport.
From the Interstate, the driver navigates the traffic and hooks a last-minute left onto the exit route, doubling back towards the city again.
Amber’s head lolls against my shoulder, and within moments, she’s asleep.
This will make what I’m about to do a whole lot easier.
The driver heads towards the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The sun is setting, and it looks as if a summer storm is brewing in the distance, the clouds closing in on us moody gray.
I don’t lean forward when I address the driver. “Any movement?”
“All clear this way.”
The stage is set.
We enter the grounds of the abandoned Red Hook Grain Terminal, where a line of 120-foot-tall silos covered in creeping, black mold, provide a sinister backdrop to the mouth of the canal.
The car pulls right up outside the building.
Most city folks are probably unaware of the building’s existence, but any bold folks seeking cheap TikTok-worthy thrills will be prosecuted if discovered trespassing on the land.
Which leaves the way clear for us.
Another black vehicle, identical to the one we’re traveling in, is already waiting for us when the driver slows to a halt outside the building’s entrance and kills the engine.
Demi and I wait in the car with Amber, whose mouth is slack with sleep.
The rest of my team are nowhere in sight, but wherever they are, I know that they can see us.
The driver climbs out and unscrews the license plate ready to switch with the plate of the waiting vehicle. The entire process takes less than two minutes.
Then, we hit the road again.
I sit back in the seat and fix my gaze on the road ahead.
This is the part where it gets difficult.
I hope that I’ve done enough to keep Meggie and Amber safe, but wars are never won on hope alone.
I have to end the Fish’s life; it’s the only way to finish this because while he lives, there will always be that connection tethering them to him.
I call my sister on her cell phone.
“Gio?” I hear the mistrust when she says my name.
I rarely call her, and she gave up checking in on me a long while ago. But we both know that Mario has her phone bugged, which means that if The Fish is using my family to pin me down, this will make me an easy target.
“I thought about what you said in LA, Bianca.”
“Which part?” She might be suspicious, but there will be a small part of her that still hopes for us to be a family again. Enough to make her hear me out anyway.
“The part about coming home for the summer.”
Pause. “What’s brought this on?” She’s walking. A door clicks shut behind her. She doesn’t want anyone to overhear our conversation.
I have to keep it believable. Bianca knows me too well to buy into false promises of sentimentality and family loyalty. “I’ve met someone.”
The silence on the other end of the call is tangible. “Someone?”
“She’s different from all the others. You always said that I would know, and you were right.”
“I knew there was something different about you when I saw you in LA.”
Her tone is lighter, and I wonder if this is the news that she has been waiting for. Maybe she has been pinning all her hopes on me settling down one day with a woman who will remind me of the importance of family.
“Who is she? Do I know her?”
“You’ll have to be patient a little longer. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
I can almost see her smile. “I’m glad you did, Gio. Does Enzo know?”
Is that a loaded question? Has our little brother already told her about Meggie, or has he been keeping his distance from her too?
“No, and I’d like it to stay that way.”
I end the call. I’ll know within twenty-four hours if Enzo tells her about his trip to the zoo with Meggie and Amber.
My sister might be all about family loyalty, but she won’t be impressed when she finds out that the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with has a little sister that she’s raising single handedly.
Bianca will slide into full-on prenup mode and claim, loudly, that she’s doing it to protect me.
My next call is to my casino. I keep it concise, ask the same questions I would normally ask, give nothing away.
If I haven’t misread the situation, The Fish will have already made his move; now, all I can do is sit back and wait while my driver heads back onto the freeway towards the airport.
I don’t have to wait long.
The radio crackles to life when an aircraft flying overhead is clearly circling to prepare for landing, and Ric’s tinny voice announces, “Shark bite.”
My pulse races. There’s more at stake tonight than there has ever been before. One wrong move, and my entire future will come crashing down around me, like a sci-fi movie where the viewer is led to believe that there is plain white nothingness beyond what they can see.
I don’t respond. Ric knows what to do.
The driver of the switched vehicle checks in. “All clear.”
It’s a small comfort.
Meggie’s heart must be pounding. She’ll be cramped inside the footwell of the vehicle that Ric is driving, unable to stretch her legs or ease the ache in her lower back.
But her own discomfort will be nothing compared to the fear coursing through her veins.
Fear for Amber’s safety. Perhaps for my safety too.
I keep the radio in my hand as we approach the airport. I need to know that Meggie is safe before I enter the next stage of the plan. When the device remains silent, I’m tempted to contact Ric, but a slight shake of Demi’s head snags my focus. She’s right. I have to be patient.
Another crackle, and my pulse spikes frantically.
Ric. “Plan B. ETA later than planned. Shark lost at sea.”
Relief floods my chest. They’re going to make it. Meggie is safe.
At the airport, the driver pulls the car into my private parking bay. I climb out first. Instead of entering the airport, I make my way to the control building, chin jutting defiantly, strides filled with confidence.
Once inside, I enter the male restrooms reserved for the control room employees and switch my trademark suit for plain blue coveralls and heavy black boots.
Then I take up my position in the rabbit warren of conveyor belts and forklift trucks behind the luggage reclaim department.
I keep the radio in my hand and wait.
I’m surprisingly calm now that everything is in place. The worst is yet to come, but I remind myself that I will handle it because I’m doing it for them.
“The snake has been fed.”
Demi’s voice is different through the radio speaker, robotic, as though she is using a voice-changer. The snake codeword was her idea, and I smile to myself.
She is inside the airport and has checked in for the flight on my private jet using Meggie’s name and passport.
Now, all I’m waiting for is Ric. I steel myself. My heart is thudding dully, waiting for the radio to spring to life, knowing that I’m not going to like what I hear.
“Rendezvous made. ETA?”
Another member of my team responds. “Ten minutes.”
Ten minutes. Six hundred seconds. A lifetime.
They are the longest ten minutes of my entire life. When the radio hisses, making my nerves jangle, it isn’t Ric’s voice I hear.
“Gio, where are you?” It’s Meggie.
I keep my voice neutral. I’m doing this for them. This is all for them… For Meggie and Amber. “Do you have the puppy?” The codeword for Amber.
“Yes. Where are you, Gio? Where are you? You were supposed to be here. Why aren’t you here? Gio…”
I smash the radio and toss the broken shards into the nearest trash can.
Meggie’s voice is still ringing in my ears when I load my revolver and make my way through the baggage area to the hub of the airport.
I couldn’t forewarn Meggie that I wasn’t going to make the rendezvous point.
Her reaction was expected, but this was the only way.
When we switched cars at the Red Hook Grain Terminal, Demi and I traded places with two members of my security team.
Amber was sound asleep, oblivious to what was going on, and now she is reunited with her sister as planned.
Ric will drive them up to Vermont, and I’m going to catch a fish.