Chapter 27 Marco
Marco
My mother does not improvise.
She composes.
Every move she makes is planned long before anyone realizes the game has started.
Which means if she took Saint…
She already decided exactly where he would wake up.
I spread the maps across the table and start eliminating locations.
The paper rustles softly beneath my hands as I mark each possible site.
“Three possibilities,” I say. “Maybe four if she’s feeling nostalgic.”
Trigger folds his arms.
“Start with the one she thinks is clever.”
“That’s not how she works,” I reply.
“She starts with the one that hurts.”
I tap the first location on the map.
“The old Bellari vineyard.”
Wolf frowns.
“That place has been abandoned for years.”
“Yes,” I say.
“It’s abandoned. And my father loved that vineyard.”
I glance at him.
“Trust me. She’s sentimental in the worst possible way.”
The room goes quiet.
“She always chooses places with emotional weight,” I continue. “She believes it makes people predictable.”
Laney stiffens slightly.
“You think she took him there… because of you?”
“No.”
I shake my head.
“Because of me… and because of you.”
The truth settles heavily in the room.
“You are my father’s daughter from his mistress.”
I move my finger across the map.
“Second option: the quarry transfer station outside Redfield.”
Trigger’s eyes narrow.
“We already checked the quarry.”
“Yes,” I say.
“Which is exactly why she won’t keep him there.”
My finger moves again.
“The lakeside processing plant.”
Wolf studies the map.
“That place is too exposed.”
“Which makes it perfect,” I reply. “She likes to hide behind noise and legitimacy.”
Laney’s voice is quiet but steady.
“Which one would she think you’d choose first?”
I look at her.
Then I give a grim smile.
“The vineyard.”
“Good,” Trigger says. “Then we go there.”
“No.”
I flip the map slightly.
“She expects that.”
I tap the processing plant.
“She took him here.”
The room goes silent.
Wolf nods slowly.
“Because if we were her… we’d assume you’d overthink it.”
“Exactly,” I say.
“She’ll do the thing that looks wrong.”
My phone vibrates in my hand.
A message.
From her.
You always were my clever boy.
But not clever enough.
I lock the screen before anyone else sees it.
I don’t need to show them.
I already know what it means.
“She knows we’re close,” I say quietly.
I meet Wolf’s eyes.
“Which means we’re very close.”