The Devil's Deal

Alessandro POV

The bloody person wasn't Elena Kane.

It was my brother Marco.

"What the hell happened?" I demanded as my father's men carried Marco into the main hall. Blood soaked through his shirt, and his face was pale as snow.

"Castellanos," Marco gasped. "They... they had the woman. Elena Kane. I tried to get her out."

My father appeared at the top of the stairs, moving fast for a man his age. "Where is she now?"

"Gone," Marco whispered. "They moved her when they saw me coming."

I looked at Iris, who stood frozen beside me. Her eyes were huge with confusion and fear. She'd thought she was about to see her aunt, and instead she was watching my bleeding brother get carried to the couch.

"I don't understand," she said quietly.

Neither did I, but I couldn't let her know that.

"Marco," my father knelt beside my brother. "Tell me exactly what you saw."

"Elena Kane was in a warehouse on the south side. Castellanos had her tied up, asking questions about the girl." Marco's eyes found Iris. "About her."

"What kind of questions?"

"Where she's been hiding. Who's been protecting her. What Robert Kane told her about the old days."

My blood went cold. The old days. Twenty years ago, when everything went wrong and started this war between our families and the FBI.

"Did Elena talk?" my father asked.

Marco shook his head. "Tough lady. Wouldn't say a word, even when they..." He stopped, looking at Iris.

"Even when they what?" Iris stepped forward, her voice shaking.

Marco looked at my father, who nodded slightly.

"Even when they hurt her," Marco said softly.

Iris made a sound like a wounded animal. I reached out to steady her, but she pulled away from me.

"Where is she now?" she demanded.

"We don't know," my father said. "But we'll find her."

"Why should I believe you? You're criminals. You're probably working with the people who took her."

"Actually," my father said, standing up slowly, "the Castellanos are our enemies. They want you just as much as we do, but for different reasons."

"What reasons?"

Before anyone could answer, every alarm in the house started screaming at once. Red lights flashed in the hallways. Outside, I could hear engines and shouting voices.

"Federal agents!" someone yelled through a loudspeaker. "This is the FBI! Surrender now!"

My father cursed in Italian. "How did they find us so fast?"

I knew how. The same way the Castellanos had known where to wait for us earlier. Someone was tracking Iris, but not the way we'd thought.

"Her phone," I said suddenly.

Everyone looked at me.

"Iris, where's your phone?"

She pulled it out of her pocket. "Right here. Why?"

"Turn it off. Take out the battery."

"But what if Elena tries to call me?"

"She can't call you if she's captured. But the FBI can track you if that phone is on."

Iris hesitated, then quickly turned off her phone and removed the battery. But it was too late.

"They already know we're here," my father said, looking out the window. "At least twenty agents. Maybe more."

"Surrender now!" the voice outside shouted again. "We have the building surrounded!"

My father turned to me with cold eyes. "This is your fault. You brought her here."

"She would have died if I left her out there."

"Better her than all of us."

Those words hit me like a punch to the stomach. My father was willing to let an innocent girl die to protect himself. But then again, he'd done worse things for less important reasons.

"What do we do?" Marco asked from the couch. He was still bleeding, but the color was coming back to his face.

"We negotiate," my father said.

"With what?"

He looked directly at Iris. "With her."

"No," I said quickly. "That's not happening."

"She's Robert Kane's daughter. She's worth more than money to them."

"She's also under my protection."

My father's eyebrows went up. "Your protection? Since when do you protect Kane's blood?"

Since about an hour ago, when I saw her jump between buildings to save her own life. Since I watched her ask brave questions even when she was scared. Since I realized she wasn't just some spoiled rich girl, but someone who'd been lied to her whole life just like I had been.

"Since now," I said.

"Alessandro." My father's voice got dangerous. "You're letting emotion cloud your judgment."

"Maybe. But I'm not handing her over."

The speakers outside crackled again. "This is Director Robert Kane. I know my daughter is in there. Let her go, and we can talk."

Iris gasped. "That's... that's my father?"

"Your real father," my father confirmed. "The man who's been hunting our family for twenty years."

Iris walked to the window and peered through the heavy curtains. Outside, black FBI vehicles surrounded our property. Men with rifles crouched behind cars. Helicopters circled overhead.

"All of this is for me?" she whispered.

"You're more important than you know," I told her.

"But I'm nobody. I work at a coffee shop. I go to college. I don't know any government secrets."

"You don't have to know secrets to be valuable," my father said. "You just have to be loved by the right person."

Or the wrong person, depending on how you looked at it.

"Alessandro Torrino!" Director Kane's voice boomed through the speakers. "I want to speak with you directly!"

My father raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. He wants to talk to you, not me."

"Why would he want to talk to me?"

"Because," Marco said from the couch, "you're the one who saved his daughter."

That was true, but it didn't make sense. How would Kane know I was the one who helped her escape?

Unless...

"The car," I said suddenly. "When we crashed, there were cameras on every street corner. They saw me help her."

"So?"

"So now Robert Kane knows that Alessandro Torrino, son of Enzo Torrino, saved his daughter's life."

My father's face went dark. "Which means he'll either be grateful or suspicious."

"Probably both," I agreed.

The speakers crackled again. "Alessandro, I know you can hear me. I want to make a deal."

Iris looked at me with hopeful eyes. "Maybe he'll let us all go if I just walk out there."

"No," my father and I said at the same time.

"Why not?"

"Because," my father explained, "the moment you step outside, you become a target for every crime family in Chicago. The Castellanos, the Morettis, the Russians. They'll all want to grab you before Kane can protect you."

"But if I stay here, the FBI will storm the house."

"Not if we give them a reason to wait," I said.

"What kind of reason?"

I looked at my father. "We tell them we'll trade information about Elena's location for safe passage."

My father shook his head. "We don't know where Elena is."

"But they don't know that we don't know."

It was a dangerous game, but it might buy us time to figure out a real plan.

"Alessandro!" Kane's voice came again. "I'm waiting!"

I walked to the window and opened it slightly. "I hear you, Kane!"

"I want my daughter back!"

"She's safe!"

"For now! But if you hurt her..."

"Nobody's hurting anybody!" I shouted back. "But we need to talk!"

"Then talk!"

"Not like this! Face to face!"

There was a long pause. Then Kane's voice came back, quieter but still angry.

"You want a meeting?"

"Neutral ground! Just you and me!"

"And my daughter!"

I looked at Iris. She was listening to every word, her face pale but determined.

"She stays here until we reach an agreement!" I called out.

"Like hell she does!"

"Then we have nothing to discuss!"

Another long pause. I could see agents moving around outside, probably getting ready to storm the house.

Finally, Kane's voice returned. "One hour. The old pier at Navy Yard. Just you and me."

"Agreed!"

"Alessandro," Kane's voice got deadly quiet. "If anything happens to my daughter while I'm gone, I'll burn your whole family to the ground."

The connection cut off.

My father looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "What are you doing?"

"Buying time."

"For what?"

Before I could answer, Iris grabbed my arm. "You can't meet with him alone. It's too dangerous."

"I can handle Robert Kane."

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said quietly.

"Then what?"

She looked toward the front door, where we could hear engines starting up as some of the FBI vehicles moved away.

"I'm worried about what happens when you leave me alone in this house with your father."

Her words hit me like ice water. She was right to be scared. My father saw her as a weapon to be used, not a person to be protected.

"Don't worry," I told her. "I'm not leaving you here."

"Alessandro," my father said in a warning voice.

"She comes with me."

"Absolutely not. She stays here as insurance."

"Insurance against what?"

"Against Kane shooting you on sight."

That was a fair point. Robert Kane had every reason to want me dead.

"Then we do this differently," I said.

"How?"

I walked to the window and shouted outside. "Kane! Change of plans!"

"What now?"

"The meeting happens here! You come inside! Just you!"

"Are you insane?" my father hissed.

Maybe I was. But bringing Kane into our house was the only way to keep Iris safe and still have the meeting.

"You want me to walk into a house full of armed criminals?" Kane shouted back.

"You want your daughter back?" I replied.

Long pause.

"Five minutes!" Kane finally said. "I'm coming in! And if this is a trap..."

"It's not a trap!" I called back.

But as I said the words, I realized something terrible. It wasn't a trap for Kane.

It was a trap for me.

My father was smiling his coldest smile, and Marco was suddenly sitting up straighter on the couch, his hand moving toward his hidden gun.

"Father," I said carefully, "what are you planning?"

"Something I should have done twenty years ago," he replied.

The front door opened, and Robert Kane walked in alone, hands raised but eyes hard as steel.

"Hello, Enzo," he said to my father. "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough, Robert."

Kane's eyes found Iris, and for just a moment, his tough expression cracked. "Hello, sweetheart."

"Are you really my father?" Iris whispered.

"Yes. And I'm here to take you home."

"She's not going anywhere," my father said.

"Yes, she is."

"Over my dead body."

Kane smiled grimly. "That can be arranged."

That's when I realized my father had planned this all along. He never intended to negotiate. He was going to kill Robert Kane right here in our living room.

With his daughter watching.