The Mafia's Undoing-Chapter 30: All or Nothing

The darkness was suffocating; the stench of mildew thick in the air. My head was throbbing, and my wrists were chafed from the zip ties that bound them. I squinted to see more clearly, and I took note of the concrete walls and the single overhead bulb, with no windows.

Classic kidnapping setup. Again.

"She’s awake." A voice from the darkness- female, familiar.

The overhead light flickered on, and the brightness stung me. When my vision cleared, I saw her leaning on the corner wall in her cream-colored Chanel suit, looking like the kind of woman who stepped out of the pages of Vogue.

Victoria Sterling.

"What-" My voice came out hoarse. "What are you doing here?"

"Cleaning up loose ends." She drew closer, her heels clicking on the concrete. "Ah," she was right there in front of me. I could see the calculation in her eyes, the complete lack of compassion. "You’ve been a problem, Katherine. A stubborn, inconvenient problem."

"The hitmen. You hired them."

"Obviously," Victoria knelt in front of me. She had her skirt hiked up to her toned legs. "Did you really believe that Thomas Marvin was making those threats? Please. That old fool only cares about his son’s happiness."

My mind was racing to understand. "But the engagement - Tony believes that he is protecting me by staying with you-"

"I know that. Isn’t it brilliant?" Victoria’s smile was sharp as glass. "I created the fake FBI investigation. Fed it to Thomas, let him think he was being clever by forcing Tony into our engagement. Meanwhile, I hired professionals to take shots at you - close enough to scare but distant enough to miss. Built the perfect threat that only Sterling connections could solve."

The puzzle fell into place with terrible clarity. "You’ve manipulated us all,"

"I prefer the term ’strategic planning’". She continued and stood up, smoothing her skirt over her hips. "I wanted the Marvin empire. Tony was the fastest way to get it. But you were in the way - this tragic, romantic obstacle that made him weak. So I created a scenario where protecting you meant losing you."

"Tony will figure it out."

"Will he?" Victoria’s laugh was icy. "He’s too busy drowning in guilt and jealousy. And once you’re dead, he’ll be so consumed with revenge he’ll never see me coming. I’ll be the supportive fiancée, the shoulder he cries on, the woman who helps him through his grief. And then I’ll own everything."

Terror closed my throat. "Susan... is she..."

"Your friend?" "She’s fine. Tranquilizer dart, not a bullet. We needed you compliant, not traumatized. Victoria checked her watch. "Though she probably thinks you’re dead by now. As does Tony. I made sure the scene looked convincing."

"He’ll come for me."

"I’m counting on it,"

Victoria whipped out her cell phone and showed me the message she had already typed up to send to Tony’s number. Come to the old Castellano warehouse on EPL 18. Come alone, or Katherine dies... you have one hour.

"When he shows up," she continued crisply, "my men will take you out. Tragic lovers, murdered by Torrino family rivals seeking revenge. The blame goes to Luca’s company; Marvin and Sterling are devastated, and I get it all."

"You’re insane."

"I’m efficient," She hit send on the message. "Now we wait,".

She left, and then I was alone in the dark with the zip ties biting into my wrists and one hour to live.

But Victoria had made one critical mistake.

She assumed I was helpless. A damsel waiting for rescue.

She had never seen me fight to save my own life.

I worked my wrists against the zip ties, ignoring the pain as plastic cut deeper into skin. Elliot had taught me this - pull laterally, not vertically. Find the weak point in the mechanism. I felt blood slick against my palms, felt the burn as I twisted and pulled and-

Snap.

My hands were free.

I scrambled to the door to check it. Locked. But the hinges were visible, old, rusted. I grabbed a piece of the rebar protruding from the corner to work underneath the hinge pin, pulling-

The door smashed open just as the pin had come loose.

But it wasn’t Tony standing there.

It was Luca Torrino, with his gun drawn and his entourage of heavily armed men behind him.

"Katherine." His eyes went wide. "Thank God. We got a tip that you’d been-" He stopped, taking in my wrists smeared with blood and cuts from torn pajamas to defensive position with the piece of rebar. "Oh God, did you break yourself out?"

"Victoria Sterling." I dropped the rebar, feeling as if the legs beneath me had turned to jelly. "It was her all along. The threats, the assassins, the fake FBI investigation. She’s using me to trap Tony-"

"I know." Luca holstered his gun and took his jacket off to slip it over my shoulders. The smell was his cologne. "He got in touch with me from the FBI. He’s been looking into her for weeks. Knew something was fishy about this whole engagement."

"Tony’s walking into a trap. She’s texting him - EPL 18... one hour..."

"Then we must move. Now." Luca’s touch was gentle on my arm, encouraging me to go with him. "My men will cover this area. You are coming with me."

"I can’t let you face this alone-"

"You’re injured, and half-dressed, and traumatized. You are definitely not going anywhere near an active firefight." His tone was firm but compassionate. "Let me do this, Katherine. Let me help."

We had progressed halfway down the corridor when his phone beeped. He glanced at it, and his face turned ashen.

"What?"

"It’s from Victoria," he showed me the message:

P.S. If Tony brings backup, I will kill Katherine immediately. He knows I mean it. Come alone, or she dies screaming.

"She’s covering all angles." My stomach sank. "Tony won’t bring anyone with him. He’ll walk in there alone."

"Well, then he’s a dead man," Luca clenched his jaw. "Unless we get there first,"

We burst out of the building and into the night air, with Luca’s men already moving to get to the cars. He opened the door to the passenger side of the black SUV and helped me in.

"Buckle up. We’re about to break every traffic law in New York."

The engine roared to life, and we peeled out into traffic.

My phone, wherever Victoria had tossed it, was buzzing in the cup holder. Luca reached over to get it, his eyes scanning the display as he unlocked it with my face ID.

"What?"

"A text from Thomas Marvin. To you." He handed me the phone again, and this time I read the message that had come in while I was unconscious:

Miss Blaire - I know the truth about Victoria. I have the evidence. An FBI raid is currently underway at the Sterling offices. But Tony doesn’t know. He’s walking into EPL 18 thinking he’s rescuing you. If you care about my son at all, stop him. He’ll get himself killed over a woman he believes is already deceased.

A photograph was attached to the email. The scene in my apartment -blood spreading across the floor, Susan’s body covered with a sheet, crime tape everywhere - even that was planned to look like a murder.

Tony thought that I was dead, and he was walking right into Victoria’s trap.

"Drive faster." My voice was calm and even as fear coursed through my veins. "We have to get to EPL 18 before-"

The explosion lit up the skyline ahead of us - orange fire engulfing the waterfront district.

EPL 18.

Tony was supposed to be there in twenty minutes.

But the blast happened now.

Luca slammed on the brakes, and we sat, frozen in stunned reaction to the flames that engulfed the place where Tony Marvin had been heading.

My world ceased.

"No." The answer was breathless. "No, no, no-"

"Katherine-"

Luca’s hand was on my shoulder, his voice thick with something that might have been genuine sympathy.

But I was already moving then, already opening the door and already running towards the fire because Tony couldn’t be dead; he just couldn’t be; we hadn’t had enough time to sort this out.

A hand reached out to grasp me from behind, Luca’s arms enveloping my waist, stopping me as I screamed. "Let me go! I have to - he’s in there - I have to"

"There’s nothing you can do!" Luca tightened his hold on me as I struggled with him. "Katherine, if he was in that building when it blew, there’s nothing left to save."

I collapsed against him, my legs failing me.

Tony was gone.

The man that I loved, the man that I had pushed away to protect, the man who had sacrificed everything to protect me.

Gone. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

And I hadn’t even told him I loved him one last time.