The Mafia's Undoing-Chapter 75: Captive

The helicopter ride was relatively short.

Vincent sits across from me, weapon trained, but his posture is relaxed. Professional as always, like this was just another job.

"Where are we going?" I try to keep my voice steady.

"Somewhere, Marie prepared." He doesn’t elaborate. "Don’t worry. She wants you alive... for now."

"How comforting." I look out the window, trying to memorize landmarks, but it’s dark, and we’re moving too fast.

We land on the roof of what looks like an abandoned warehouse complex. Red Hook, maybe? The docks are nearby - I can smell the water, hear distant ship horns.

Vincent’s men are waiting - four of them, armed and professional.

They don’t rough me up or threaten; they just efficiently handcuff me and lead me inside.

The warehouse is massive and cavernous. There was industrial equipment scattered around, evidence of whatever business used to operate here, but the corner they’ve set up is almost civilized - portable lights, folding chairs, supplies.

I felt I was in a gilded cage. They cuff my hands in front of me, showing small mercy, and leave me in a chair not tied down. Vincent posts two guards at the exits and approaches with a bottle of water.

"Thirsty?"

I am, desperately, but I hesitate.

"It’s not poisoned." He opens it and takes a sip himself. "Marie wants you intact and healthy. She has specific plans."

That doesn’t sound ominous at all.

I take the water, drink carefully. My throat is raw from the smoke, the fear, and the screaming.

Vincent pulls up a chair across from me and studies me like I’m a puzzle to solve.

"You know," he says conversationally, "I liked you. These past months, I worked for him. You were always decent and respectful to me. Not like some of Tony’s other associates who treated me like furniture for the past five years."

"Is this where you explain you’re just following orders?" My voice has more bite than intended.

"No." He leans back. "I’m not that cliché, I chose this. Every step, but I am saying - I didn’t take pleasure in planning to kill you. It’s just business."

"Just business." I laugh, and it sounds slightly unhinged. "You’re going to murder me, and it’s just business."

"I’ve murdered a lot of people; it’s always business." He says it like he’s discussing the weather. "But for what it’s worth, too bad you fell in love with the wrong man."

"Tony’s not the wrong man." The words come out fierce and protective. "You are. You sold your soul to a grieving mother’s revenge plot."

"We all sell our souls for something." Vincent’s eyes are unreadable. "You sold yours for Tony Marvin; I sold mine for survival. Marie sold hers for revenge, at least we’re honest about it."

I want to argue, but there’s a twisted logic there that I can’t quite refute while handcuffed in a warehouse.

My mind is working, though - analyzing, the banking instinct kicking in to assess the situation, find the weak points, and exploit them.

Vincent’s conflicted, I can see it in the way he won’t quite meet my eyes. In how he brought me water and in the almost-apology buried in his words.

"Marie’s using you," I say quietly. "You know that, right?"

"Of course she is, I’m using her too. That’s how these arrangements work."

"But what happens after?" I lean forward. "After you kill me. After Tony delivers himself, and after Marie gets her revenge. What happens to Vincent, the man who knows all her secrets?"

His expression doesn’t change, but something flickers in his eyes.

"You’ve done wet work for years," I continue. "You know how this ends. She pays you, you complete the job, then you become the liability. The witness who needs eliminating."

"I’ve considered that." His voice is careful.

"And? What’s your exit strategy? Because from where I’m sitting, you’re a dead man walking. Marie will tie up loose ends, that’s what powerful people do."

"Maybe." He stands and starts to walk away. "Or maybe I’m smarter than you think."

"Are you?" I call after him. "Because I don’t see any evidence. No leverage, no insurance... just blind faith that a woman driven by grief and revenge will honor her word to you."

He stops but doesn’t turn around.

"Help me escape," I say. "We give the FBI Marie. You get immunity and witness protection to start a clean slate."

Now he turns, and he’s almost smiling. "I tried to kill you multiple times. You think the FBI will offer immunity for that?"

"You failed multiple times." I match his dark humor. "That’s gotta count for something."

He actually laughs. "You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that."

"Is that a yes?"

"It’s a ’I’ll think about it.’" and walks away, leaving me with the guards.

I spend the next hour observing. Guard rotations switch every thirty minutes. There were three exits I could see, probably more I can’t. Their weaknesses - they’re professional but overconfident, thinking I’m helpless.

They’re wrong.

The warehouse door opens, and I hear the sound of a helicopter outside.

Marie Sterling makes an entrance.

Even here, in an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night, she’s elegant with her designer clothing, perfectly styled hair, and expensive jewelry. She looks like she’s attending a charity gala, not orchestrating a murder.

But her eyes were Victoria’s eyes - cold and empty.

She walks toward me slowly, her heels clicking on concrete, and examining me like I’m merchandise.

"So this is the woman my daughter died for." Her voice is cultured, with a subtle European accent. "I expected... more. You’re quite ordinary."

The insult is deliberate, designed to diminish me.

I meet her gaze steadily. "Ordinary enough to survive your daughter."

Her expression doesn’t change, but something dangerous flashes in those cold eyes. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Survive." She says the word like it’s obscene. "Yes, you survived. You and your lover. While my Victoria - my beautiful, brilliant daughter died screaming on a filthy dock."

"Your daughter tried to kill us multiple times." I keep my voice level. "She-"

Marie slaps me hard.

Open-handed. My head snaps to the side, lip splitting, tasting blood.

"Don’t." Her voice is deadly quiet. "Don’t you dare speak about her."

She circles me like a predator, and I force myself not to flinch.

"That’s for being alive when she’s not." Another slap, on my other side. My vision blurs with tears I refuse to shed. "That’s for making him love you instead of her."

"She didn’t love him," I say through split lips. "She was bitter and resentful because he rejected her. That’s not love, that’s obsession."

"She was IN LOVE!" Marie’s composure cracks. "Victoria loved Anthony with everything she had, and he used her, manipulated her, and threw her away for YOU!"