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“Semantics, you two faced son of a bitch.”
“No need to get nasty, Marco. It’s over. Give her to me.”
“No chance.”
He sighs. “It’s very simple. In that hangar is her father, my new employer. You give her to me. I let you get on the plane and fly away home and we all go about our day. Or you stand there and be a hero. I shoot you, and then I take her, anyway. What’s it to be?”
“Why Piper? Why now?”
“This is the best chance. Always negotiate from a position of strength. You taught me that over the years, Marco. I brought you all the way here to make sure you’ll agree to this. Hand her over, let Piper take the city. You can work for him, same as me. Stop the fighting. Take over the city as one crew. What do you say?”
“You’re willing to work for a human trafficker. I’m not. Was I not good to you, Alessandro?”
“It’s not about that.”
“What is it about?”
“I can make more in a year with him than you pay me in ten.”
“That’s what you’re betraying me for? Money?”
“I get to head up his Mexican operation. No more playing second fiddle. No more organize a wedding, Alessandro. Organize a funeral. Do this. Do that. I’m not your receptionist, Marco. I’m a man with some dignity. I deserve better than you give me.”
“You call working for Piper dignified?”
“I call it a promotion. Now enough talk. Hand her over.” He lifts the gun, so it’s pointing at my head. “Last chance.”
“I’ll get you for this.”
“With a hole in your skull? I doubt it. Two seconds or I shoot. One… two…”
Anna steps out from behind me. “Don’t do it,” she says. “I’ll go with you.”
“Stay where you are,” I tell her, but she shakes her head.
“I won’t watch you die,” she says, squeezing my hand. “It’ll be all right.”
I try to stop her, but Alessandro shoves his gun my way. “Don’t be stupid. It’s over.”
He waves his free hand and the hangar door rolls upward. Out comes a black car the size of Piper’s ego. The man himself climbs out of it, waving across at me from about fifty yards away. “You were a worthy adversary,” he yells. “Should have done a deal with me when you had a chance. Alessandro tried to make you, but you wouldn’t listen to him.”
“I’ll kill you for this,” I yell back at him.
He throws his head back and laughs. “Good luck with that. Anna, come here.”
“Don’t go,” I tell her, but she walks straight past me.
“It’ll be all right,” she says. “Go back to the States. Forget about me.”
She doesn’t look my way again, walking over to her father.
“Promise me you’ll let him go free,” she says to him. “Do that and I’ll come with you. I’ll marry your choice.”
“Of course,” he replies. “You have my word. Church is ready. Your groom is on his way as we speak. Come willingly and Marco can go home without a scratch on him.”
She gets into the car without looking my way. Piper climbs into the driver’s seat and heads out of the airfield, leaving a cloud of dust behind it.
“Ready to go home?” Alessandro asks.
