Chapter 160 Chapter 160
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty
Dimitri
"Why would they want to speak with you?" the voice on the phone asked.
"Because I have something they want," I said. "Information about their operations. Secrets that could destroy them. And I am willing to trade it for peace."
There was a long pause on the other end.
"Hold," the voice said.
We waited in tense silence. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. This could go very wrong very quickly.
Finally, a new voice came on the line. Older. Deeper. More authoritative.
"Mr. Volkov," the voice said. "My name is Don Romano. I am the head of the Romano family. And I must say, I am surprised to hear from you."
"I want to make a deal," I said.
"What kind of deal?" Don Romano asked.
"I have files," I explained. "Documents and videos left by my father. Information about your operations. Your enemies. Your secrets. I will give them to you. All of them. In exchange for a guarantee that you will leave my family alone."
Don Romano laughed. A deep and bitter sound. "You think you can blackmail me?" he asked.
"I think I can give you something valuable," I corrected. "And in return, you give me peace. It is a fair trade."
"Nothing about this is fair," Don Romano replied. "Your father killed my son. My baby boy. There is no amount of information that can make up for that."
"I know," I said. "And I am sorry. Truly sorry. But I did not kill your son. My father did. And he is dead. Punishing me and my family will not bring Marco back."
"No," Don Romano agreed. "But it will make me feel better."
"Will it?" I challenged. "Or will it just create more death? More pain? More families destroyed?"
There was silence on the other end. I could hear Don Romano breathing. Thinking. Weighing his options.
"You sound like my wife," Don Romano said finally. "She has been telling me the same thing for twenty years. That revenge is empty. That it solves nothing."
"She is right," I said.
"Perhaps," Don Romano replied. "But I am not ready to forgive. Not yet. However, I am willing to meet. To see what you have. To hear your proposal in full."
"When?" I asked.
"Tomorrow afternoon," Don Romano said. "Two in the afternoon. There is a restaurant downtown. Lombardi's. It is owned by a neutral party. We can meet there. Bring the files. Bring your brother if you wish. But no one else."
"I will be there," I said.
"One more thing," Don Romano added. "If this is a trap. If you try to hurt me or my family. I will make sure that baby of yours dies slowly. His screams will haunt you for the rest of your very short life. Understand?"
"Understood," I replied.
"Good," Don Romano said. "I will see you tomorrow. Do not be late."
The line went dead. I set down my phone. Everyone was staring at me.
"Well?" Alexei asked.
"We meet tomorrow afternoon," I said. "At two. At a restaurant called Lombardi's."
"Do you think he will actually negotiate?" Mikhail asked.
"I do not know," I admitted. "But it is our best chance."
"Or it is a trap," Elena said. "They could kill you the moment you walk in."
"That is a risk we have to take," I replied.
Irina stood up. "I am coming with you."
"No," I said immediately. "Absolutely not."
"Dimitri, I am not letting you walk into danger alone," she argued.
"You need to stay with Nikolai," I said. "He needs his mother."
"He needs both his parents," Irina countered.
"Don Romano said I could bring Alexei," I said. "No one else. If I bring you, he might take it as a sign of disrespect. He might refuse to negotiate."
Irina looked like she wanted to argue more. But she knew I was right. "Fine," she said. "But you come back to me. Both of you."
She looked at Alexei. "Take care of him," she said.
"I will," Alexei promised.
We spent the rest of the night going through the files. There was so much information. Detailed records of Romano family operations going back decades. Names of corrupt officials they had bribed. Locations of their money laundering operations. Evidence of murders they had committed.
"This is enough to put them away for life," Mikhail observed.
"If we give it to the authorities," I said. "But that defeats the purpose. We need this for leverage."
"What if they just kill you and take the files?" Elena asked.
"They will not," I said. "Because I am not bringing the originals. I am bringing copies. And I am telling Don Romano that the originals are with someone he cannot reach. Someone who has instructions to release everything to the authorities if anything happens to me or my family."
"Who?" Alexei asked.
"No one," I admitted. "But he does not need to know that."
"That is risky," Mikhail said.
"Everything about this is risky," I replied.
As the night wore on, exhaustion set in. We had been running for days. Fighting for days. We all needed rest.
"Get some sleep," I said to everyone. "Tomorrow is going to be a long day."
Irina took Nikolai into one of the bedrooms. Alexei took another room. Mikhail and Elena shared the third.
I stayed up a little longer. Going over the plan one more time. Making sure I had not missed anything.
Finally, I lay down next to Irina and Nikolai.
"Are you scared?" Irina whispered.
"Terrified," I admitted.
"What if they do not accept the deal?" she asked.
"Then we run," I said. "We take Nikolai and we disappear. We go somewhere they cannot find us."
"Where?" she asked.
"I do not know yet," I replied. "But we will figure it out."
She moved closer to me. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," I replied.
I held her close. Listened to her breathing. Listened to Nikolai's soft sounds. This was everything to me. This was what I was fighting for. And I would do whatever it took to protect them. Even if it meant making a deal with the devil.
I closed my eyes. Let myself drift. For the first time in days, I felt something close to peace.
We had a plan. We had leverage. We had hope.
Tomorrow, I will meet with Don Romano.
But tonight, we could rest. Tonight, we were together. Tonight, we were safe.
Or so I thought.