The Detective's Visit

The Detective's Visit
Selena's POV
The subway tunnel was darker than Selena remembered nightmares could be.
She pressed her back against the cold wall and listened to Rook's breathing. They had been hiding down here for two hours. The police sirens had finally stopped, but that didn't mean they were safe.
"I think they're gone," Rook whispered.
"How can you tell?"
"No more footsteps above us. No more radio chatter."
Selena couldn't hear anything except water dripping somewhere in the dark. And rats. Lots of rats.
"We can't stay down here forever," she said.
"We don't have to. I have a plan."
"What kind of plan?"
"We're going to visit your father."
Selena almost laughed. "Are you crazy? He probably wants us dead too."
"Not if we bring him proof that Marco betrayed him."
"What proof?"
Rook pulled out his phone and showed her a video file. "I recorded everything Marco said at the warehouse. His confession about your mother. His deal with the Russians. Everything."
"When did you do that?"
"When you thought I was unconscious. I hit record before the shooting started."
"So we have evidence?"
"We have everything we need to destroy Marco. But we have to get it to your father before the FBI finds us."
"How do we even get to him? He's probably surrounded by guards."
"Detective Vance. He still owes me a favor."
Selena stared at him. "You trust Vance?"
"I don't trust anyone. But Vance is predictable. He does whatever helps him survive."
They climbed out of the tunnel through a service ladder. The street above was empty except for a few homeless people sleeping in doorways.
"This way," Rook said.
They walked six blocks to a pay phone. Rook dropped coins into the slot and dialed a number he knew by heart.
"Vance? It's me... Yes, I know there's a manhunt... No, we didn't kill any FBI agents... I need to see Enzo... Tonight... You owe me for the Carelli job... Fine. One hour."
He hung up.
"What's the Carelli job?" Selena asked.
"Something that saved Vance's life three years ago. He's been waiting for me to collect the debt."
"And now you're collecting?"
"Now I'm collecting."
Forty minutes later, they were hiding in the back of Vance's police car. The detective had picked them up at an old gas station outside the city.
"This is the stupidest thing I've ever done," Vance muttered as he drove. "If anyone finds out I helped you..."
"No one will find out," Rook said from under a blanket. "As long as you keep your mouth shut."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one with a badge and a pension to lose."
Selena was squished next to Rook in the back seat. She could smell his blood through the bandages. His shoulder was still bleeding.
"How much farther?" she whispered.
"Ten minutes," Vance said. "Your father is at the old restaurant. The one where he used to take you for your birthday."
Tony's Pizza. Selena remembered being eight years old, sitting in the red booth by the window, watching her father count money while she ate pepperoni slices.
Back when she thought her father was just a businessman who worked late.
Back when she thought monsters only lived in fairy tales.
"There's something else," Vance said. "Something you need to know before we get there."
"What?" Rook asked.
"Your father isn't alone, Selena. Marco is with him."
Selena felt her heart stop. "What? Why would Marco be there?"
"Because he doesn't know we have evidence against him yet. As far as he knows, he's still Enzo's trusted right-hand man."
"This is perfect," Rook said. "We can confront them both at the same time."
"Or Marco can shoot us both the second we walk in," Selena said.
"Not if we're smart about it."
Vance pulled into the alley behind Tony's Pizza. The back door was guarded by two men with guns.
"They're expecting me," Vance told the guards. "I have information about Selena."
The guards let them through.
Inside, the restaurant was dark except for one table in the corner. Enzo sat across from Marco, playing cards like they were old friends instead of enemies.
"Detective Vance," Enzo said without looking up. "What news do you bring?"
"Good news and bad news," Vance said. "Which do you want first?"
"Bad news. Always bad news first."
"The FBI manhunt is real. They have photos of Selena leaving the hospital with an unidentified man."
"And the good news?"
"I know where she is."
That's when Selena stepped out from behind the kitchen door.
"Hi, Dad."
Enzo's face went white. Marco's hand moved toward his gun.
"Don't," Rook said, appearing behind Marco with a gun pressed to his neck. "Unless you want to die right here."
"Rook?" Marco sounded shocked. "I thought you were dead."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
Enzo stood up slowly. "Daughter. You look terrible."
"Thanks, Dad. You look like someone who's been lying to me my whole life."
"I have never lied to you."
"Really? Then tell me about my mother's murder."
"What about it?"
"Tell me why you ordered it."
The silence in the restaurant was so thick Selena could hear her own heartbeat.
Finally, Enzo said, "Who told you that?"
"Does it matter?"
"It matters because whoever told you is lying."
"I have proof, Dad. Video proof."
Selena pulled out Rook's phone and played the recording of Marco's confession. His voice filled the quiet restaurant:
"Your mother was going to the FBI. She was going to destroy everything your father built. I had no choice."
On the recording, Marco laughed. "Enzo never knew I gave the order. He still thinks it was random gang violence."
Enzo's face changed as he listened. The color drained away. His hands started shaking.
"Marco?" he said quietly. "Is this true?"
Marco looked around the room. Rook's gun was still pointed at his head. Vance had his hand on his weapon. Selena was staring at him with hate in her eyes.
"Enzo, I can explain—"
"Is it true?"
"She was going to destroy us! Everything we worked for!"
"Did you kill my wife?"
"I saved your empire!"
Enzo moved faster than Selena had ever seen him move. He grabbed Marco by the throat and slammed him against the wall.
"You killed Maria? You killed the mother of my child?"
"Enzo, please—"
"For fifteen years, I mourned her. For fifteen years, I blamed random criminals. For fifteen years, you sat at my table, ate my food, called me brother."
"I am your brother!"
"Brothers don't murder sisters."
Enzo pulled out his gun.
That's when Detective Vance did something nobody expected.
He pulled out his gun too.
And pointed it at Enzo.
"Put the weapon down, Mr. Rossi."
Everyone froze.
"Vance?" Rook said. "What are you doing?"
"My job. Finally doing my job."
"You work for my father," Selena said.
"I work for justice. And justice says Marco Torrino doesn't die tonight."
"He murdered my mother!"
"Maybe he did. But killing him won't bring her back. It will just make you and your father into murderers too."
Enzo kept his gun pointed at Marco. "Get out of my way, Detective."
"I can't do that."
"Then you'll die with him."
That's when Rook made his move. He spun away from Marco and pointed his gun at Vance.
Now everyone was pointing guns at everyone else.
"This is getting complicated," Marco said.
"Shut up," three people said at the same time.
"Here's what's going to happen," Vance said. "Marco is under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder. Selena and Rook are under arrest for fleeing justice. And Enzo is under arrest for threatening a police officer."
"You can't arrest all of us," Selena said.
"Watch me."
"With what backup? You came here alone."
Vance smiled. "Who says I'm alone?"
That's when the front door exploded open.
FBI agents poured into the restaurant. Real FBI agents this time, with badges and bulletproof vests.
"FBI! Everyone on the ground!"
But nobody moved. They all kept pointing guns at each other.
"Agent Morrison sends his regards," Vance said.
"Morrison?" Selena's blood turned to ice. "But Morrison is Russian!"
"Morrison is a lot of things. But mostly, he's my boss."
"Your boss?"
"I've been FBI for two years, Selena. Deep undercover. Everything I did for your father was building a case against him."
Rook stared at Vance. "You played us."
"I played everyone. That was the job."
"But the favor you owed me. The Carelli job."
"Was part of my cover. I never owed you anything."
"Then why bring us here?"
Vance looked sad for the first time since Selena had known him. "Because Agent Morrison gave me a choice. Bring you in alive, or he kills Dr. Martinez."
"You have Dr. Martinez?"
"We have everyone you care about. The question is, are you going to surrender peacefully, or do we have to do this the hard way?"
That's when the lights went out.
In the darkness, Selena heard gunshots.
Someone screamed.
Something heavy hit the floor.
When emergency lights flickered on thirty seconds later, Detective Vance was gone.
Marco was gone.
And Enzo was bleeding from a head wound, unconscious on the restaurant floor.
"Dad!" Selena ran to him.
Rook was already checking for a pulse. "He's alive. But barely."
"Where did they go?"
"I don't know. But I know where they're taking him."
"Taking who?"
"Your father. This was never about arresting anyone."
"What was it about?"
Rook's face was grim. "It was about getting Enzo alone. Away from his guards. Away from his safe houses."
"Why?"
"Because someone wants him dead. Someone who's been planning this for a very long time."
That's when Selena's phone rang.
Morrison's voice was cold and Russian: "You have one hour to bring me the ghost bullet chip. The real one, not a copy. Or your father dies slowly."
"Where?"
"Where this all started. Where your mother took her last breath."
The line went dead.
Selena looked at Rook. "He wants to meet where my mother was killed."
"It's a trap."
"Of course it's a trap."
"So what do we do?"
Selena touched the chip hidden in her shoe. Such a small thing to cause so much death.
"We walk into the trap. And we spring one of our own."