Blood for blood
1394 Words
The old pier stretched into the black water like a broken finger pointing at nothing. Marcus parked far enough away to walk the last quarter mile, giving himself time to think. The USB drive felt heavy in his pocket.
He'd made copies, of course. Hidden them in three different places. But Vincent didn't need to know that.
Fog rolled in from the harbor, thick and cold. Marcus could barely see twenty feet ahead. Perfect for an ambush.
His phone vibrated. Tony.
"Boss, I'm in position. Have eyes on your father. He's in the warehouse at the end of the pier. Six guards outside, probably more inside."
"Is he alive?"
"Far as I can tell. Vincent's there too. Waiting for you."
"Tony, if this goes bad—"
"I'll get your father out. Count on it."
Marcus continued walking. The pier creaked under his weight, old wood protesting every step. He could see lights now through the fog. Shadows moving.
"That's far enough," Paulo's voice called out.
Marcus stopped. "I want to see my father."
"USB first."
"No deal. I see him walking out, you get the drive."
Paulo laughed. "You're not in a position to negotiate, kid."
"I'm in the perfect position. I die, those files go public. Every news station, every FBI office, every family in the city gets copies. Vincent goes down for murder, racketeering, and about fifty other crimes."
Silence. Then footsteps on wood.
Vincent emerged from the fog, perfectly dressed despite the damp night. "You've grown a spine, Marcus. Your father would be proud."
"Where is he?"
Vincent snapped his fingers. Two men brought Richard Blake out of the warehouse. He could barely stand, held up between them. His hospital gown was bloody.
"What did you do to him?"
"Nothing permanent. Yet," Vincent stepped closer. "The drive, Marcus."
"Let him go first."
"You must think I'm stupid." Vincent pulled out a gun. "The drive, or I put a bullet in his head right now."
"You do that, you lose everything."
"I lose the evidence. But I still have the empire."
"No," Marcus said. "You have half an empire built on my father's reputation. Without him, the other families won't follow you."
"They'll follow power. They always do."
A new voice cut through the fog. "Not your kind of power, Vincent."
Everyone turned. Sophia Moretti walked onto the pier, flanked by ten armed men. She wore all black, her hair tied back, looking nothing like the woman from the church.
Vincent's gun swung toward her. "This is private business, little girl."
"My father thought your business was private too. Right before you had him killed."
"Your father was weak."
"My father was honest. That's why you feared him."
Marcus used the distraction. He moved closer to his father. "Dad, can you hear me?"
Richard Blake raised his head slightly. His voice was barely a whisper. "Shouldn't have come."
"I'm getting you out."
"No." His father gripped his arm with surprising strength. "The drive. Don't give it to him."
"Dad—"
"Listen to me. Vincent didn't just kill your mother. He killed his own brother to take control of the Romano family. He killed dozens of others. That drive is justice for all of them."
Vincent heard him. "Touching last words, Richard. But ultimately pointless." He aimed at Richard's head.
Marcus pulled out the USB. "Wait! Here. Take it."
He tossed it to Vincent, who caught it one-handed.
"Smart boy," Vincent examined the drive. "Paulo, check it out."
Paulo pulled out a laptop and inserted the USB. After a moment, he nodded. "It's real. Financial records, recordings, everything."
Vincent smiled. "You see how easy that was? You could have saved everyone a lot of trouble." He turned to his men. "Kill them all."
"Wait," Marcus said. "You promised to let my father go."
"I lied." Vincent shrugged. "Just like I lied to him for twenty years."
"Vincent," Richard Blake spoke up, stronger now. "Before you do this, you should know something."
"What's that, old friend?"
"I knew. About you and Maria. About everything."
Vincent froze. Maria was Marcus's mother.
Richard continued, blood dripping from his mouth. "I knew you were seeing her. I knew you killed her when she chose me. And I knew you were planning to betray me."
"Then why—"
"Because I needed you close. Needed you to trust me. Every crime you committed, every murder, every deal – I documented it all. Twenty years of evidence."
Vincent laughed. "And it's all on this drive, which I now have."
"No," Richard smiled, blood on his teeth. "That's just the copy."
Vincent's face changed. "What?"
"The real files were uploaded to a dead man's switch three days ago. If I don't enter a code every seventy-two hours, everything goes live. FBI, DEA, every major news network."
"You're bluffing."
"Check your phone."
Vincent pulled out his phone. His face went white. "What did you do?"
"I missed yesterday's check-in. You have less than two hours before everything goes public. Only I know the code."
"Tell me the code!"
"Let my son and Sophia's people go. Then we'll talk."
Vincent pressed the gun against Richard's temple. "The code or you die!"
"I'm already dead, Vincent. The cancer would have killed me in months anyway. This is just faster."
Marcus stared at his father. "Cancer?"
"I'm sorry, son. I didn't want you to know."
"This is very touching," Vincent snarled, "but I'm done playing games." He pulled the trigger.
The gunshot echoed across the water. Richard Blake fell.
"No!" Marcus rushed forward, catching his father as he collapsed.
Then everything happened at once.
Tony and his men opened fire from hidden positions. Sophia's people returned fire at Vincent's guards. The pier became a war zone.
Vincent ran for the warehouse. Paulo covered him, shooting at anyone who got close.
Marcus held his father, pressing his hand against the wound. But there was too much blood.
"Dad, stay with me!"
Richard grabbed his son's face. "The code... is your birthday. Your real birthday."
"I don't understand."
"October 15th. Not May 3rd. We changed it... to protect you."
"Protect me from what?"
"From who you really are. Vincent... isn't the only one who wants you dead."
"Dad, please—"
"Your mother... she wasn't who I told you. She was a Castellano."
Marcus's blood went cold. The Castellano family was royalty in the criminal world. They controlled everything from Chicago to Miami.
"That makes you..."
"The heir to both empires. Blake and Castellano." His father coughed up blood. "Why do you think... Vincent really wanted you to work for him? Control you... control everything."
"Dad—"
"Find... Michael Castellano. Your grandfather. Tell him... tell him I kept my promise."
Richard Blake's eyes went dark. His hand fell from Marcus's face.
Around them, the gunfire stopped. Vincent was gone, escaped in a boat. Half his men were dead. Three of Sophia's people were down.
Sophia approached, blood on her cheek from a graze. "Marcus, we need to go. Cops will be here soon."
Marcus looked up at her, tears mixing with the blood on his face. "He's gone."
"I know. I'm sorry. But if we don't leave now, we'll all be arrested."
Tony appeared. "Boss, she's right. We've got maybe three minutes."
Marcus closed his father's eyes. "I can't leave him."
"He's gone, Marcus. But you're not. And you've got less than two hours to enter that code."
Marcus stood slowly. His father's blood covered his hands, his clothes. "The code dies with me."
"What?" Sophia grabbed his arm. "You can't let that information go public."
"Why not? Vincent deserves to burn."
"Because you're in those files too. Your whole family is. If they go public, you'll go down with Vincent."
Marcus looked at his father's body one last time. Then at the warehouse where Vincent had disappeared.
"Then we have two hours to kill Vincent Romano."
Sophia smiled, cold and sharp. "Now you're talking."
As sirens wailed in the distance, Marcus made a silent promise to his dead father.
Vincent Romano would pay. Even if Marcus had to burn the whole city down to make it happen.
The war for the city had just begun. And Marcus Blake was no longer the man he was an hour ago.
He was something much more dangerous.
He was a Castellano. And Castellanos never forgives.
- Writer
