Chapter 3 - Unraveling the Trap
Mia grabbed her father’s sleeve, pulling hard to catch his attention. Her hands moved in frantic, fluid patterns.
Daddy, listen to her! Mia signed eagerly, looking between Emma and her father. Uncle Marcus took me from school! He said you sent him, but he put me in a car with a strange man. He told the driver that the pier meeting at 2:00 AM is a setup!
Matteo’s eyes widened slightly as he translated his daughter’s signs. Marcus was his trusted second-in-command, a man who had been at his side for over a decade.
"Marcus?" Matteo muttered, his jaw clenching tightly. "Marcus said you were safe at the estate with your tutors."
Emma stepped forward, translating and clarifying what Mia had explained moments before the mob boss arrived. "She told me the driver left her here in the booth and told her to stay put while he went to make a call. She overheard him giving GPS coordinates to someone on the phone—coordinates for an abandoned warehouse near Pier 42."
Matteo’s face turned as hard as marble. Pier 42 was where he was scheduled to sign a major territorial treaty in less than twenty minutes. If he had gone straight there without finding Mia first, he would have walked into an ambush designed to wipe out his entire inner circle.
"Boss," one of the guards behind Matteo whispered, checking his encrypted phone. "Marcus just radioed. He’s asking if you've arrived at Pier 42 yet."
Matteo’s breath hissed through his teeth. He looked down at Mia, then turned his gaze toward Emma. For the first time, the lethal aura surrounding him softened into something resembling genuine shock and immense gratitude.
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"You understood all of that?" Matteo asked Emma, his tone dropping its aggressive edge.
"My younger brother was deaf," Emma said quietly, her voice steady. "I know what it feels like when the world acts like you're invisible. I wasn't going to let anyone ignore her."
