The Mafia's Undoing-Chapter 96: The Sister

Timothy physically drags me toward the emergency exit.

"Let go!" I’m fighting him every step. "Katherine’s up there! She went back-"

"She made her choice!" Timothy’s grip was firm like iron. "Now we make ours, get you out alive so you can actually save her!"

"I’m not leaving her with that psychopath!"

"You’re no good to her dead!" David’s on my other side, forcing me down the stairwell. "We regroup, we plan, then we extract everyone."

They’re right. I know they’re right, but every instinct I have is screaming to go back.

We burst out of the building into chaos, with emergency vehicles, evacuating civilians, and the FBI arriving.

Lisa’s van is three blocks away, and they shoved me inside.

"She went back." My voice doesn’t sound like mine. "She fucking went back for my father."

"Yes." Timothy’s voice is grim. "Because she loves you... and your father’s family. Now we make sure she doesn’t die for it."

Lisa’s already at her monitors, fingers flying. "I’m in Meridian’s systems. Can show you building layout, Charles’s position, and Katherine’s location."

Multiple screens show security feeds, and I see Katherine sitting beside Thomas, tied to a chair.

For my father.

The man who let me think he was dead for six months.

"How do I get back in?" I’m already checking weapons.

"Tony-" Timothy starts.

"I’m going back. With or without you. Choose."

Elliot stumbles to the van, breathing hard, his face white. "I couldn’t stop her. She just ran back. Told me to tell you she’s sorry."

"Show me the tactical approach," I tell Lisa. "Every entrance and every weak point."

"SWAT approach," David suggests. "Fast entry, overwhelming force-"

"No time." I’m loading magazines. "Charles will kill her the moment he sees tactical teams. We go quietly through the service entrance and maintenance access."

Lisa pulls up blueprints. "Service elevator here. Sub-basement access-"

A black sedan pulls up. It was expensive and felt out of place in the chaos.

A woman gets out.

She was in her mid-thirties with her dark hair pulled back. She was dressed professionally and had striking features.

She looked... familiar. Something about the eyes, the jawline, and the way she moved.

She walks directly to our van and looks at me through the open door.

"You must be my half-brother."

"What?"

"Anthony Marvin." She extends her hand professionally, as if we’re at a business meeting rather than a crime scene. "I’m Isabella, though I go by Bella. I’m your sister."

I couldn’t process this right now.

My sister. The one Thomas mentioned, the daughter he gave up, is standing here now.

"How are you here?" My voice sounded distant.

"Charles Sterling called me an hour ago." She said calmly. "Said our biological father was in danger at Meridian Tower and if I wanted to save him, I should come immediately."

"It’s a trap."

"Obviously." Her tone was dry. "But he’s still my father. Even if I never knew him until Charles found me two years ago. And if there’s even a chance he’s really in danger-" She looks at the building. "I had to come."

Timothy’s studying her suspiciously. "How do we know you’re not Charles’s plant? Another trap?"

"You don’t." Bella’s unfazed. "But I’m here anyway, and I can help."

I’m staring at her. This stranger who shares my blood. She has Thomas’s eyes - that same intense green. Her biological mother’s bone structure, obviously, whoever she was. But the jawline is familiar - it’s Thomas’s. It’s mine."

My sister.

"What do you know about Charles Sterling?" I ask.

"That he’s been manipulating me for two years. Threats disguised as concern about my dangerous criminal brother." She pulls out her phone. "So I investigated Charles Sterling’s companies, Shell corporations, and money trails that didn’t make sense. So it’s either he’s terrible at legitimate business or excellent at criminal enterprise. I’m betting on the latter."

Elliot’s staring at her with something like admiration. "You investigated on your own?"

"I’m an engineer. I solve problems." She looks at me directly. "I have a brother I never knew existed, a father who gave me up for adoption, and a billionaire claiming to protect me from you. So yes, I investigated. Found enough red flags to know something was very wrong."

I see myself in her. That same stubborn need to understand, to fight, and to protect.

"Charles has Katherine inside," I tell her. "My girlfriend and Thomas. He’s going to kill them both if we don’t stop him."

"Then let’s stop him." She says it like it’s simple. "I can get you in. Charles is expecting me - he called me here. He won’t see you coming."

"Absolutely not." Timothy’s already shaking his head. "You’re not trained for combat-"

"Neither was Katherine, apparently." Bella looks at me. "But she went in anyway, to save our father. Someone she has even less reason to care about than I do."

"You could die in there," I say bluntly.

"Then I die." Her jaw sets in a determined way, and I see the familiar stubbornness I recognize. "But I’m not standing out here doing nothing while people are in danger. You need every advantage. I’m an advantage. Use me."

Elliot speaks up quietly. "She’s right. We use every resource available. Bella’s a resource."

I hate this. Hated putting someone else at risk, most especially this sister I just met sixty seconds ago.

But Katherine’s up there, and we’re running out of time.

"You do exactly what I say," I tell Bella. "No heroics. No improvisation. You follow my orders."

"I’m an engineer, not a soldier." She’s already moving toward her car. "I follow instructions very well. How do you want to do this?"

Twenty minutes later, Bella’s entering Meridian Tower through the parking garage. The service entrance security waved her through; she had legitimate access through her "meeting" with Charles.

I’m hidden in her trunk. Cramped, uncomfortable, but invisible.

She parks on the underground level in the maintenance area and opens the trunk, as if she’s getting something from her bags.

I slip out into the shadows. The service elevator is fifty feet away.

Bella takes the elevator up while I take the stairwell.

We’re converging on the sixtieth floor from different directions.

Lisa’s voice through my comm: "Katherine’s in the executive suite with Charles and Thomas. Charles has a gun on Thomas, making Katherine watch."

"Audio?"

"Patching through now."

Charles’s voice fills my ear: "Your loyalty is admirable, Katherine. Stupid, but admirable."

"Let him go. You have me. That’s what you wanted."

"What I wanted was my daughter back. Since I can’t have that, watching Tony lose everyone he loves will suffice."

I’m taking the stairs three at a time. Forty floors, Fifty, Fifty-five.

Katherine’s voice: "Why any of this? Victoria made her own choices."

"My daughter was perfect until your boyfriend rejected her. Made her desperate and obsessed."

"She tried to kill us. Multiple times."

"Because she loved him!" Charles’s voice rises. "Love makes people crazy. I should know, I loved Marie, and when you killed her, too, you sealed your fate."

Fifty-eight floors. Fifty-nine.

The maintenance entrance is separate from the main executive suite, which gives me an approach angle Charles won’t expect.

Bella’s voice came through comms: "I’m entering now."

I hear her through the feed: "Mr. Sterling? I’m here. You said my father-"

"Isabella!" Charles sounded pleased and surprised. "Perfect timing. You’re just in time to watch your father die."

"Actually, I’m here to ask you to stop."

Silence, then Charles laughs. "Stop? This has been in motion for months. I’m not stopping for anyone."

"Then you’ll have to kill me too." Bella’s voice was calm and steady. "Because I’m not leaving without him."

I’m at the maintenance door, picking the lock. Thirty seconds left.

Charles: "You don’t even know him."

"He’s my father, and that’s enough."

Twenty seconds.

Through the feed, I hear confusion. The guards were distracted by Bella’s presence, and Charles was trying to decide if she was a threat or an opportunity.

Ten seconds.

The lock clicks, and I ease the door open. Silence.

I’m in.

The executive suite is ahead, through a short hallway. I could hear Charles still talking to Bella.

My weapon was drawn; I moved quietly, then stepped into the room.

"Let them go. All of them."

Charles spins. His gun was swinging between Thomas.

"The prodigal son. How did you-" His eyes find Bella, and understanding dawned. "Clever."

We’re in a standoff now. My weapon on Charles, his weapon on Thomas, and his guards’ weapons on Katherine.