His voice was barely a whisper.

He looked like a child who had suddenly realized he was lost in the dark.

“He used all of us, Marcus,” Romano said.

He did not lower his gun from Vincenzo’s neck, but his posture softened slightly.

“Your brother was loyal to the end,” Romano said. “Tony couldn’t buy him. So he removed him.”

I kept my hand on my gun, my eyes scanning the dark areas beyond the yellow light.

Something felt wrong.

The tall man was still standing there.

He had not moved.

He had not tried to stop Vincenzo from confessing.

He looked down at his silver phone.

The screen had gone dark.

“Well,” the tall man said. “That was highly informative.”

He slipped the phone back into his expensive coat.

“But it doesn’t change the situation,” he added.

He looked up at the cranes towering over the docks.

The massive steel structures were painted in dark shadows against the midnight sky.

Only the red warning lights at the very top were visible through the rain.

I followed his gaze.

My heart gave a sudden, hard thump against my ribs.