Chapter 6 - The Ultimate ReckoningThe high-speed river boat cut through the icy black waters of the Hudson like a knife, sending freezing spray flying across the windshield. Agent Vance manned the navigation console, her face tight with grim concentration, while Viktor stood near the stern with his rifle trained on the dark shoreline behind us.
I sat huddled in the cabin, clutching Dominic’s wool coat around my shoulders, my eyes locked on the burning silhouette of the estate high up on the cliff. Plumes of thick black smoke billowed into the starless winter sky.
"We need to keep moving, Miss Sterling," Vance called back over the roar of the twin engines. "Once we reach the federal checkpoint ten miles north, you'll be safe."
"Safe?" I repeated bitterly, my voice shaking. "You left him back there to fight an army alone!"
"Mr. Russo made his choice," Vance replied coldly, though there was a hint of reluctant respect in her voice. "Men like him built empires on violence; they usually die by it, too."
"He is not just some criminal to me!" I shouted, the grief and terror finally boiling over into raw fury. "He is the father of my child! He gave me back my strength when I was broken and humiliated! I am not running away while he bleeds out!"
Viktor turned from the stern, looking at me with a strange, solemn expression. For the first time since I met him, the hardened enforcer offered a faint, respectful nod.
"She's right," Viktor said quietly.
Before Vance could protest, Viktor reached over the console, snapped the ignition kill-switch, and pulled the steering wheel hard to port. The boat spun in a violent, dizzying arc, throwing spray across the deck before heading back south, straight toward the burning estate.
"Are you insane?!" Vance yelled, grabbing the handrail as the boat bounced wildly over the choppy water. "We're going back into a war zone!"
"We're finishing the war," Viktor said grimly, pulling an extra tactical vest and an assault rifle from the floor locker and handing them to me. "Put this on, Chloe. If Dominic falls tonight, none of us survive anyway."
Ten minutes later, we beached the boat against the private rocky cove beneath the estate's cliffside boathouse.
We moved like shadows up the stone steps, weapons raised. The lower courtyard was a wasteland of shattered glass, smoking rubble, and fallen mercenaries wearing the insignia of the Eastern Syndicate.
We breached the main mansion through the shattered double doors of the grand foyer.
The interior was a battleground. Bullet holes scarred the priceless oil paintings, and the air smelled heavily of cordite and burnt timber.
From the direction of the grand study upstairs came the sharp, distinct sound of a hammer clicking on an empty chamber.
Click.
My breath caught in my throat. I broke away from Viktor and Vance, sprinting up the grand marble staircase two steps at a time, my boots echoing wildly against the stone.
I burst through the shattered doorway of the study.
The room was in ruins. The mahogany desk was overturned, books and papers littered the floor, and flames licked hungrily at the edge of the velvet curtains.
In the center of the room, Dominic was on his knees.
His custom shirt was soaked in dark blood from a wound to his side, his breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. Standing over him was Viktor's former second-in-command turned traitor, Marcus, holding a smoking pistol pointed directly at Dominic’s temple with a triumphant, sadistic grin.
"Well, well," Marcus sneered, blood dripping from his own eyebrow. "Looks like the great Dominic Bellardi finally ran out of luck. Any last words, boss?"
Dominic didn't flinch. His dark eyes, fierce and unyielding, remained locked straight ahead, refusing to give his executioner the satisfaction of seeing him break.
My heart stopped. Instinct, fierce and primal, overrode every shred of fear in my body.
I raised the heavy tactical rifle Viktor had given me. My arms shook violently. I had never fired a gun in my life.
"Hey!" I screamed, stepping fully into the ruined doorway.
Marcus whipped around in surprise, his pistol shifting toward me just as I squeezed the trigger with both hands.
The recoil slammed painfully back into my shoulder, nearly knocking me off my feet. The deafening blast shook the ruined study.
My bullet didn't hit Marcus square, but it caught him dead-center in the right shoulder, spinning him around with a shriek of agony as his pistol went flying across the hardwood floor.
Before Marcus could recover, Dominic moved.
With a surge of terrifying, superhuman strength, Dominic lunged upward from his knees, driving his fist into Marcus’s jaw with a sickening crack. The traitor collapsed instantly, unconscious and bleeding onto the Persian rug.
Silence rushed back into the room, broken only by the crackle of the fire and our ragged breathing.
I dropped the heavy rifle, letting it clatter to the floor, and ran across the room, dropping to my knees beside Dominic.
"Dominic! Dominic, look at me," I cried, pressing my hands against the bloody wound on his side, trying desperately to stem the flow.
Dominic blinked slowly, his dark eyes focusing on my face. A weak, exhausted smile touched the corner of his lips.
"You missed your flight, Chloe," he rasped, his voice barely a whisper.
"Shut up," I sobbed, laughing through my tears as I leaned down to press my forehead against his. "You are not allowed to die on me, Dominic Russo. You promised me an empire, remember?"
Dominic reached up, his warm, calloused hand gently cupping my cheek, his thumb brushing away my tears just as he had in the clinic.
"I never break my promises," he whispered softly.
May you like
Behind us, Viktor and Agent Vance rushed into the shattered study, medical kits in hand. But as I held Dominic tightly against me amidst the smoke and ruins of the burning estate, I knew the worst was finally over.
We had survived the fire. Together.
