Chapter 18 - The Man Behind the Fire Finally Stepped Into the Light

Pier 17 was quiet at noon.

Too quiet.

Dominic crossed the concrete loading yard alone, carrying the case in his left hand. Wind came off the lake hard enough to move loose plastic along the fence.

Victor stood inside the east warehouse with Rosa beside him.

Three armed men were visible.

Dominic knew there were more.

“Put the case down,” Victor called.

Dominic did.

Rosa looked tired but uninjured.

Victor smiled.

“You always did follow instructions when she was involved.”

“Let her go.”

“After I see the books.”

Dominic pushed the case forward with his foot.

One of Victor’s men collected it and opened the first ledger.

Victor turned pages.

For several seconds, his face showed something almost like nostalgia.

“Michael’s handwriting.”

“You remember it.”

“Of course.”

“You spent thirty years trying to erase it.”

Victor looked at him.

“That is the story Rosa told you?”

“The recording told me more.”

A flicker.

Small.

Real.

Dominic continued.

“Michael met Eleanor Price.”

Victor’s smile vanished.

“You have the recording.”

“I have enough.”

Victor closed the ledger.

“You think the government will save you?”

“No.”

“Then you are more foolish than your father.”

Rosa shifted in the chair.

Victor rested one hand on her shoulder.

Dominic’s body tightened.

“Do not touch her.”

Victor sighed.

“There. That is the boy I recognize.”

Inside the operations van, Sadie listened through Dominic’s wire.

Chen held up one finger.

Not yet.

They needed Rosa clear of the fuel line and Victor away from the detonator they believed he carried.

Victor began talking.

Not confessing.

Justifying.

Michael had been weak, he said. Anthony Moretti would have taken the docks. Peace would have dissolved the Castile identity. Victor had preserved the family by creating conflict strong enough to keep it unified.

Dominic looked at him.

“You burned my mother to preserve the family.”

“She was going to give you the ledgers.”

“You tried to kill Sadie.”

“A waitress became a liability.”

In the van, Sadie’s jaw tightened.

Victor continued.

“You were losing perspective over her.”

“No.”

Dominic’s voice remained calm.

“I gained it.”

Victor laughed.

“You think she stays when she learns what you are?”

“She already knows.”

That was the first thing Victor had not anticipated.

He looked toward Rosa.

“Your son has become sentimental.”

Rosa answered, “My son has become less afraid.”

Victor struck her.

Dominic moved.

Victor drew a pistol.

“Stop.”

Dominic froze.

In the operations van, Chen gave the signal.

Agents began closing the outer perimeter.

Victor heard something through his earpiece.

His face changed.

“You brought them.”

“Yes.”

“You brought federal agents to your own pier.”

“Yes.”

Victor stared at him as if the betrayal were incomprehensible.

Dominic almost pitied him.

Victor had spent his life believing the organization was sacred because it protected him.

He could not imagine a man choosing truth over the structure that gave him power.

Victor grabbed Rosa and pulled her upright.

A gun pressed against her ribs.

Dominic’s voice dropped.

“Let her go.”

“Pick up the books.”

“They are copies.”

Victor went still.

Dominic continued.

“The originals are already evidence.”

Rage transformed Victor’s face.

He shoved Rosa toward one of his men and reached inside his coat.

In the van, Sadie heard Chen shout, “Move!”

Federal teams entered from the west and north.

Gunfire cracked inside the warehouse.

Dominic dropped behind a steel barrier.

Rosa fell to the floor.

Victor’s men scattered.

Sadie watched live drone footage.

Then the feed flickered.

“Why did we lose east camera?” she asked.

A technician swore.

Smoke appeared from the roof.

Victor had triggered the fuel line.

Flames raced across the east bay.

Chen’s agents pushed toward Rosa.

Dominic emerged from cover and reached her first.

He cut the ties from her wrists.

“Can you walk?”

“With dignity? No. Quickly? Yes.”

He put her arm around his shoulder.

Victor disappeared through a side door.

Chen shouted over the radio.

“Do not pursue!”

Dominic looked toward the door.

Everything in him wanted to follow.

Then he looked at Rosa.

He chose her.

They moved toward the west exit as smoke thickened.

In the operations van, Sadie finally breathed.

Then a technician pointed at the screen.

“Movement outside.”

Victor had escaped the east door.

He was crossing the loading yard toward a parked fuel truck.

And the truck was pointed directly at the warehouse where Dominic and Rosa were still trapped.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

Sadie pressed closer to the monitor as the tactical channels filled with overlapping orders. Fire crews had staged nearby because Chen expected sabotage, but the spreading fuel threatened to cut off the west exit before they could reach it. Rosa had survived one burning building already. Victor was trying to make the second fire finish what the first had failed to do.

Dominic lifted Rosa against him and moved faster. He did not know whether Victor was watching, whether agents had reached the truck, or whether the roof would hold. He knew only that this time his mother would not be left inside while men outside argued about power.