Chapter 6 - The Commissioner’s Debt

Commissioner Price entered with four officers.

All armed.

All looking at Sebastian.

Not Anthony.

Price was sixty-one.

Silver hair.

Calm face.

Expensive coat.

He looked at Maria.

“You should have stayed gone.”

Sebastian stepped between them.

“Say that again.”

Price smiled.

“I remember you as a boy.”

“I remember believing you protected this city.”

“That was your first mistake.”

Judge Cross groaned on the floor.

Natalie ran to him.

One officer started toward her.

Sebastian said:

“Touch her and this gets worse.”

Price looked amused.

“For whom?”

Sebastian held up his phone.

“For everyone on the recording.”

Price’s expression barely changed.

“You think one recording saves you?”

“No.”

Sebastian looked at me.

I understood.

Earlier at the bank, Sebastian had given me a second phone.

Upload everything if anything goes wrong.

I had done it.

Every photograph.

Every ledger page.

Every audio file.

To three journalists.

And one federal prosecutor whose name was written in Luca Romano’s old files.

I said:

“It already uploaded.”

Price looked at me.

For the first time, he seemed concerned.

“You are?”

“Claire Morgan.”

“A maid.”

“Yes.”

Anthony laughed.

“Of course.”

Price held out his hand.

“Phone.”

I did not move.

He stepped closer.

“It was not a request.”

Maria spoke.

“Daniel.”

Price turned.

She looked at him with twenty-three years of anger.

“You knew Luca.”

“Yes.”

“You ate at our table.”

“Yes.”

“You carried Sebastian at his baptism.”

Price’s jaw shifted.

“Yes.”

“Then you took Anthony’s money.”

He looked at her.

“I took survival.”

Maria laughed.

“No. You took a promotion.”

Price’s face hardened.

Sebastian watched him.

“How much?”

“What?”

“How much did my father cost?”

Price did not answer.

Sebastian pointed at Anthony.

“He got the company.”

Then at Thomas.

“He got protection.”

Then at Judge Cross.

“He got blackmail.”

Finally Price.

“What did you get?”

Price said quietly:

“Power.”

There it was.

No excuse.

Just truth.

Sirens sounded again.

More this time.

Price looked toward the door.

One of his officers touched his earpiece.

“Sir.”

Price turned.

“What?”

“Federal vehicles.”

Everything changed.

Anthony moved first.

He grabbed Natalie.

Pulled her backward.

Gun to her side.

Sebastian froze.

Judge Cross tried to stand.

“Anthony.”

“Stay down.”

Natalie’s face went white.

Anthony looked at Sebastian.

“You send everyone out.”

“No.”

“Then she dies.”

Sebastian stared at Natalie.

She looked terrified.

But not surprised.

She knew what Anthony was.

Perhaps she had always known.

Sebastian said:

“Let her go.”

Anthony smiled.

“You still love her.”

Sebastian did not answer.

“That makes this easier.”

Maria whispered:

“Anthony, stop.”

He looked at her.

“You were always the problem.”

“No.”

Maria’s voice became steady.

“Luca was.”

Anthony’s expression changed.

Maria continued.

“You hated him because your father trusted him.”

Anthony tightened his grip on Natalie.

“You know nothing.”

“I know he offered you half the company.”

Silence.

Sebastian looked at his mother.

Maria continued.

“You refused because you wanted all of it.”

Anthony’s eyes narrowed.

“You came back after all these years to lecture me?”

“No.”

Maria stepped closer.

“I came back so my son could see you clearly.”

Anthony’s attention shifted to her.

One second.

Enough.

Natalie drove her heel backward into his shin.

Sebastian moved.

Anthony fired.

The bullet hit a metal beam.

Sebastian struck his wrist.

The gun fell.

Thomas reached for his weapon.

Commissioner Price shouted:

“Stop!”

But one of the federal agents was already inside.

“Hands where I can see them!”

Then twenty people were shouting.

Weapons down.

Hands up.

Thomas ran.

I saw him disappear through a side door.

“Thomas!”

Maria heard me.

So did Sebastian.

He looked toward the door.

Then at Anthony.

Then Natalie.

He chose not to chase.

That mattered.

He stayed.

Anthony was arrested.

Price was arrested.

Two officers surrendered immediately.

Judge Cross was taken to an ambulance.

Natalie stood near the warehouse wall.

Sebastian walked toward her.

She looked at him.

“My father told the truth.”

“Some of it.”

“I did not know Anthony killed Luca.”

“I believe you.”

She began to cry.

“I never wanted you dead.”

Sebastian looked at her for a long moment.

“But you signed the succession plan.”

“Yes.”

“You planned to take control of my company.”

“Yes.”

“You let me grieve a living mother.”

Natalie looked down.

“Yes.”

“That part was not Anthony.”

“No.”

“Not your father.”

“No.”

“That was you.”

She nodded.

Sebastian removed something from his pocket.

The engagement ring box.

He placed it on a crate between them.

Natalie stared.

He said:

“I can forgive fear.”

She looked up.

“I can forgive mistakes.”

Her face crumpled.

“But I cannot marry someone who studied my death like a business contingency.”

He walked away.

Natalie did not stop him.

Outside, Maria stood beside the ambulance.

Sebastian approached her.

For a moment, neither knew what to say.

Then Maria touched his cheek.

He let her.

She whispered:

“You stayed.”

He frowned.

“What?”

“With Natalie.”

“When Thomas ran.”

Sebastian understood.

“You thought I would chase him.”

“Yes.”

“Twenty-three years ago, everyone chose revenge over family.”

He looked toward the ambulance.

“I’m done repeating them.”

Maria smiled through tears.

Then her phone rang.

Unknown number.

She answered.

A man’s voice.

Thomas Vale.

“You should have run when you had the chance.”

Maria went pale.

Sebastian took the phone.

“Thomas.”

A laugh.

Then:

“Ask your mother who was in the car with your father the night he died.”

Sebastian looked at Maria.

Her expression changed.

Thomas continued.

“She left out the best part.”

The call ended.

Sebastian lowered the phone.

“Mom.”

Maria did not answer.

“Who was in the car?”

She closed her eyes.

Then said the name Sebastian least expected.

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...

“Anthony.”

========================================================================