Chapter 6 - The Night the Tower Went DarkThe first gunshot shattered the glass wall outside Dominic's office.
Gemma dropped behind the desk.
Dominic caught her shoulder and pulled her farther from the doorway.
“Stay down.”
Another shot struck the wooden frame.
Marcus's voice came through Dominic's phone.
“Security breach. Executive floor. Unknown number of armed intruders.”
Dominic glanced toward the corridor.
“Where's Dante?”
A pause.
“We can't locate him.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Lock down the elevators.”
“They're already disabled.”
“Get everyone out of the east offices. Call the police.”
He ended the call.
Gemma crouched beside the desk, breathing quickly.
“Is this Dante?”
“I don't know.”
“You suspect him.”
“Yes.”
A third shot sounded.
Dominic opened a concealed compartment beneath the desk and removed a handgun.
Gemma stared at it.
He noticed.
“You don't have to look.”
“I work for you. I know what kind of world you live in.”
“Knowing isn't the same as being trapped inside it.”
Footsteps approached.
Dominic moved toward the doorway.
Then stopped.
He looked back at Gemma.
“There's a service corridor behind the bookcase. Marcus knows where it exits.”
“Come with me.”
“I need to make sure the intruders don't reach the records.”
She shook her head.
“Dominic.”
He paused.
It was the first time she had said his name without hesitation.
“Don't make me watch another family lose someone because of those files.”
Something in her voice reached him.
He lowered the gun slightly.
Then nodded.
“Together.”
The service corridor was narrow and poorly lit.
Emergency lights cast red shadows across the concrete.
Dominic moved ahead while Gemma followed, clutching the flash drive and the photograph of Adrian's daughter.
Halfway down the corridor, they heard a familiar voice.
“Dominic.”
Dante stood near the stairwell entrance.
His pistol pointed at the floor.
Dominic stopped.
“Put it down.”
Dante looked exhausted.
“You don't understand what's happening.”
“Then explain.”
Dante glanced at Gemma.
“She shouldn't be here.”
“She stays.”
“Dominic, listen to me. The people behind those accounts are bigger than you think.”
“Who?”
Dante shook his head.
“If I tell you, they'll kill my family.”
“You've already endangered mine.”
Dante's eyes flickered.
“I tried to keep Adrian alive.”
Dominic went still.
“What did you say?”
“I tried.”
“You told my father he was dead.”
“Because that's what I was ordered to tell him.”
“By whom?”
Dante opened his mouth.
A sharp crack echoed from the stairwell.
Dante stumbled.
His pistol clattered to the floor.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Dominic pulled Gemma behind a concrete pillar as another shot struck the wall.
Marcus appeared from the opposite corridor with two security officers.
“Move!”
Dominic helped Dante behind cover.
The wounded underboss groaned.
Gemma pressed a folded scarf against his shoulder while Marcus's team secured the stairwell.
Dante looked up at her.
“You should've stayed out of this.”
Gemma pressed harder.
“And you should've answered the question.”
For an instant, despite the pain, Dante laughed.
Then he looked at Dominic.
“Your brother didn't die that night.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“Where is he?”
Dante's expression changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“He was taken.”
“By who?”
Dante swallowed.
“The woman who financed your father's empire.”
Police arrived minutes later.
The gunman escaped through a maintenance exit, but investigators recovered shell casings and security footage.
Dante was taken to the hospital under police guard.
Dominic refused to leave until Marcus confirmed every employee had been evacuated.
Gemma stood beside the elevator, shivering beneath Dominic's jacket.
He approached her.
“You need medical attention.”
“I'm not injured.”
“You're shaking.”
“So are you.”
He looked down.
His hands were trembling.
He hadn't noticed.
Gemma reached for one.
Her fingers closed around his scarred knuckles.
For a moment, the noise around them faded.
“Dominic,” she said softly, “you can't protect everyone by frightening them.”
He looked at her.
“That's the only way I've ever known.”
“Then learn another.”
At the hospital, Dante underwent emergency surgery.
He survived.
But when investigators questioned him the next morning, he refused to speak.
Instead, he asked for Dominic.
Alone.
Dominic entered the guarded room at 8:05 a.m.
Dante lay pale against the pillows.
“You were right,” Dante whispered.
“About what?”
“The accounts. The missing money. Adrian.”
Dominic moved closer.
“Tell me where he is.”
Dante looked toward the door.
“Before I do, you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“The person behind this isn't trying to steal your empire.”
Dominic waited.
Dante's voice broke.
“She's trying to take it back.”
“Who?”
Dante closed his eyes.
“Your mother.”
May you like
Dominic stared at him.
His mother had been dead for twenty-three years.
Related Stories
