Chapter 10 - THE PRICE OF MERCY
They reached Nora’s apartment eleven minutes later.
The door was open.
Levitt sat at her kitchen table.
Nora sat opposite him.
Alive.
Samuel Bell stood by the window.
No weapons were visible.
That made Callum more nervous.
Levitt smiled.
“Callum.”
“You murdered my father.”
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer shocked everyone.
“Why?”
“Because your father developed a conscience after building an empire with blood.”
Levitt poured tea.
“Powerful men always discover morality once they have enough money.”
Sadie stepped forward.
“And my grandfather?”
“Same disease.”
Levitt looked at her almost fondly.
“The Bellandis and Russos believed they could expose the machine after profiting from it.”
“So you killed them.”
“We preserved order.”
Callum drew his gun.
Samuel Bell moved in front of Nora.
Levitt smiled.
“There. The predictable ending.”
Callum’s finger rested against the trigger.
Levitt wanted him to shoot.
Sadie understood first.
“Don’t.”
Callum looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because this is what he built.”
She gestured around them.
“Violence that justifies the next violence.”
Levitt laughed.
“Beautiful sentiment.”
Sadie removed her phone.
A red recording indicator glowed.
Levitt’s smile disappeared.
Nora smiled.
“You just confessed to multiple murders in front of an Assistant State’s Attorney.”
Sirens rose outside.
Levitt lunged.
Callum could have shot him.
Instead, he stepped aside.
Nora tackled Levitt into the table.
Marco entered moments later with federal agents.
Levitt screamed as they handcuffed him.
“You think this ends anything?”
Callum looked down at him.
“No.”
Then at Sadie.
“But it changes what happens next.”
The reconstructed Ledger went public twelve hours later.
Judges resigned.
Police officials were arrested.
Businesses collapsed.
The Ash Circle ceased to exist because secrecy had been its real weapon.
Callum did something nobody expected.
He surrendered too.
Sadie stared at him outside the federal building.
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes.”
“The Ledger implicates you in financial crimes.”
“I know.”
“You could leave.”
Callum smiled.
“You taught me something annoying.”
“What?”
“That escaping consequences isn’t the same as being free.”
He kissed her forehead.
Then walked inside.
May you like
Sadie stood in the rain watching the most powerful man she had ever known voluntarily surrender his power.
And realized that was the moment she fell completely in love with him.
