Chapter 6 - The Woman Nobody Expected
Dominic rejected Norah’s plan immediately.
“No.”
“You really need another word.”
“You are not walking into a hostage exchange.”
“Julian doesn’t know I know anything.”
“That makes you useful to him.”
“Exactly.”
Dominic stared at her.
Norah laid out the plan.
Julian expected a terrified waitress.
Give him one.
Let him believe Dominic was emotionally compromised.
Let him believe Norah possessed the key but not the truth.
Most importantly, let Julian talk.
Men who believed they had won tended to explain themselves.
Dominic hated every second of it.
But he agreed.
The exchange was arranged at an abandoned Rossy shipping terminal in Brooklyn.
Norah entered wearing a wire.
Dominic waited 300 yards away with his security team.
Julian appeared alone.
At first.
He looked like Dominic through a broken mirror.
Same dark eyes.
Same height.
But where Dominic carried silence like armor, Julian wore charm like a weapon.
“So,” Julian said, “you’re the famous Norah.”
“I’m a caterer.”
“You’re carrying approximately $18 billion.”
Norah kept her expression blank.
“I want Dr. Levin.”
Julian smiled.
“Dominic chose well.”
“He didn’t choose anything.”
“Oh, but he did.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Do you know how many women my brother has allowed close in 10 years?”
Norah said nothing.
“One.”
“You’re trying to frighten me.”
“No. I’m trying to explain why you’re dangerous.”
Dr. Levin appeared behind him, escorted by 2 men.
Alive.
Norah exhaled.
“The key,” Julian said.
“The doctor first.”
He laughed.
“You sound like him.”
“I’ll take that as an insult.”
Surprisingly, Julian released Levin.
She walked toward Norah.
Halfway across the warehouse, everything changed.
A sniper fired.
The bullet struck one of Julian’s men.
Chaos erupted.
Norah dropped.
Dominic’s security team moved in.
But the shot had not come from them.
A second faction entered the warehouse.
Vittorio’s men.
Julian screamed in fury.
“He betrayed me!”
That sentence told Dominic everything.
Vittorio was eliminating both nephews.
Norah crawled behind a steel crate.
Julian reached her first.
He grabbed her arm.
“Move.”
Dominic appeared from the smoke.
“Let her go.”
Julian pressed a pistol against Norah’s side.
Dominic stopped.
The brothers stared at each other for the first time in 6 years.
“You look old,” Julian said.
“You look dead.”
Julian smiled.
Then Vittorio’s voice boomed through the warehouse speakers.
“Both of you were always disappointments.”
Julian’s smile vanished.
Vittorio had never intended to share power.
The brothers had been pieces.
So had Norah.
Explosives had been planted throughout the terminal.
A countdown appeared on an electronic panel.
Four minutes.
Dominic looked at Julian.
“You can hate me outside.”
Julian hesitated.
Then released Norah.
For 3 minutes, enemies became brothers again.
They fought their way toward an emergency exit while Dominic’s men evacuated Dr. Levin.
At 27 seconds, Norah stumbled.
Dominic turned back.
“Go!” she screamed.
He ignored her.
He lifted her into his arms.
The image from the gala repeated itself.
Only this time Norah was conscious.
She saw the fear in his eyes.
“Dominic—”
“Not without you.”
They cleared the building seconds before the first explosion.
The blast threw Dominic forward.
He twisted in midair.
Took the impact on his back.
Protected her again.
When Norah opened her eyes, Dominic lay beneath her.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Dominic?”
Nothing.
“Dominic!”
Julian appeared through the smoke.
He stared at his brother.
Then at Norah.
For one terrible second, she thought he might finish what he started.
Instead, Julian knelt.
Pressed his fingers to Dominic’s neck.
“He’s alive.”
Norah nearly collapsed.
Sirens approached.
Julian looked toward them.
Then handed Norah the gun.
“Tell my brother something.”
“What?”
Julian stepped backward into the smoke.
“Tell him Father didn't choose him because he was stronger.”
Norah stared.
“Then why?”
Julian’s expression became strangely sad.
May you like
“Because he was still capable of loving someone more than power.”
Then he disappeared.
