Chapter 6 - The Man Dominic Called Family
Dominic was still breathing.
That was the only reason Autumn did not break.
Roman dragged him behind the kitchen island while returning fire.
Autumn crawled toward them.
“Pressure,” she said.
Roman pressed both hands against Dominic's wound.
Vincent's men advanced.
Autumn looked toward the smart-home control panel.
Technology.
Finally, something she could fight with.
She ripped open the panel and crossed two wires.
The penthouse fire suppression system activated.
Steel shutters dropped.
Sprinklers erupted.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Roman understood immediately.
He pulled Dominic toward the service exit.
They escaped through a maintenance staircase while Vincent’s men became trapped behind the security shutters.
Twenty minutes later they were inside a safe house.
A doctor removed the bullet.
It had missed Dominic's heart by less than two inches.
Autumn sat beside his bed until sunrise.
When Dominic woke, his first word was her name.
She looked up.
“You're terrible at getting shot.”
His lips moved faintly.
“First time.”
“Don't make it a hobby.”
His hand found hers.
Neither pulled away.
Then reality returned.
“Vincent?”
“Gone.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
The betrayal hurt more than the bullet.
Vincent had raised him.
Taught him to drive.
Taken him to his first baseball game.
Buried Dominic's father beside him.
Now they knew why.
Vincent had helped arrange Michael Kaine’s murder.
Dominic wanted revenge.
Autumn wanted truth.
Those goals collided immediately.
“You can't just kill him.”
“He shot me.”
“He knows where Voss is.”
“I'll ask first.”
“That isn't reassuring.”
Dominic tried sitting up and nearly tore his stitches.
Autumn pushed him down.
For one ridiculous second, the most feared man in Chicago obeyed a waitress.
Roman noticed.
He wisely said nothing.
They interrogated captured attackers.
Vincent had planned to take Autumn to an abandoned Kestrel research facility outside Chicago.
That gave them their destination.
Before leaving, Dominic pulled Autumn aside.
“If something happens—”
“No.”
“Listen.”
“I've had enough men deciding they're going to sacrifice themselves around me.”
His expression changed.
“My father did it. Yours did it. I'm not letting you make it three.”
“You care whether I come back?”
Autumn realized how close they were standing.
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly to hide.
Dominic's hand touched her cheek.
“That's inconvenient.”
“Extremely.”
He kissed her.
Not dramatically.
Not possessively.
Carefully.
As though giving her every opportunity to step away.
She didn't.
For seven years Autumn had lived in survival mode.
Bills.
Noah.
Work.
Fear.
Dominic's kiss reminded her she was still allowed to want something.
When they separated, Roman stood ten feet away studying the ceiling with exaggerated concentration.
Autumn glared.
“Say anything and I'll delete your entire digital existence.”
Roman nodded.
“Understood.”
They reached the Kestrel facility after midnight.
It looked abandoned.
Inside, dozens of servers remained active.
Autumn found Blackbird.
Not one copy.
Thousands.
The software had been sold to governments, corporations and criminal organizations worldwide.
Voss had built an empire from her stolen work.
Then she found the oldest archive.
Video footage.
Her father appeared on screen.
Daniel Rivers.
Alive seventeen years ago.
“If you're watching this, Autumn, I failed.”
Her knees weakened.
Dominic stood beside her.
Daniel explained everything.
Blackbird had originally been designed as defensive software.
Vincent Kaine wanted to weaponize it.
Michael Kaine and Daniel resisted.
Voss chose Vincent.
Daniel knew they were coming for him.
But his final revelation changed everything.
“Elias Voss isn't the architect.”
Autumn leaned closer.
“He answers to Vincent.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
Voss had never been the mastermind.
Vincent was.
Then Daniel said:
“Michael discovered Vincent's plan and hid the master key somewhere Vincent would never look.”
The video distorted.
Daniel's final words emerged through static.
“He gave it to his son.”
Dominic went still.
Autumn turned.
“You have the master key.”
“I don't.”
“Yes, you do. You just don't know it.”
Dominic thought.
Then reached beneath his shirt.
A small metal pendant hung from a chain.
His father had given it to him the night before he died.
Autumn stared.
“That's not jewelry.”
She opened the pendant.
Inside was a tiny storage chip.
May you like
The real Blackbird master key.
After seventeen years, the weapon Vincent Kaine had murdered for had been hanging around Dominic's neck.
