Chapter 8 - Dominic’s Last Loyal Man
The figure inside the burning house was not a stranger.
It was Nora.
Victor had left her there.
A message appeared beneath the video.
Choose.
Clara understood.
Save Nora, who had helped destroy their family.
Or stay and stop Victor.
Arthur made the decision.
“Dominic, go.”
Dominic hesitated.
“Arthur—”
“Go.”
Dominic left.
Victor mocked him.
“Still rescuing traitors.”
Arthur looked at his father.
“No. People.”
That distinction mattered.
Federal tactical teams surrounded the warehouse.
Victor’s snipers began disappearing one by one.
Daniel had transmitted their positions before entering.
Victor realized too late.
He grabbed Evelyn.
Arthur moved.
Gunfire exploded.
Clara dropped behind a crate.
Daniel tackled one gunman.
Arthur reached Victor.
Father and son fought without elegance.
Years of hatred reduced to fists and blood.
Victor was older.
Arthur was wounded.
Neither stopped.
Clara freed Evelyn.
Then Victor pulled a hidden knife.
Clara shouted.
Arthur caught his wrist.
The blade stopped inches from his throat.
Victor whispered, “You’re weak because you care.”
Arthur looked toward Clara.
Then Evelyn.
Then Daniel.
“No.”
He twisted Victor’s wrist.
“You’re weak because nobody does.”
Victor fell.
Federal agents flooded the warehouse.
He was arrested alive.
Arthur insisted on that.
Victor would face every name in the ledger.
Every family.
Every courtroom.
No martyrdom.
No convenient death.
Truth.
Outside, Clara stood beside Arthur as paramedics checked his wound.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“I explicitly told you not to.”
“Yes.”
“This relationship is going to be exhausting.”
Clara stared.
“Relationship?”
Arthur seemed to realize what he had said.
Daniel appeared between them.
“Whatever this is, postpone it until I’m no longer holding a stolen assault rifle.”
Clara laughed.
For a moment, life felt almost normal.
Then Dominic called.
He had reached the house.
Nora survived.
Barely.
But Dominic found something else.
A basement room Clara had never known existed.
Inside were decades of Evelyn’s files.
Including a document bearing Arthur’s signature.
Arthur frowned.
“What document?”
Dominic sent a photograph.
Clara opened it.
A contract.
Six years old.
It authorized surveillance on Clara Vance.
Signed:
ARTHUR KINGSLEY.
Clara slowly raised her eyes.
Arthur had gone pale.
“I never signed that.”
Daniel examined it.
“The signature looks real.”
Arthur stared at the date.
Then he understood.
“That was the week Daniel first contacted me.”
Clara stepped back.
“You said you didn’t know I existed.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then why is my name on a contract carrying your signature?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara wanted to believe him.
That frightened her.
Trust had ruined her before.
Arthur saw the change in her face.
“Clara.”
“Don’t.”
She walked away.
That night, she stayed with Daniel and Evelyn.
Arthur remained alone in the penthouse.
At 2:13 a.m., Clara received a message.
Not from Arthur.
From Dominic.
I found who forged it.
Then another.
Do not tell Arthur.
Clara called.
No answer.
A third message arrived.
A photograph.
Dominic lying on the floor.
Someone stood over him.
Only polished black shoes were visible.
Then came four words.
Ask Daniel about Prague.
Clara looked across the room.
May you like
Her twin brother was standing in the doorway.
And he had just heard his phone ring.
