Chapter 4 - The Betrayal at the Gate
Dominic watched Victor Hale through the security monitor.
Rain soaked the man’s jacket. Blood ran from his temple to his collar.
He stood outside the gate with his hands raised, but his eyes kept moving toward the road behind him.
“He is frightened,” Vivian said.
She had left the bed despite Rosa’s objections and now stood in the upstairs security room with one hand pressed against her lower back.
Dominic glanced at her.
“You should sit.”
“I have been sitting while other people decided whether I live or die. I am finished with that.”
On the monitor, Victor lifted the sign again.
LEO KNOWS SHE’S ALIVE. HE’S COMING WITH EVERYONE.
Dominic activated the exterior speaker.
“Remove your jacket.”
Victor obeyed slowly.
“Turn around.”
He turned.
No obvious weapon.
That meant little. Dominic had seen explosives concealed in shoes, belts, casts, and dental appliances.
“Why are you here?” Dominic asked through the speaker.
Victor stared into the camera.
“Because Bell is dead and Price vanished. I am next.”
“You accepted money to abandon Vivian.”
Victor lowered his head.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Twenty thousand.”
Vivian made a quiet sound of disbelief.
Dominic continued.
“What did Leo tell you?”
“That Miss Mercer was under federal investigation. He said your order was to remove the detail and avoid contact.”
“You knew that was not true.”
“Not at first.”
“And later?”
Victor looked toward the road again.
“Later I was afraid.”
“Of Leo?”
“Of what he was building.”
Dominic’s gaze narrowed.
“What was he building?”
“A new crew. Men who answer only to him. He has been paying captains directly and telling them you are losing control.”
“How many?”
“At least half.”
The answer settled over the room.
Rosa crossed herself quietly.
Vivian looked at Dominic.
His expression did not change.
But she understood the scale of the betrayal.
Leo had not simply stolen money.
He had purchased an army.
“Why should I believe you?” Dominic asked.
“Because I have the recording.”
Victor raised a small drive between two fingers.
“Bell recorded Leo ordering the attack on Miss Mercer. He gave it to me before they found him.”
“Place it on the ground and step away.”
Victor did so.
Dominic called the gatehouse.
“Send the inspection drone.”
A small wheeled device emerged from the wall and traveled toward the drive.
It scanned for explosives and chemical agents.
No warning appeared.
Dominic considered his options.
Victor could be telling the truth.
He could also be the first piece of Leo’s assault.
“Open the pedestrian gate,” Dominic ordered. “One person only.”
The gate unlocked.
Victor stepped through.
Before it closed, headlights appeared at the far end of the road.
One vehicle.
Then three.
Then six.
Victor ran toward the house.
“They are early!”
Dominic turned to Rosa.
“Take Vivian to the lower shelter.”
“No,” Vivian said.
“This is not a negotiation.”
“The evidence is on the laptop.”
“Rosa will bring it.”
“You need me to open the files.”
“I need you alive.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
The front gate camera shattered into static.
Exterior lights died one by one.
Dominic’s security team moved into defensive positions.
The house had twelve guards.
Leo appeared to have brought more than thirty men.
Vivian’s face lost color.
“This is because of me.”
Dominic stepped close enough that she could hear him over the alarms.
“This is because Leo decided power belonged to him. You merely survived long enough to expose it.”
Another burst of gunfire struck the reinforced windows.
“Go with Rosa.”
Vivian started to argue.
Then a sharp pain seized her.
She grabbed the edge of the desk.
Dominic caught her elbow.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Vivian.”
“A cramp.”
Rosa looked alarmed.
“Downstairs. Now.”
Dominic helped them reach the hidden elevator behind the study wall.
Before the doors closed, Vivian caught his wrist.
“Do not let anger make the decision for you again.”
Dominic understood what she meant.
Do not shoot Victor before hearing the recording.
Do not kill Leo before learning the whole truth.
Do not become useful to another lie.
“I will find you when this is finished,” he said.
The elevator descended.
Dominic returned to the ground floor.
Victor had been searched and restrained in the kitchen.
His face was pale from blood loss.
Dominic entered carrying the recovered drive.
“Where is Leo?”
“Leading the men from the east side.”
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“Who controls the western approach?”
“Carlo Bennett.”
A longtime captain.
Another betrayal.
Dominic handed the drive to Nico, who had arrived minutes before the attack through the underground garage.
“Verify it.”
Nico inserted the drive into an isolated computer.
A sound file appeared.
He pressed play.
Leo’s voice filled the kitchen.
You will remove the protection from Mercer. She will receive instructions through a secure phone. If she resists, remind her what happened to Ethan.
Another man spoke.
And the pregnancy?
Leo answered without hesitation.
Use it. Fear makes intelligent people stupid.
Victor closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
Once she moves the Geneva reserve, she dies. The evidence will prove Russo’s accountant stole everything and fled. By the time he understands, the captains will already be mine.
Nico stopped the file.
No one spoke.
Dominic looked toward the dark windows.
Leo had planned not only to overthrow him but to make Vivian carry the blame into death.
“Send the recording to every captain,” Dominic said.
Nico hesitated.
“Our communications may be monitored.”
“Use all channels. Private numbers, family contacts, encrypted accounts. Make it impossible to contain.”
“What message?”
Dominic looked at Victor.
“Tell them Leo murdered Ethan Cole, stole from the organization, threatened an unborn child, and attacked a protected house without authorization.”
Nico began sending the file.
Outside, gunfire intensified.
One of Dominic’s guards entered.
“They breached the outer gate.”
“How long until they reach the house?”
“Two minutes.”
Dominic removed his trench coat and placed it over a chair.
Beneath it, he wore the forest-green turtleneck and shoulder holster Vivian had seen in the apartment.
He checked his ammunition.
“Fall back to the interior positions,” he ordered. “Do not fire on anyone who withdraws.”
The guard stared.
“They are attacking us.”
“They are following a lie. Give them an opportunity to hear the truth.”
Victor looked at Dominic as though seeing him for the first time.
Dominic had built his reputation on cold pragmatism.
Tonight, that pragmatism demanded restraint.
The first attackers reached the courtyard.
Before they could breach the house, phones began ringing among them.
Men glanced at their screens.
The gunfire weakened.
Then stopped.
Through the window, Dominic saw confusion spread.
Some men lowered their weapons.
Others shouted.
One vehicle reversed toward the gate.
Leo had purchased loyalty, but purchased loyalty was fragile when the buyer became exposed.
A voice thundered from outside.
“Dominic!”
Leo stood beyond the front steps beneath a black umbrella.
He wore a dark suit and no protective vest, projecting confidence to men who were already beginning to doubt him.
“Come outside!” Leo shouted. “Let the men see whether you still have courage!”
Dominic activated the exterior lights.
Leo became fully visible.
Several captains stood behind him.
Carlo Bennett held his phone in one hand, the recording apparently still playing.
Dominic opened the front door and stepped onto the covered entrance.
Nico moved behind him, but Dominic raised one hand.
“Stay.”
Rain blew across the steps.
Leo smiled.
“You hide behind walls now?”
“You attacked a house containing a pregnant civilian.”
“She stole from us.”
“You ordered her to.”
Murmurs spread through the men.
Leo pointed toward the house.
“She is manipulating him! Dominic Russo has become weak over an accountant.”
Dominic descended one step.
“Tell them about Halcyon.”
Leo’s smile faded.
“Tell them about the thirty million dollars you stole through false security contracts.”
Several captains looked toward Leo.
“Fabricated records,” Leo said.
“Tell them about Ethan Cole.”
“I do not know who that is.”
Dominic removed his phone and played the recording through the exterior speaker.
Leo’s own voice rolled across the courtyard.
If she resists, remind her what happened to Ethan.
The men shifted.
Carlo Bennett took two steps away from Leo.
Leo’s face reddened.
“It is fake!”
“Then come inside and prove it.”
“You think I am stupid?”
“I think you are frightened.”
Leo drew his pistol.
Every weapon in the courtyard rose.
Dominic did not move.
For one suspended moment, no one knew where loyalty would fall.
Then Leo pointed his gun toward an upstairs window.
“You want to protect her?” he shouted. “Let us see how well you protect what she is carrying.”
Dominic fired.
The bullet struck Leo’s shoulder, spinning him backward.
His pistol fell onto the wet stone.
Two men grabbed him before he could reach it.
Dominic descended the remaining steps.
Leo screamed through clenched teeth.
“You should have killed me.”
“I considered it.”
Dominic stopped in front of him.
“But anger has already made enough decisions tonight.”
He looked toward the captains.
“Leo Rossi will answer for theft, betrayal, murder, and the attack on this house. Any man who remains loyal to him may step forward now.”
No one moved.
Leo laughed bitterly.
“You think this is over?”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“You still do not understand,” Leo said. “I was not the one who found Vivian’s secret.”
Dominic crouched in front of him.
“Who did?”
Leo smiled despite the pain.
“Ask her brother.”
At that moment, an alarm sounded inside the house.
Not the security alarm.
A medical alarm.
Dominic turned.
Rosa appeared in the doorway.
Her face was white.
“Dominic,” she said. “Vivian is bleeding.”
May you like
The world narrowed to those three words.
Dominic left Leo on the stones and ran.
