Chapter 9 - Blood and Redemption
The old shipping warehouse was a cavernous, rusted skeleton standing against the freezing grey waters of Lake Michigan.
Dominic’s convoy didn't bother with subtlety. Three armored SUVs smashed directly through the corrugated metal gates, scattering Moretti’s remaining guards before they could even raise their weapons.
Dominic was out of the vehicle before it came to a complete stop.
Gunfire cracked through the cavernous space as his men swept the lower level. Dominic ignored the chaos, his eyes fixed on the rusted iron staircase leading to the catwalks above.
There, tied to a wooden chair with thick plastic zip-ties, sat Sadie.
Her head was slumped forward, a dark bruise blooming across her cheek, but as the sound of gunfire echoed below, she stirred, lifting her head.
Standing beside her with a shaking hand and a pistol pressed against her temple was Salvatore Moretti himself. His face was bruised, his clothes disheveled, and his eyes wide with wild, unhinged panic.
“Stop right there, Castile!” Moretti screamed, his voice echoing off the corrugated iron walls. “Take one more step and I’ll blow her brains all over this floor!”
Dominic froze at the base of the stairs. His weapon was lowered, but every muscle in his body was coiled like a spring.
“Let her go, Salvatore,” Dominic’s voice was terrifyingly calm, carrying a deadly promise of eternal torment. “This is between you and me.”
“There is no me and you anymore!” Moretti shrieked, pressing the barrel harder against Sadie’s temple. She winced, tears cutting tracks through the soot on her cheek. “You took everything! My empire, my family, my life! So I’m taking the only thing you care about!”
Dominic took a slow, deliberate step up the first stair.
“Do it,” Moretti yelled, cocking the hammer. “Take another step!”
“Dominic, no!” Sadie managed to cry out, her voice cracking.
Dominic stopped. He locked eyes with her, projecting an ocean of absolute certainty across the space between them.
“Look at me, Sadie,” Dominic said softly, his voice cutting through the ringing in her ears.
She looked into his eyes—the ice entirely melted, replaced by a fierce, blazing devotion.
“I told you once,” Dominic whispered across the distance. “You are the only reason I breathe. I am not going to let you go.”
With a speed that defied human reaction, Dominic didn't aim at Moretti’s head. Instead, with blinding precision, he raised his pistol and fired a single shot directly into Moretti’s wrist.
The bullet shattered bone.
Moretti shrieked in agony, his hand jerking violently upward as the pistol flew from his grasp and clattered across the metal catwalk.
Before Moretti could scream again, Dominic closed the distance up the stairs like a striking panther. He slammed Moretti against the railing, disarmed him completely, and drove his fist into Moretti’s jaw with enough force to drop a bull.
Moretti crumpled unconscious to the steel floor.
Dominic didn't look at him again. He dropped to his knees beside Sadie, frantically cutting away the zip-ties with a pocket knife.
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When her hands were free, Sadie threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder as the adrenaline finally crashed, leaving her trembling violently.
Dominic held her tight, his chest heaving, burying his face in her dark hair as he whispered desperate, broken promises against her skin.
