Chapter 5 - Blood on the Marble
Dominic didn't argue. He knew that survival in our world wasn't about gender or size; it was about ruthlessness.
"Three seconds," he said, pulling an emergency flashbang grenade from his belt clip. He pulled the pin with his teeth. "Close your eyes and cover your ears."
He lobbed the canister around the pillar.
A blinding burst of white light and a concussive boom rocked the subterranean corridor. The mercenaries screamed in agony, disoriented by the sensory overload.
Dominic broke from cover, firing two precise rounds that dropped the nearest gunman.
The third mercenary swung his rifle toward Dominic's blind spot. Before the man could pull the trigger, I lunged from behind the pillar. Using every ounce of my weight and momentum, I slammed my shoulder directly into his ribs, driving him hard into the brick wall. The breath exploded from his lungs in a wet gasp, and his carbine clattered to the floor.
He swung a wild fist at my face, but I dodged inside his reach and drove the steel letter opener straight through his combat boot into his foot.
The man howled, collapsing to his knees. I didn't give him time to recover; I swung the heavy brass paperweight with both hands, striking him across the jaw. He slumped unconscious onto the concrete.
"Impressive," Dominic said, stepping over the fallen mercenary and kicking his weapon down the hall.
Suddenly, the sharp crack of a gunshot echoed from the stairs.
A bullet clipped Dominic’s left shoulder, tearing through his wool jacket and drawing a bright line of crimson. He grunted, stumbling slightly against the wall.
Cassandra stood on the lower steps, both hands shaking violently on her pistol. Her composure had shattered entirely; her mascara ran down her pale cheeks in jagged black lines.
"Stay back!" she shrieked. "I’ll kill you, Dominic! I swear to God I will!"
"You missed, Cassandra," Dominic said coldly, completely ignoring the blood soaking his sleeve as he took a slow, menacing step toward her. "And in my world, you only get one shot."
"Don't touch me! My father—"
I didn't wait for her to finish. Stepping around Dominic, I crossed the distance between us before she could re-aim her gun. I grabbed her wrist, twisting it sharply outward until bone popped and the weapon dropped to the floor.
With my other hand, I grabbed a fistful of her expensive midnight-black silk gown, jerking her downward until her face was inches from mine.
"Ten years ago, your father set fire to a house full of innocent women and children," I whispered, my voice vibrating with the cold rage of a thousand sleepless nights. "And tonight, you brought a leather crop to beat a Moretti."
I drove my open palm hard against her chest, sending her sprawling backward onto the cold, wet steps.
"Now," I said, towering over her as she sobbed on the floor, clutching her broken wrist. "You will kneel."
Cassandra looked up at me, terror finally replacing her arrogance. Trembling, weeping, and covered in filth, she dragged herself onto her knees in front of my work boots.
Dominic walked up behind me, resting a heavy, warm hand on the small of my back. He looked down at the woman who had once thought she would rule his empire.
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"Drag her to the holding cells," Dominic commanded his lieutenant, Marcus, who had finally arrived with a dozen heavily armed Sterling reinforcements at the top of the stairs. "And tell Senator Vance that if he wants to see his daughter alive again, he will arrive at the Grand Harbor terminal at dawn. Alone."
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