Chapter 8 - HIS FATHER’S LAST WORDS
Sebastian waited until Oliver was asleep.
Only four of us entered the library.
Sebastian.
Gabriel.
Me.
And the dead.
At least, that was how it felt when Sebastian pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a man’s voice.
Older.
Deep.
Sebastian closed his eyes.
His father.
“October eighteenth, 2006.”
A pause.
“If anything happens to me, this recording goes to Sebastian.”
Sebastian’s fingers tightened around the device.
The voice continued.
“I made mistakes building this family. Enough to fill ten churches with confession.”
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
“But my son deserves a different life.”
Sebastian looked away.
“I have arranged meetings with federal authorities. I will give them what they need to dismantle the criminal side of our organization. In exchange, Sebastian keeps the legitimate holdings, and anyone willing to leave violence behind gets protection.”
My chest tightened.
Carlo had told the truth about one thing.
Sebastian’s father had been planning an exit.
Then came the part that changed everything.
“I believe my brother Carlo knows.”
Sebastian froze.
“He has questioned accountants. He has moved money without authorization. If I die suddenly, investigate him first.”
Silence.
Then Sebastian’s father laughed softly.
“And Sebastian, if you’re hearing this, you’re probably furious I didn’t tell you.”
A tear slipped down Sebastian’s cheek.
He did not wipe it away.
“I wanted you clean of it. You were twenty-two. You still believed power meant people feared you.”
Another pause.
“I hope someday you learn the opposite.”
Sebastian’s lips parted.
His father’s final words came quietly.
“The strongest man in a room is the one who no longer needs anyone afraid.”
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Sebastian stared into nothing.
Then he threw the recorder across the room.
It shattered against the wall.
Gabriel flinched.
Sebastian turned his wheelchair violently.
“He was leaving.”
“Yes,” I said.
“He was going to destroy everything we built.”
“He was trying to save you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I heard his voice.”
Sebastian slammed his palm against the armrest.
“For twenty years, I spent every day becoming the exact thing he was trying to end.”
His voice cracked with anger.
“I killed for this family. I terrified people. I built the organization larger than he ever did.”
I stepped closer.
“Because you believed that was how you honored him.”
“And I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
The word surprised him.
Everyone in Sebastian’s life probably softened truth.
I didn’t.
“You were wrong,” I repeated. “So decide what you do with that.”
His expression hardened.
“You think people just walk away from my world?”
“You stood for the first time in twenty years last week.”
He went silent.
“I’m starting to think you’re capable of difficult things.”
For a long moment, Sebastian said nothing.
Then Gabriel’s phone rang.
His face changed as he listened.
“We have a location on Carlo.”
Sebastian looked up.
“Where?”
“Lombardi Shipping. South Side warehouse.”
“Marco?”
“Likely with him.”
Sebastian reached for the firearm stored beside his chair.
I put my hand over it.
“No.”
His eyes became cold.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You go there with a gun, this ends the same way everything in your family always ends.”
“They murdered my father.”
“Yes.”
“They stole twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“They threatened Oliver.”
“I know.”
His voice dropped.
“Then move.”
I did not.
“What did your father just say?”
Sebastian stared at me.
“The strongest man in the room—”
“Don’t.”
“—is the one who doesn’t need anyone afraid.”
His jaw clenched.
Gabriel watched silently.
I pulled my hand away from the gun.
“You can kill Carlo.”
I stepped back.
“You probably have enough men to make him disappear tonight.”
Sebastian said nothing.
“But if you do, Carlo still decides who you become.”
The words landed.
Minutes passed.
Finally Sebastian pushed the gun away.
“Call the federal prosecutor handling Mercer.”
Gabriel stared.
“Boss?”
“You heard me.”
Sebastian looked toward the broken recorder.
“My father wanted legitimate.”
He inhaled slowly.
“Apparently I’m twenty years late.”
What followed became the most dangerous gamble of Sebastian’s life.
He agreed to cooperate.
Financial records.
Names.
Businesses.
Routes.
Evidence against Carlo and Marco.
In exchange, prosecutors separated Sebastian’s legitimate holdings from criminal assets and considered his cooperation when determining charges related to the organization he had inherited and later expanded.
It did not erase his past.
Nothing could.
But for the first time, Sebastian stopped pretending power placed him above consequences.
Carlo learned about the cooperation before agents reached the warehouse.
And he did something desperate.
He kidnapped Gabriel.
We discovered it when Gabriel failed to answer his phone.
Security footage showed his SUV being boxed in near the river.
Twenty minutes later, Sebastian received a video.
Gabriel was tied to a chair.
Marco stood behind him.
Carlo faced the camera.
“You want to become respectable now?”
He laughed.
“Come prove it.”
The warehouse address appeared.
Sebastian’s face became stone.
Federal agents insisted he stay away.
He refused.
“You cannot enter an active hostage situation,” an agent said.
“That man saved my life more times than I can count.”
“You’ll compromise the operation.”
Sebastian looked at me.
I knew that look.
He was going.
So I said the only thing that might stop him from going alone.
“Then I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You need someone who can help you move if something happens to the chair.”
“No.”
“You are not physically ready to stand unsupported.”
“Claire.”
“And Gabriel would murder you himself if you got killed trying to rescue him.”
That almost made him smile.
Eventually, federal agents created a controlled plan.
Sebastian would enter wearing a wire.
Agents surrounded the warehouse.
I remained inside a medical response vehicle nearby.
At least, that was the plan.
Sebastian entered.
Ten minutes passed.
Then fifteen.
Then gunfire erupted.
Agents moved.
I stayed exactly where ordered.
For forty-three seconds.
Then the warehouse doors opened and smoke poured outside.
A figure staggered through it.
Gabriel.
Bleeding from the shoulder.
I ran to him.
“Sebastian?”
Gabriel grabbed my arm.
“Inside.”
“Where?”
“Carlo took him to the upper floor.”
Then the building shook.
A section of the warehouse roof collapsed.
May you like
And through my earpiece, I heard Sebastian shout one word.
“Claire!”
