Chapter 3 - The Enemy Who Stayed
The first shot came from Tony.
It struck the light above Carmine’s head, plunging the corridor into flickering darkness.
“Move!” Tony shouted.
Dominic wheeled backward as Tony shoved Nora and Leo toward the pantry door. Carmine’s men fired through the kitchen, bullets punching into steel counters and exploding plates from the racks.
Nora screamed, dragging Leo behind a stainless-steel prep table.
Dominic fired once.
He had not touched a gun since the shooting that put him in the wheelchair. His hand remembered the motion, but his body did not feel like his own anymore. The recoil traveled through his arm and shoulder, sharp enough to make his vision blur.
One of Carmine’s men fell.
Carmine disappeared behind the corridor wall.
“Dominic!” Tony yelled. “The freight elevator!”
Dominic saw it at the far end of the kitchen.
He wheeled toward it, using every ounce of strength in his arms. Nora shoved Leo ahead of her, but the boy stumbled again, his yellow raincoat catching on a broken chair.
A gunman rounded the counter.
He aimed at Nora.
Dominic fired before Tony could.
The man dropped.
Nora looked at Dominic in stunned silence.
“You shot him,” she whispered.
“He was going to shoot you.”
“You could have been hit.”
“I have been hit.”
“Not the point!”
Another bullet struck the wall beside them.
Dominic almost laughed.
Even while running for her life, Nora Bennett had enough nerve to argue with him.
Tony grabbed the elevator gate and forced it open.
“Inside!”
The elevator was meant for banquet supplies, not people. It smelled of grease and damp cardboard. Nora shoved Leo in first. Tony followed. Dominic rolled in backward just as gunfire burst through the kitchen behind them.
The metal gate slammed shut.
Tony hit the button.
Nothing happened.
“Come on,” he muttered.
The elevator shuddered.
Then it began to descend.
Only then did anyone breathe.
Nora crouched in the corner, holding Leo so tightly the boy could barely move. Dominic sat opposite them, his suit jacket streaked with dust and frosting.
Leo looked at him.
“Are you scared?”
Nora pressed her lips together. “Leo, please.”
Dominic’s eyes stayed on the elevator doors.
“Yes,” he said.
Tony glanced at him.
Dominic continued, “Anyone who says they’re never scared is either lying or stupid.”
Leo thought about that.
“Then why do you keep fighting?”
Dominic looked down at the boy.
“Because there are people I don’t want to lose.”
Nora’s gaze flickered.
The elevator stopped hard.
The gate opened into the underground garage.
Tony went first, gun raised. Cars sat in rows beneath fluorescent lights. Most belonged to guests who had never come. At the far end, Dominic’s armored black SUV waited with its engine running.
“Driver?” Dominic asked.
Tony swore under his breath.
The driver was slumped over the steering wheel.
Dead.
A dark pool spread beneath the open door.
Carmine’s message was everywhere.
“No one gets out,” Tony said.
Nora’s voice was thin but steady. “What do we do?”
Dominic scanned the garage.
He knew every exit. He knew the layout of the Whitmore Hotel better than most of its employees because he had held meetings there for fifteen years.
But Carmine knew it too.
Then Dominic saw a small white delivery van near the loading bay. On the side was a faded logo: Bennett’s Bakery.
Nora followed his gaze.
“Oh, no.”
“Does it run?” Dominic asked.
“It barely runs.”
“Good enough.”
“It has no heat, the brakes squeal, and the passenger door only opens from the outside.”
“Still better than dying in a garage.”
Nora stared at him.
“You have a very strange definition of better.”
Tony sprinted to the van and yanked open the driver’s door.
“Keys?”
Nora pointed to her apron pocket.
Tony took them.
Dominic looked at the back of the van, then at his wheelchair.
“You can’t fit,” Nora said.
“I can.”
“It’s a bakery van.”
“It has wheels. I have wheels. We’ll work it out.”
For the first time, Nora looked at him not with irritation but concern.
“You’re injured.”
Dominic’s voice hardened. “Mrs. Bennett, we are out of time.”
Another elevator ding sounded across the garage.
Carmine’s men.
Tony shoved open the rear cargo doors. “Boss, I’ll get you in.”
Nora crouched beside Dominic before Tony could move him.
“What are you doing?” Dominic asked.
“Helping.”
“I didn’t ask—”
“You can fire me from delivering your stupid cake later.”
She grabbed one side of the wheelchair.
Tony grabbed the other.
Together, they lifted Dominic up the narrow ramp into the back of the van. Dominic’s body tensed in humiliation. His legs dragged uselessly beneath him, and he hated the sight of them more than bullets, more than pain.
But Nora did not look away.
She did not pity him.
She simply said, “Watch your shoulder.”
That was all.
Tony climbed into the driver’s seat. Nora jumped in beside him with Leo on her lap. Dominic braced himself against the cargo wall.
Gunfire erupted.
Tony slammed the van into reverse.
The bakery van smashed into a line of parked luxury cars, setting off alarms throughout the garage. The sound became chaos—horns blaring, tires screeching, glass breaking.
Tony spun the wheel.
The van shot through the loading-bay gate just as Carmine’s men opened fire.
A bullet shattered the rear window.
Leo screamed.
Nora twisted around, shielding him.
Dominic raised his weapon and fired through the broken glass until the van disappeared into the snow-covered street.
For ten minutes, nobody spoke.
The city rushed past in white blurs.
Then Nora looked at Tony.
“Where are we going?”
Tony looked into the rearview mirror at Dominic.
“Safe house?”
Dominic stared at the dark streets.
“No.”
Tony frowned. “Boss, Carmine knows all the safe houses.”
“Exactly.”
“Then where?”
Dominic’s eyes settled on Nora.
She stared back, suddenly wary.
“No,” she said.
“You have a place?”
“No.”
“You do.”
“No, I absolutely do not.”
“Nora.”
“You are not bringing armed men, gang wars, dead drivers, and whatever this is to my apartment.”
Dominic’s mouth tightened.
Carmine had already seen her face. He knew her name. He knew she had a son.
There was nowhere safe for her now.
Before Dominic could say it, Tony’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression went grim.
“What?” Dominic demanded.
Tony covered the receiver.
“Carmine’s people are at Nora’s building.”
Nora went pale.
Leo looked up. “Mom?”
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“Where does your son go to school?”
Nora’s eyes widened.
“No.”
“Where?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Nora, Carmine will assume you go there next.”
“He wouldn’t hurt Leo.”
Dominic said nothing.
That silence told her the truth.
Nora’s hands began to shake.
Dominic leaned forward in his wheelchair.
“Listen to me,” he said. “You have every reason to hate me. But right now, your son is in danger because he walked into my ballroom.”
“He walked in because I needed sixty-five dollars.”
“I know.”
“What are you going to do?”
Dominic looked at Tony.
Then he looked back at Nora.
May you like
“I’m going to make sure Carmine learns the cost of putting your child in his war.”
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