Chapter 6 - The City Takes Sides
Dominic survived the second shooting by minutes.
The bullet had passed dangerously close to his lung. The underground doctor worked for nearly two hours while Mara sat outside the room, staring at blood on her hands that was not her husband’s.
Emma slept beside her, curled beneath a blanket.
Voss stood nearby, furious and exhausted.
“The police are searching for Luca,” he said.
“Will they find him?” Mara asked.
“No.”
The honesty did not surprise her.
Luca owned too many people. He had judges, officers, businessmen, and politicians wrapped around his finger. But now he had something else.
Fear.
Mara’s speech had spread across the city. Elias’s original recording was released online. People who had spent years avoiding Dominic Varela’s world were suddenly asking questions about Luca.
By midnight, crowds had gathered outside City Hall demanding an investigation.
By morning, three city officials had resigned.
And by afternoon, Luca struck back.
A video appeared online.
Emma was sitting in the back of a dark van, crying.
Luca’s voice came from behind the camera.
“Bring me the ledger, Mrs. Hayes. Bring it alone. Or your daughter will not see another sunrise.”
Mara’s body went cold.
The warehouse exploded into motion.
“She was with Sofia,” Mara said.
“Sofia is dead,” Voss replied quietly.
Mara could not breathe.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No!”
She turned toward the door, but Voss blocked her.
“Luca wants you to run to him blind.”
“He has my daughter.”
“And he will kill you both if you do exactly what he expects.”
Mara shoved him.
“Move.”
A weak voice came from behind them.
“Let her go.”
Dominic stood in the doorway, pale and unsteady.
“You should be in bed,” Voss said.
“I’ve spent enough time in bed.”
Mara faced him.
“If you tell me to wait, I swear to God—”
“I’m not going to tell you to wait.”
His gaze held hers.
“I’m going with you.”
The exchange site was an unfinished high-rise on the edge of the river. Elias had once worked there. Mara remembered him coming home covered in gray dust, too tired to eat dinner.
Luca had chosen it for a reason.
He wanted her to remember.
Mara carried the ledger in a waterproof bag. Dominic walked beside her despite Voss’s protests, one hand pressed against his healing wound.
“Why are you doing this?” Mara asked as they entered the skeletal building.
“Because Emma is innocent.”
“That isn’t enough.”
Dominic looked at her.
“No,” he said. “It isn’t.”
For a moment, snow blew through the open concrete floors around them.
Then he spoke again.
“Your husband came to me three days before he died. He asked me to get you and Emma out of Blackwater.”
Mara froze.
“You met him?”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him I would handle it.”
“You promised him.”
“I did.”
“And then he died.”
Dominic’s face was full of something worse than guilt.
“I failed him.”
Mara turned away, tears burning her eyes.
“You don’t get to make this about your guilt.”
“I know.”
“Then make it about Emma.”
“I have.”
They reached the top floor.
Emma was tied to a chair near the open edge of the building. Luca stood beside her, gun pressed to her temple.
Mara’s heart shattered.
“Mommy!” Emma cried.
“I’m here, baby,” Mara called. “I’m here.”
Luca smiled at Dominic.
“You came after all.”
“You hurt the girl,” Dominic said, “and there will be nowhere on earth you can hide.”
Luca laughed.
“You still think people fear you more than they fear me?”
“No,” Dominic replied. “I think they fear a man with nothing left to lose.”
Mara stepped forward, holding up the ledger.
“Let Emma go.”
“Throw it here.”
Mara did.
The bag landed at Luca’s feet.
He kicked it open, checked the ledger, and smiled.
Then he raised his gun.
Mara screamed.
But Dominic moved first.
He threw himself between Luca and Emma.
The shot fired.
At the same instant, Voss and his team burst from the stairwell.
Gunfire tore through the floor.
Mara ran toward Emma.
Luca grabbed the child, dragging her toward the edge.
“Stay back!” he shouted.
Emma struggled.
“Let me go!”
Luca slapped her.
Something inside Mara broke.
She picked up a loose steel bar from the floor and swung with every ounce of grief, terror, and rage she had carried since Elias died.
The bar struck Luca’s arm.
His gun flew into the snow.
Emma tore free and ran to Mara.
Luca stumbled backward.
For one second, he stood at the edge of the unfinished floor, staring at Dominic.
Then the concrete beneath him cracked.
Luca fell.
May you like
His scream vanished into the storm below.
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