Chapter 5 - The Empire on Fire
Vale Tower rose sixty-eight stories above the Chicago River.
By the time Dominic reached downtown, flames were visible behind the executive-floor windows.
Marcus had not chosen the building because it was strategically useful.
He chose it because it carried Dominic’s name.
Every news helicopter in the city circled overhead.
Television stations reported that a violent internal dispute had erupted within the Vale organization.
Marcus had released edited security footage showing Dominic carrying Elena from the cellar.
The recording had been cut to make it appear that Dominic had imprisoned her.
A second video showed federal agents entering Union Station after Dominic arrived with Sophie.
Online commentators claimed the mafia boss had abducted a maid’s child and triggered a downtown attack.
Marcus was not only destroying the building.
He was writing the public story.
Agent Bell stopped Dominic near the command post.
“You are not entering.”
“My offices contain the original corporate servers.”
“The fire department is handling it.”
“The servers hold employee records, pension accounts, and evidence connected to Marcus.”
“We already have Rebecca’s drive.”
“Not everything.”
Claire approached wearing a borrowed FBI jacket.
“My father’s companies are connected to the Vale accounts. If Marcus destroys the servers, thousands of employees could lose access to payroll and retirement funds.”
Bell looked toward the burning tower.
“Is anyone still inside?”
Aaron called from the estate.
“Night cleaning crew. Eleven people. The evacuation system has been disabled above the fifty-sixth floor.”
Dominic looked at Bell.
“Marcus made this a rescue.”
She swore under her breath.
Firefighters entered from the main lobby while tactical officers secured the stairwells.
Dominic provided building codes and hidden access routes.
The executive elevator had been locked on the sixty-second floor.
Marcus wanted Dominic to climb through the smoke toward him.
Dominic did not.
He entered the adjacent hotel through an underground passage and reached Vale Tower’s upper service levels from a shared mechanical bridge.
Claire followed before anyone could stop her.
“You should be with your father’s attorneys,” Dominic said.
“My father tried to turn me into a widow before I became a bride.”
“You do not owe me this.”
“I’m not doing it for you.”
She held up a key card.
“I designed the tower’s wedding-reception lighting plan. I know the service floors better than your guards.”
They found the cleaning crew trapped inside a conference room.
Smoke had filled the hallway, but the room’s seals held.
Dominic and Claire guided them toward the mechanical bridge.
An older cleaner recognized Dominic.
“Are you the one who locked us in?”
“No.”
“Then prove it by getting Rosa out.”
Her coworker had gone to the restroom before the alarms failed.
Dominic returned through the smoke.
Claire followed until he ordered her to remain with the survivors.
He found Rosa unconscious beside the elevator.
He carried her through the service corridor while burning insulation fell from the ceiling.
The rescue was recorded by a firefighter’s body camera.
By morning, the edited kidnapping story had collapsed.
The city saw Dominic Vale carrying a sixty-year-old cleaner through smoke while Marcus Reed watched from the roof.
Marcus had arranged a helicopter.
It hovered above the tower, unable to land because of the wind.
Dominic reached the rooftop access door.
Marcus stood near the edge with the server backup drive in one hand.
The silver ring gleamed beneath the emergency lights.
“You always arrive for the dramatic moment,” Marcus said.
“You trained me.”
“I trained you to win.”
“You trained me to mistake survival for victory.”
Sirens filled the streets below.
Marcus looked toward the river.
“Rebecca would have destroyed you.”
“She tried to save me.”
“She wanted you legitimate. Weak. Surrounded by laws written by men who hate you.”
“She wanted me human.”
Marcus laughed.
“You believe carrying one maid from a cellar cleans your hands?”
“No.”
Dominic stepped onto the roof.
“That is why I gave the FBI everything.”
Marcus’s smile vanished.
“The accounts?”
“All of them.”
“You surrendered the empire?”
“I surrendered the lie.”
Marcus lifted the drive.
“This contains enough to rebuild.”
“Then keep it.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“It is worthless without people willing to fear you.”
Marcus moved closer to the edge.
“You would choose prison?”
“I would choose Sophie never having to run barefoot through rain because every adult in my house was afraid to question my friend.”
Marcus stared at him.
“You became sentimental.”
“I became responsible.”
The helicopter made another approach.
Marcus raised one arm.
Before it could descend, federal aircraft appeared over the river.
The pilot pulled away.
Marcus looked toward the stairwell.
Agent Bell and her team had reached the roof.
There was nowhere left to go.
He held the backup drive over the edge.
“Take one more step and the evidence disappears.”
Bell almost smiled.
“We copied the server remotely eight minutes ago.”
Claire appeared behind her.
“I restored the emergency network from the hotel bridge.”
Marcus’s face twisted.
“You.”
Claire looked at him.
“You built your plan around women being too frightened to act.”
Marcus crushed the drive beneath his shoe.
Then he rushed toward the roof’s maintenance platform.
Dominic intercepted him.
The two men struck the concrete.
For years, Marcus had known every way Dominic fought.
He anticipated the first movement.
The second.
The third.
Dominic stopped fighting like the man Marcus had trained.
He stepped back.
Agent Bell fired a restraint device.
Marcus fell before reaching the edge.
Officers handcuffed him.
He looked up at Dominic.
“I made you.”
Dominic stood over him.
“No.”
“My father made me afraid.”
“Rebecca made me question.”
May you like
“Elena made me listen.”
“And Sophie made me come home.”
