Chapter 12 - THE MAN WITH THE RIFLE
No one moved.
Thomas Hayes looked too frail to have climbed a staircase without assistance.
Yet six months earlier he had apparently put a bullet through Vincent’s spine.
Vincent stared at the old man’s hands.
Steady.
No tremor.
“You.”
he said.
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
Lauren stepped forward.
“Dad.”
“Stay where you are.”
She stopped.
Her face looked younger.
Not twenty-seven.
Nineteen.
A daughter seeing the father she had lost.
Adrian looked furious.
“You said you weren’t coming.”
Thomas ignored him.
Vincent’s eyes went to Gabriel.
“You were at the restaurant too.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Vincent looked toward the third man.
The one wearing Salvatore’s ring.
“Who are you?”
The man stepped into better light.
Similar height.
Similar face.
Not identical.
Vincent understood.
“A cousin?”
Thomas smiled.
“Salvatore’s half brother.”
Dominic stared.
“We have another uncle?”
The man answered.
“Anthony Corvino.”
Vincent searched his memory.
His grandfather had fathered children outside his marriage.
Old rumors.
Nothing confirmed.
“Why wear the ring?”
Anthony lifted his hand.
“Because Salvatore gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
Vincent’s chest tightened.
“Why?”
“So Black Crown would believe he remained active.”
Matteo laughed bitterly from the chair.
“This family needs a chart.”
Nobody smiled.
Vincent looked back at Thomas.
“Why shoot me?”
Thomas studied him.
“Because I made a mistake.”
Vincent felt cold.
“That’s your explanation?”
“I thought you had become your father.”
“You shot me because of something you thought?”
“I watched you for years.”
Thomas said.
“Companies.”
“Contracts.”
“People afraid to say no.”
“You built exactly what Salvatore built.”
Vincent’s voice hardened.
“Business.”
“Fear.”
Thomas corrected.
“Same currency your father used.”
Vincent thought of his own reputation.
The rooms that silenced when he entered.
Men who stood before he sat.
He had once taken pride in it.
Now the memory felt different.
Thomas continued.
“I learned Black Crown was waking.”
“I believed you had activated it.”
“So you decided to kill me.”
“Yes.”
“You’re admitting this in front of your children.”
Thomas glanced at Lauren.
Pain crossed his face.
“I regret what happened.”
Vincent laughed once.
“You regret missing?”
“I regret what the bullet did.”
Vincent gripped his wheelchair.
“Interesting distinction.”
Thomas lowered the gun slightly.
“I aimed to kill you cleanly.”
Tessa inhaled sharply.
Vincent’s expression became ice.
“Thank you for the craftsmanship.”
Lauren stepped between them.
“Dad, stop.”
Thomas looked at her.
“You should never have gotten close to him.”
“I know.”
“You compromised everything.”
“I know.”
“And now you’re protecting him.”
Lauren’s voice steadied.
“Yes.”
Thomas looked disappointed.
That hurt Lauren more than anger would have.
Vincent saw it.
Adrian spoke.
“This ends tonight.”
Thomas finally looked at his son.
“Yes.”
“You open Black Crown.”
“You erase everything.”
Vincent asked, “Why need us?”
Thomas answered.
“Because Salvatore changed the system before he died.”
“Three biological successors.”
“Hayes encryption.”
“Physical seal.”
“We have the key.”
He looked at Lauren.
“We have the seal.”
Anthony raised the ring.
“And we have all three successors.”
Matteo laughed.
“Tied to a chair.”
Dominic said, “You’re welcome.”
Vincent stared at Thomas.
“If you wanted to erase it, why all the games?”
“I didn’t leave clues under your mattress.”
“Then who did?”
Thomas looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel finally spoke.
“I did.”
Vincent stared.
“The receipt?”
“Yes.”
“The photograph?”
“Yes.”
“The phone?”
“Yes.”
“You told me not to trust Dominic.”
“I told you someone wanted you not to trust Dominic.”
“That isn’t what the message said.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“Limited characters.”
Vincent did not.
“Why?”
“To force you to investigate.”
“You could have walked into my house.”
“Marco would have shot me.”
Marco probably would have.
“Why fake Dominic’s involvement?”
Gabriel frowned.
“I didn’t.”
Vincent looked toward Thomas.
Thomas shook his head.
“Neither did I.”
Everyone went quiet.
There was still another player.
The fabricated shooter video.
The photograph saying the wrong brother was shot.
The attack on Dominic.
The bug under the mattress.
Someone had manipulated every faction.
Vincent’s eyes moved slowly around the room.
Thomas.
Gabriel.
Anthony.
Adrian.
Lauren.
Matteo.
Dominic.
Tessa.
Then he realized who was missing.
“Calder.”
Thomas’s expression changed.
Vincent saw it.
“Arthur Calder.”
he said.
Gabriel cursed.
Adrian looked toward the tunnel.
Thomas raised his gun.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Then Calder’s voice filled the chamber.
“Finally.”
Vincent almost laughed.
“You survived.”
Calder answered.
“Barely.”
“You’re bleeding in Matteo’s underground clinic.”
“Was.”
Matteo looked furious.
“How did you get out?”
Calder ignored him.
“I’ve spent twenty-six years watching Corvinos and Hayeses hide money beneath Chicago like medieval kings.”
Vincent looked toward the camera.
“And you want the crown.”
“I want what I earned.”
Thomas shouted, “You earned nothing.”
Calder laughed.
“I built the political cover that kept your system alive.”
“I moved zoning.”
“Judges.”
“City contracts.”
“Union votes.”
“While Salvatore played emperor and you played accountant.”
Vincent understood.
Calder had known Black Crown from the beginning.
Maybe not full access.
Enough.
“You ordered the attack on Dominic.”
“Yes.”
“The fake footage.”
“Yes.”
“The bug.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To push all successors into one place.”
The chamber locked.
Steel doors slammed shut.
Matteo cursed.
Calder continued.
“Thank you for gathering.”
Vincent’s stomach tightened.
“He wants all three.”
Lauren whispered.
Calder confirmed it.
“If every successor dies before a transfer completes, Black Crown enters emergency trustee mode.”
Thomas went pale.
“No.”
Calder laughed softly.
“Yes.”
“And guess whose shell corporation became trustee in 2009?”
Thomas lunged toward the console.
Nothing responded.
Calder continued.
“Mine.”
Vincent looked at the room.
“You brought us here to die.”
“Yes.”
Gas began hissing from vents overhead.
Tessa looked up.
“Oh God.”
Adrian ran toward the door.
Locked.
Dominic pulled his shirt over his mouth.
Matteo struggled against the chair.
Vincent watched white vapor spread from the ceiling.
Thomas shouted toward the camera.
“You’ll never open the final partition.”
Calder replied.
“I don’t need to.”
“Once you’re all dead, Black Crown opens itself.”
Tessa coughed.
Vincent looked at the floor.
Old building.
Old ventilation.
Old drainage.
His father’s voice returned from childhood.
Never trust a building with only one exit.
Salvatore had built this chamber.
Which meant there would be another exit.
Vincent looked toward the old wooden desk.
It sat on a slightly raised platform.
“Dominic.”
His brother coughed.
“What?”
“Move the desk.”
They pushed.
Nothing.
Vincent looked at Tessa.
“Underneath.”
Tessa dropped to her knees.
She felt along the platform.
“There.”
A metal latch.
She pulled.
A narrow hatch opened.
Dark stairs descended.
Gabriel released Matteo.
Lauren grabbed Vincent’s chair.
“We can’t get him down that.”
Vincent looked.
Stairs.
Steep.
No ramp.
For six months stairs had become walls.
Calder had probably counted on that.
Vincent looked at Tessa.
“Transfer me.”
Her eyes widened.
“Onto what?”
“Your back.”
“No.”
“You’ve got a better idea?”
“I’ll carry you.”
Dominic said.
Vincent looked at his brother.
Dominic crouched.
“You carried me out of Lake Geneva when I broke my ankle.”
“You were seventeen.”
“You still complained.”
Vincent almost smiled.
Then the gas thickened.
“Do it.”
Dominic lifted him.
Vincent locked his arms around his brother’s shoulders.
For one humiliating second he hated needing this.
Then Dominic whispered, “I’ve got you.”
And something in Vincent finally released.
Needing someone was not the same as becoming less than them.
They descended.
Tessa carried the folded wheelchair.
Lauren followed.
Thomas and Gabriel came behind.
Anthony supported Matteo.
Adrian closed the hatch.
They reached a tunnel.
Fresh air.
Dominic lowered Vincent onto the concrete.
Tessa rebuilt the chair.
Vincent transferred back into it.
He looked toward his brother.
“Thank you.”
Dominic blinked.
Vincent rarely said it.
“Don’t get emotional.”
Dominic muttered.
“I’ll tell everyone.”
The tunnel opened toward the river.
Before they could move, a phone began ringing.
Not Vincent’s.
Thomas’s.
He answered.
Calder.
“You always were difficult to kill.”
Thomas said nothing.
Calder continued.
“But your daughter isn’t.”
Lauren froze.
The call switched to video.
A hospital room appeared.
Maya’s room.
A man stood beside her bed.
Holding a syringe.
Tessa screamed her sister’s name.
Calder’s voice became calm.
“Bring me the ring.”
“And Vincent.”
“Or the nurse dies.”
Vincent looked at Tessa.
Her face collapsed.
Calder had found the only leverage stronger than Black Crown.
May you like
And this time, they had less than an hour.
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