Chapter 13 - THE NIGHT THE ESTATE FELL
The first explosion hit the west gate.
The ground shook.
Harper screamed.
Dominic grabbed her.
“Daniel, move Mia and Harper to the vehicles!”
“No!” Mia shouted.
“Go!”
Daniel pulled them toward the woods.
Gunfire erupted across the property.
The Morettis had waited years for this.
Nathan had weakened Dominic’s security.
Turned captains.
Emptied accounts.
Mapped exits.
Now they were coming to finish what he started.
Dominic looked at Nathan.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Dominic pointed his gun at Nathan’s chest.
“Call them off.”
“They don’t work for me anymore.”
“Then who?”
Nathan smiled.
“Luca Moretti.”
Vincent, barely conscious, looked up.
“Luca died four years ago.”
Nathan’s smile widened.
“No.”
A voice came through Dominic’s radio.
“This is Vale?”
Dominic pressed the button.
“Who is this?”
“Luca Moretti.”
Dominic looked at Nathan.
The bastard had told the truth.
Luca continued.
“Give me Cross and the old ledgers.”
“What do you want with them?”
“My father spent his life believing the Vales murdered Edward Cross.”
Dominic frowned.
“You know that isn’t true.”
“I do now.”
“Then why attack?”
“Because your organization is weak.”
Luca laughed.
“And I am not sentimental.”
Dominic looked at the estate.
Men were fighting near the fountain.
Flames climbed from the guardhouse.
This was not about old revenge anymore.
It was opportunity.
Dominic understood opportunity.
“Luca.”
“Yes?”
“You brought your whole force to my front gate.”
“Enough of it.”
“That means your own houses are empty.”
Silence.
Dominic smiled.
“You always were arrogant.”
Nathan stared at him.
“What did you do?”
Dominic looked at Daniel.
Daniel smiled.
Hours earlier, before approaching the chapel, Dominic had made one quiet call to three crews Luca Moretti had cheated in recent years.
Insurance.
Luca’s voice changed.
“You’re bluffing.”
Dominic heard another voice shouting in Luca’s background.
Then another.
Luca disconnected.
Minutes later, half the attacking vehicles began retreating.
Nathan stared.
“You planned that?”
Dominic looked at him.
“No.”
He smiled.
“I adapted.”
The remaining Moretti gunmen were quickly surrounded by Dominic’s reinforcements.
Within fifteen minutes, the estate became quiet.
Sirens approached from the county road.
Not police Nathan owned.
Federal agents.
Claire stared.
“You called the FBI?”
Dominic looked at the Cross file.
“Nathan spent years buying local officials.”
“So you trusted the federal government?”
“No.”
Dominic handed Daniel the file.
“I trusted evidence.”
Nathan struggled to stand.
“No.”
Dominic watched him.
Nathan’s empire of lies was collapsing.
“You’re finished.”
Nathan suddenly lunged toward Daniel.
He grabbed Daniel’s backup gun.
Mia screamed.
Nathan spun toward Dominic.
Harper ran into the clearing at the worst possible moment.
“Dominic!”
Nathan fired.
May you like
Dominic moved.
The bullet struck flesh.
