Chapter 10 - Secrets in the Scars
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The dial tone echoed endlessly in the quiet penthouse. Chloe collapsed to her knees on the expensive rug, sobbing uncontrollably. Tommy was alive, but he was in the hands of a monster.
“We have to go,” Chloe cried, grabbing the fabric of Dominic’s suit pants. “We have to make the trade. Please, Dominic! He’s going to kill him!”
Dominic looked down at her, his jaw locked in tight, furious tension. He gently grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up to her feet.
“Listen to me very carefully, Chloe,” Dominic said, his voice a harsh, grounding reality. “If I hand you over to Victor Volkov at sunrise, he is not going to let Tommy go. He is going to torture you in front of your brother until Tommy gives up the location of the drives. And then, he is going to execute both of you.”
“So we just let him die?!” she screamed, pushing violently against his chest. “I am not a piece of leverage! He’s my brother!”
Dominic didn't flinch as she struck him. He caught her wrists, his grip firm but completely devoid of violence. He pulled her close, forcing her to look into his eyes.
“I am not going to let your brother die,” Dominic swore, a dark, terrifying vow. “But I am not trading you to do it. Victor thinks I am a businessman. He thinks I will negotiate. He is wrong. I am going to rip his heart out of his chest.”
Chloe stopped struggling, staring at the raw, unfiltered violence burning in Dominic’s dark eyes.
“Why do you care?” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. “Why are you doing this for me? You could just walk away. You have your money. You have your club. Why risk it all?”
Dominic let go of her wrists. He stepped back, reaching up to touch the faint, jagged scar cutting through his left eyebrow.
“Because fifteen years ago, Victor Volkov ordered a hit on my father,” Dominic said, his voice dropping into a hollow, empty void. “My father owed him money. Victor didn't just kill him. He made my mother and I watch. I got this scar fighting the men who pulled the trigger. I was twenty-three.”
Chloe gasped, the terrifying truth of the Boston underworld suddenly clicking into place. This wasn't about an encrypted ledger. It was about a blood feud that had been boiling in the shadows for a decade and a half.
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“You've been waiting for this,” she realized, stepping back. “You wanted him to start a war.”
“I have been waiting for Victor to make a mistake,” Dominic corrected smoothly. “Tommy stealing that ledger was the mistake. It made Victor desperate. And desperate men are easy to kill. Get some sleep, Chloe. At sunrise, we are going hunting.”
