Chapter 12 - THE TRADE DOMINIC WANTED
Vincent wanted to send men.
The federal team wanted surveillance.
I wanted my grandmother alive.
For the first time, all three goals collided.
Dominic demanded a meeting at an abandoned freight terminal on the South Side.
Ledger.
Share-transfer documents.
Me.
“No,” Vincent said.
“He asked for me.”
“He wants leverage.”
“He already has leverage.”
Grandma.
I could still see her face on the screen.
Terrified.
Trying not to show it.
Vincent looked at me.
“You walk in there, he controls the room.”
“Then don’t let him control it.”
A plan formed.
Not perfect.
Nothing involving Dominic would be.
The ledger we brought was a duplicate.
The shares could not legally transfer without trustee approval.
Dominic didn’t know that.
Federal agents surrounded the terminal.
Luke volunteered to go inside first.
Vincent refused.
“You’re out.”
“After this.”
“No.”
Luke looked at him.
“Michael asked me to protect Claire.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“So did I.”
In the end, Luke went.
The terminal was dark.
Dominic stood beside Grandma.
No visible weapon.
Two men behind him.
I walked forward holding the documents.
“You look like Elaine,” he said.
I hated hearing Mom’s name from him.
“Let her go.”
“You think ownership papers make you powerful?”
“No.”
“What does?”
I remembered the elevator.
“Knowing what you don’t have permission to take.”
His smile disappeared.
Vincent stepped from the shadows.
Dominic laughed.
“There he is.”
Then everything happened quickly.
One of Dominic’s men moved.
Luke intercepted him.
Agents entered from the east side.
Grandma dropped to the floor exactly as instructed.
Dominic grabbed me.
His forearm locked across my chest.
Vincent stopped.
For one second, we were back in the elevator.
Power.
Fear.
Control.
Dominic whispered:
“Tell them to back off.”
I looked at Vincent.
He looked murderous.
Then I said quietly:
“No.”
Dominic tightened his grip.
Vincent didn’t move.
I drove my heel backward into Dominic’s shin and dropped my weight.
Luke pulled Grandma clear.
Agents rushed.
Dominic went down.
No heroic gunfight.
No dramatic execution.
Just a seventy-year-old man on concrete screaming while federal agents cuffed him.
Vincent stood over him.
Dominic smiled through blood on his lip.
“You won’t let them keep me.”
Vincent stared.
“Why?”
“Because I know what you’ve done too.”
That changed everything.
Vincent went still.
Dominic laughed.
“You think Claire knows who you really are?”
I looked at Vincent.
He didn’t defend himself.
Dominic continued.
“Ask him how many men he buried before he decided he wanted redemption.”
My stomach tightened.
Vincent looked at me.
May you like
Then said the one thing I didn’t expect.
“He’s right.”
