Chapter 9 - AFTER THE MONSTER WAS CAUGHTEveryone expected Wren to sleep peacefully that night.
TRAITORS ALWAYS GO FIRST.
Autumn read it twice.
Then looked at him.
“You think Vincent took him?”
Dominic said nothing.
Gabriel, still under guard, shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“What?” Dominic asked.
“Dad doesn’t call people traitors unless they belonged to him first.”
The implication landed immediately.
Autumn looked toward the abandoned radio.
“Marco worked for Vincent?”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“Since he was nineteen.”
“That doesn’t mean he still does.”
“No.”
But the doubt had entered the room.
Marco had been Dominic’s closest security adviser for twelve years.
He knew every route.
Every property.
Every emergency protocol.
If he were loyal to Vincent, the nightmare made perfect sense.
If he were not, then Vincent wanted Dominic to believe he was.
Autumn hated how effectively the old man weaponized uncertainty.
“Where would Marco go if he was compromised?” she asked.
Dominic shook his head.
“He wouldn’t run.”
Gabriel gave a bitter laugh.
“You don’t know what people do when Dad threatens somebody they love.”
Dominic turned on him.
“I know what you did.”
Gabriel took the blow without reacting.
Autumn interrupted.
“This is what Vincent wants.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You two tearing each other apart.”
Silence.
Wren emerged from the bedroom.
“Marco wouldn’t hurt me.”
Dominic crouched.
“Why do you say that?”
“He used to check the window.”
“What window?”
“Mine.”
Autumn frowned.
“When?”
“After Mommy died.”
Wren explained.
For months, Marco had quietly inspected her bedroom window every evening.
He told her it was because the latch was loose.
Then one night he stopped.
“Why?”
Wren shrugged.
“He said Uncle Gabriel told him to.”
Gabriel stared.
“I never told him that.”
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
“Then someone impersonated you.”
Autumn felt the pieces shift again.
Vincent had not merely frightened Wren.
He had spent years creating false evidence around multiple people.
An overheard sentence.
A forged instruction.
A photograph.
A voice.
Anything that could turn loyalty into suspicion.
At 11:30 p.m., Marco’s emergency beacon activated.
Location:
The abandoned textile mill.
Exactly where Vincent wanted Dominic to go.
“It’s a trap,” Gabriel said.
“Obviously,” Dominic replied.
“You still going?”
“Yes.”
Autumn crossed her arms.
“Then not alone.”
“He specifically demanded I come alone.”
“That is an excellent reason not to.”
Dominic almost argued.
Then looked toward Wren.
Something in him had changed.
Perhaps he was finally learning that power did not require isolation.
He nodded.
The plan formed quickly.
Dominic would approach visibly.
Gabriel and two teams would enter through the old rail tunnel beneath the mill.
Autumn would remain in the armored command vehicle with Wren.
She hated bringing Wren anywhere near the site.
But leaving her at the mansion felt worse.
At 12:16 a.m., Dominic entered the textile mill carrying a dummy flash drive.
The building was enormous.
Dust.
Broken windows.
Rusted machinery.
A single hanging bulb illuminated the center floor.
Marco sat tied to a chair beneath it.
Alive.
Dominic approached.
“Marco.”
Marco lifted his head.
“Don’t.”
Dominic stopped.
A red light blinked beneath the chair.
Explosive.
Marco whispered:
“Pressure trigger.”
Dominic looked around.
“Where is he?”
“Watching.”
A speaker crackled overhead.
Vincent’s voice filled the mill.
“My sons always did love dramatic entrances.”
Dominic raised his head.
“Show yourself.”
“In time.”
“Let Marco go.”
“He betrayed me.”
“So did Isabelle.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“And you murdered her.”
“I removed a threat.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“You threatened an eight-year-old.”
“I preserved the family.”
“You destroyed it.”
Vincent laughed.
“No, son. You did.”
Screens around the warehouse suddenly illuminated.
Security footage.
Dominic beating a man years ago.
Gabriel handing cash to an official.
Marco disposing of evidence.
Dozens of crimes.
Autumn watched from the command vehicle.
Wren could not see the monitors.
Autumn had turned her seat away.
Vincent continued.
“I kept records too.”
Dominic looked at the screens.
“What do you want?”
“The real drive.”
“It’s somewhere you’ll never find.”
“Then Wren suffers.”
Dominic’s voice changed.
“No.”
One word.
Absolute.
“My daughter is done paying for the sins of this family.”
“Very noble.”
“I’m dismantling it.”
Gabriel, listening through the comms, went still.
Vincent did too.
“What?”
“The operations. The protection networks. The illegal businesses.”
Dominic looked directly toward the main camera.
“You wanted the family preserved. I’m ending the part you built.”
Silence.
Then Vincent’s voice became cold.
“You would destroy your inheritance?”
“I’d burn every dollar before I let Wren become you.”
The hanging light shut off.
Gunfire erupted from the upper catwalk.
Dominic dove behind machinery.
Gabriel’s team entered.
Autumn heard chaos through the comms.
Then the armored vehicle door opened.
A security guard stood there.
“Hurry. We need to move.”
Autumn frowned.
“Who ordered that?”
“Mr. Calloway.”
“Which one?”
The guard hesitated.
Wrong answer.
Autumn slammed the door.
The man grabbed it before it closed.
Wren screamed.
Autumn kicked his wrist.
The door shut.
She locked it.
The guard pulled a gun.
Bulletproof glass stopped the first shot.
Then Autumn realized the engine was still running.
She climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I don’t know how to drive this thing.”
Wren buckled herself.
“Please learn fast.”
Autumn almost laughed despite everything.
She slammed the vehicle into reverse.
The guard jumped aside.
Inside the mill, Dominic heard the shots outside.
“Autumn!”
He abandoned cover and ran toward the exit.
Marco shouted:
“Don’t!”
Dominic stopped just before crossing a thin red laser beam.
Another trap.
Marco strained against the ropes.
“Cut the line beside the left pillar!”
Dominic spotted it.
He shot the mechanism.
The pressure device beneath Marco’s chair deactivated.
Gabriel reached him.
They freed Marco.
“Where’s Vincent?”
Marco pointed upward.
“Office.”
Dominic raced upstairs.
The office door stood open.
Inside sat an old man.
Silver-haired.
Thin.
Elegant.
Alive.
Vincent Calloway turned around.
Father and son looked at each other for the first time in three years.
Dominic said nothing.
Vincent smiled.
“You look tired.”
“You look dead.”
“Reports of my death were useful.”
Dominic stepped inside.
“Why Isabelle?”
Vincent’s smile faded.
“She forgot what family meant.”
“No. She understood better than any of us.”
Vincent reached toward the desk.
Dominic raised his weapon.
“Don’t.”
The old man stopped.
Then looked past Dominic.
Toward Gabriel.
“My cowardly son.”
Gabriel stood in the doorway.
“You threatened my wife.”
“I reminded you of your responsibilities.”
Gabriel raised his weapon.
Vincent smiled.
“You won’t shoot your father.”
Gabriel’s hand trembled.
Vincent was right.
Then Dominic lowered his own gun.
Vincent frowned.
“You’re both weak.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
Police sirens became audible outside.
Vincent’s expression changed.
Autumn had sent the evidence from Isabelle’s drive to three federal contacts listed in her files the moment the attack began.
Dominic continued:
“We’re just finished obeying you.”
Vincent reached for the desk anyway.
A gun appeared in his hand.
Gabriel shouted.
Dominic moved.
A single shot exploded.
Vincent fell.
For one second everyone froze.
Then they saw who had fired.
Marco.
His hands were still bound in front of him.
He had picked up a fallen weapon.
Vincent’s gun slid across the floor.
He was alive.
Wounded in the shoulder.
Federal agents stormed the mill minutes later.
Autumn rushed inside after the building was cleared.
Wren ran toward Dominic.
He caught her.
Held her.
Vincent, handcuffed on a stretcher, saw his granddaughter.
“Wren.”
The child froze.
Dominic turned away from him.
But Wren looked.
Vincent smiled weakly.
“You remember Grandpa.”
Wren’s hand tightened around Dominic’s.
For two years she had believed this man controlled what happened when she spoke.
Now he was surrounded by agents.
Bleeding.
Powerless.
Wren stepped closer.
Autumn almost stopped her.
Dominic allowed it.
Vincent looked pleased.
“Come here.”
Wren stopped several feet away.
Then said:
“You don’t get nine o’clock anymore.”
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
May you like
Wren turned her back.
And walked away.
