Chapter 7 - THE WAR THAT ALMOST BEGANRoman hit the first gunman before the man could aim.
A second shot shattered a warehouse light.
Darkness and strobing headlights filled the dock.
Rachel ran toward Lily.
“Mommy!”
Dominic grabbed the child.
Roman saw it.
“Dominic!”
The older man dragged Lily toward the speedboat.
Rachel chased him.
Roman fired once at the engine.
The bullet struck metal.
Dominic ducked.
Daniel and Calder men poured through the side entrance.
Hart vehicles blocked the waterfront.
For the first time in decades, armed members of both organizations were fighting on the same side.
Not for territory.
For a three-year-old girl.
Dominic pulled Lily onto the boat.
Rachel reached the edge of the dock.
“Give her to me!”
Dominic pointed a gun at Lily.
Everything stopped.
Roman raised his weapon.
Dominic smiled.
“You’ve always had terrible timing.”
Roman’s finger tightened near the trigger.
Lily was too close.
One bad movement would end everything.
Rachel stepped in front of Roman.
“Move,” he whispered.
“No.”
“Rachel.”
She faced Dominic.
“You don’t want Lily.”
“No.”
“You want the documents.”
“Yes.”
“The real box is gone.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Rachel smiled through tears.
“You thought Roman would bring the only copy?”
Dominic looked toward the metal box lying on the floor.
“The originals?”
“Some.”
Roman understood what Rachel was doing.
Keeping him talking.
Buying Daniel time to circle the dock.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“What did you send?”
“Everything.”
“To whom?”
“Federal investigators.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
Martin stepped out from behind a truck.
“And me.”
Dominic turned.
Martin held a gun at his side.
“You,” Dominic said.
Martin’s expression was exhausted.
“You killed my brother.”
“Your father ordered it.”
“And you made money from it.”
“We all made money.”
Martin shook his head.
“No.”
“You really want to pretend innocence now?”
Martin’s face hardened.
“I’m not innocent.”
That surprised everyone.
Martin continued.
“I spent forty years doing things that deserve judgment. But Andrew was my brother.”
Dominic laughed.
“And what was Roman’s father to me? Family means nothing when power is involved.”
Roman said, “That’s why you lost.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You think this is losing?”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Dominic’s eyes changed.
Federal agents.
State police.
Perhaps both.
Rachel had not been bluffing.
The evidence was already moving through channels even Dominic could not fully control.
Dominic looked at Lily.
Then toward the open harbor.
Roman saw the calculation.
“No.”
Dominic started the boat.
Rachel screamed.
The engine coughed.
Roman’s bullet had damaged it.
It sputtered.
Dominic cursed.
Daniel emerged on the opposite dock.
“No way out!”
Dominic pointed his gun at Daniel.
Roman fired.
The bullet struck Dominic’s shoulder.
He fell backward.
Lily tumbled onto the deck.
Rachel jumped.
Roman shouted her name as she leaped from the dock to the boat.
She landed hard.
Crawled.
Reached Lily.
Dominic tried to rise.
Rachel pulled her daughter beneath her body.
Roman jumped onto the boat.
Dominic raised his weapon.
Roman kicked it into the water.
Then he grabbed his uncle by the coat.
Thirty years of grief surged through him.
His mother.
His father.
Andrew Hart.
Rachel’s mother.
Every dead man whose funeral Dominic had attended while pretending sorrow.
Roman pulled him close.
“You sat beside me at my mother’s funeral.”
Dominic smiled through blood.
“She was weak.”
Roman hit him.
Once.
Dominic collapsed.
Roman raised his fist again.
Rachel’s voice stopped him.
“Roman.”
He looked back.
She held Lily against her chest.
The child was sobbing.
She could see him.
Roman lowered his hand.
That mattered.
More than revenge.
He stepped away.
Daniel boarded the boat and handcuffed Dominic.
Federal agents arrived minutes later.
Martin Hart stood silently as Dominic was carried away.
But the danger had not ended.
One of Martin’s men approached.
“Sir.”
Martin turned.
The man whispered something.
Martin’s expression darkened.
Roman noticed.
“What?”
Martin looked toward the road.
“Evelyn is gone.”
Rachel froze.
Roman stared.
“How?”
“She left your estate before the security lockdown fully expanded.”
Daniel cursed.
Roman called the house.
The guard captain confirmed it.
Evelyn had manipulated a junior employee into unlocking a side garage, claiming Martin had ordered her release.
She had taken a car.
Roman looked toward Rachel.
“Where would she go?”
Rachel shook her head.
Martin answered.
“My father’s old house.”
Roman frowned.
“The one that burned?”
“No.”
Martin looked embarrassed.
“His second house. The one nobody outside the family uses.”
“Where?”
“North Stonington.”
Rachel clutched Lily.
“Why would she go there?”
Martin looked at the evidence box.
“Because if Dominic was protecting anything else for my father, it would be there.”
Roman’s phone rang.
Unknown number again.
He answered.
Evelyn’s voice came through.
“You ruined everything.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“Evelyn.”
“You embarrassed me.”
“You kidnapped no one. You can still walk away from this.”
She laughed.
“You think I care about walking away?”
Martin reached for the phone.
Roman put it on speaker.
“Evelyn,” Martin said.
Silence.
Then her voice changed.
“Daddy.”
Martin swallowed.
“Come home.”
“You chose her.”
He looked at Rachel.
“I chose the truth.”
“No. You chose Uncle Andrew’s ghost.”
Martin closed his eyes.
Evelyn continued.
“You always loved him more.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Yes, it is.”
Roman realized the problem.
This was no longer about Dominic’s conspiracy.
This was a daughter who had spent her entire life believing power was love.
Evelyn’s voice became colder.
“There’s another ledger.”
Roman looked at Martin.
“What?”
Evelyn laughed.
“Grandfather kept insurance on everyone.”
Martin went pale.
“Where?”
“At the house.”
Rachel stared.
Evelyn continued.
“It proves Martin Hart ordered the death of Roman Calder’s father.”
Silence.
Roman slowly turned toward Martin.
Martin’s face went blank.
Rachel held Lily tighter.
Evelyn whispered.
“That’s the truth you wanted, Daddy.”
Then she ended the call.
Every Calder man in the warehouse looked at Martin Hart.
Every Hart man looked back.
Hands moved toward weapons.
Twenty years of hatred rushed into one room.
Roman stared at Martin.
“Did you kill my father?”
May you like
Martin said nothing.
The war Evelyn wanted was suddenly one answer away.
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