Chapter 6 - The Terms of Surrender
Volkov wheezed, his feet dangling inches off the ground, looking into Dante's storm-gray eyes with pure, unadulterated terror.
"Calvetti...!" Volkov gasped, his face turning purple. "This is sovereign Russian territory! You have broken our non-aggression treaty!"
"Your treaty was void the moment you planned to detonate explosives over a basement housing six innocent children," Dante said, his voice dropping into an ice-cold register that froze the blood in Volkov’s veins.
"Children...?" Volkov stammered in panic. "I didn't know there were children down there! It was just real estate!"
"In my city, ignorance is no defense for cruelty," Dante replied.
Dante dropped Volkov to the floor, where the Russian boss coughed and gasped for air on his knees.
Vincent stepped forward, placing a sealed federal legal docket on a wooden crate.
"Inside is a full surrender of all maritime shipping licenses, property titles along the South Side riverfront, and an irrevocable transfer of the 44th Street parcel to the Ruth Foster Youth Endowment," Dante commanded. "Sign the transfer documents, Volkov, or my men hand you directly to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Organized Crime Division, who are waiting outside with twenty-four counts of international arms trafficking."
Volkov looked from Dante’s lethal, unyielding face to the flashing red and blue lights reflecting against the warehouse windows.
With shaking, ink-stained fingers, Volkov signed every single page, completely surrendering his entire Chicago empire in less than three minutes.
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"Get him out of my sight," Dante ordered. "If he is seen within fifty miles of Cook County after sunrise, put him in the ground."
As federal marshals dragged Volkov into the pouring rain, Dante turned his back on the docks, walking toward his waiting SUV, eager to return to the only sanctuary that mattered.
