Chapter 5 - THE SEVEN MEN OF CHICAGOThe first shot struck the wall.
Dominic hit Mia so hard they both crashed behind a medical cart.
The second shot shattered a monitor.
Nurses screamed.
Marcus slammed the gunman's arm against the glass, and the pistol slid across the floor.
The attacker reached for a knife.
Marcus broke his wrist.
The sound was sickening.
Dominic didn't care.
He covered Mia with his body while hospital security rushed into the room.
Anthony's alarms erupted.
"Get him out!" a nurse shouted.
Dominic was forced into the hallway.
Doctors surrounded Anthony.
Mia's face had gone white.
"Your brother said I'm the target."
"I heard him."
"Why?"
Dominic looked at the restrained attacker.
"We'll ask."
The gunman smiled.
It made Dominic uneasy.
Men facing Dominic rarely smiled unless they believed they had nothing left to lose.
The attacker bit down.
Marcus saw it first.
"Stop him!"
Too late.
The man's body convulsed.
Poison capsule.
Within twenty seconds, he was unconscious.
He died before the crash cart arrived.
Mia stared.
"What kind of people are these?"
Dominic looked through the glass at his brother.
"People who've had thirty years to make themselves untouchable."
Anthony stabilized.
But doctors sedated him again.
They would get no more answers for hours.
Dominic moved everyone to another secure property.
This time, he chose a high-rise office suite whose existence wasn't tied to Moretti Holdings.
Mia watched Chicago through tinted windows.
"You knew about the Seven?"
"Not really."
"But you'd heard the name."
"Once."
"When?"
"My father's funeral."
Dominic remembered it clearly now.
Seven men.
Vittorio Moretti's inner circle.
Salvatore.
Judge Raymond Cole.
Police Deputy Superintendent Harold Brennan.
Banking executive William Straus.
Developer Edmund Pike.
Union attorney Victor Lennox.
And Senator Charles Avery.
Some were retired.
Two were supposedly dead.
All had been powerful.
Marcus built profiles.
"These men touched every part of Calder Maritime's collapse."
One approved emergency receivership.
One handled the fraudulent loans.
One buried police evidence.
One purchased Calder assets through a shell corporation.
One controlled port contracts.
One dismissed a lawsuit.
Salvatore coordinated them.
Mia stared at the screen.
"My parents never had a chance."
"No," Dominic said.
She looked at him.
"You inherited all of it."
There was no accusation in her voice.
That was worse.
"Yes."
"What happens if the truth comes out?"
"Moretti Holdings could lose billions."
"And you?"
"I lose whatever the courts decide wasn't ours."
She studied him.
"You say that easily."
"It's money."
She almost laughed.
"People like you always say that after they already have enough."
Dominic accepted the criticism.
"You're right."
Mia turned back toward the window.
"What did you think when you found me?"
"That you kidnapped Leo."
"And now?"
Dominic hesitated.
"Now I think you kept him alive."
"That's not what I asked."
He knew.
What did he think of her?
He thought she was reckless.
Angry.
Brave.
Infuriating.
And carrying almost thirty years of grief generated by his family.
"I think you're the only person in this situation who hasn't lied to me."
Mia looked at him.
"Yet."
The word lingered.
Marcus interrupted.
"We found the second drive."
Everyone turned.
"Where?"
"We didn't. Someone accessed its cloud mirror."
Helena had not known Anthony built an automatic backup.
At 3:17 a.m., files were uploaded from the drive.
The connection came from a private airfield outside Aurora.
Salvatore.
"He has the evidence," Mia said.
"Why upload it?" Dominic asked.
Marcus thought.
"Maybe he didn't know it automatically mirrored."
"Can we access it?"
"Anthony's account requires a biometric authorization."
Dominic's eyes moved toward the hospital.
"His fingerprint?"
"Not enough. Facial."
Mia frowned.
"Then we wait until he wakes up."
Marcus shook his head.
"There's another problem."
He displayed a message.
CALDER ARCHIVE PURGE — 11 HOURS 42 MINUTES
Mia stared.
"What does that mean?"
"Anthony set a dead-man protocol. If he doesn't authenticate regularly, the encrypted copy permanently deletes itself."
"Why would he do that?"
"So nobody could torture him for the password," Dominic said.
Marcus nodded.
"If he dies, the evidence goes with him."
The room became silent.
Anthony was unconscious.
The Seven were hunting Mia.
Salvatore possessed the physical drive.
And in less than twelve hours, their only backup would disappear.
Then Dominic received a text.
Unknown number.
YOU WANT THE SECOND DRIVE? NAVY PIER. 8 PM. COME ALONE. BRING MIA CALDER.
Mia read it.
"Absolutely not."
Dominic almost smiled.
"I was about to say the same thing."
"It's me they want."
"Which is why you're not going."
"If we don't get that drive—"
"We don't need it."
"Your brother may not wake up."
"He will."
"You don't know that."
Neither spoke.
Mia stepped closer.
"If my parents died because everyone around them was too afraid to confront Salvatore, I'm not repeating that mistake."
"This isn't bravery. It's suicide."
"You don't get to decide that."
"Until you've stopped bleeding through Kessler's stitches, I do."
Her eyes flashed.
"You're impossible."
"So I've heard."
She stormed out.
Marcus waited.
Then said, "You like her."
Dominic looked at him as if he had suggested tap dancing.
"Find Salvatore."
"That wasn't a denial."
"Marcus."
"Finding Salvatore."
At seven that evening, Dominic entered Navy Pier alone.
At least, that was what Salvatore's surveillance would see.
Marcus had positioned teams across nearby buildings using private security contractors selected personally outside the Moretti network.
Mia remained somewhere Salvatore could not trace.
Or so Dominic believed.
At 7:58, his phone rang.
Salvatore.
"Always punctual."
"Where are you?"
"Close."
"Show yourself."
"Where's the girl?"
"Safe."
Salvatore laughed.
"You were always too sentimental, Dominic."
"Funny. Father said the opposite."
"Your father didn't understand you."
"And you did?"
"I understand what you are."
Dominic scanned the crowd.
Tourists walked beneath evening lights.
Children ate ice cream.
Couples took photographs.
Somewhere among them, his uncle watched him.
"You think you're different from Vittorio," Salvatore said.
"I know I am."
"No. You simply haven't been given the right reason yet."
"Try me."
Salvatore's voice became colder.
"Hand me Mia Calder, or I'll kill Leo."
Dominic's heartbeat stopped.
"Leo isn't with you."
"No?"
A photograph appeared on Dominic's phone.
Ruth's living room.
Empty crib.
Dominic couldn't breathe.
He called Ruth.
No answer.
"Where is he?"
Salvatore laughed softly.
"Blood always finds its way home."
Dominic's composure shattered.
"If you hurt that child—"
"There he is."
"What?"
"The real Dominic."
Salvatore sounded pleased.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Dominic began walking toward the exit.
"You have thirty seconds to tell me where he is."
"Or?"
"You know the answer."
"Burn Chicago down?"
"No."
Dominic entered the parking structure.
"I'll burn everything with your name on it."
Salvatore's voice lost its amusement.
"Bring Mia to the old Calder terminal."
Dominic stopped.
"What terminal?"
"Ask her."
The call disconnected.
Dominic contacted Marcus.
"Leo's gone."
"What?"
"Get to Ruth."
Dominic dialed Mia.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
A horrible realization hit him.
He checked the location tracker Marcus had placed inside Mia's temporary phone.
The signal was moving south.
Toward the river.
Dominic called Marcus.
"Where's Mia?"
"I thought she was with Kessler."
"She's not."
Dominic accelerated.
"She's going to the Calder terminal."
"Alone?"
"Apparently."
Marcus swore.
Dominic drove ninety miles per hour through Chicago traffic.
Twenty minutes later, he reached an abandoned freight terminal near the Calumet River.
Huge warehouses stood like skeletons against the dark.
He found Mia's car.
Empty.
Inside the main warehouse, one overhead light burned.
Mia stood beneath it.
Alone.
"Mia!"
She turned.
"You shouldn't be here."
"That's my line."
"I received a message."
"So did I."
Her expression changed.
"What?"
"Salvatore has Leo."
The blood drained from her face.
"No."
A slow clap echoed through the warehouse.
Dominic turned.
Salvatore Moretti stepped from the shadows.
Gray-haired.
Elegant.
Smiling.
He held no weapon.
He didn't need one.
A dozen armed men emerged around them.
Then Adrian appeared on the upper platform.
And he was holding Leo.
The infant was crying.
Adrian looked down at Dominic.
"You've spent all day blaming me."
Dominic stared at his cousin.
"Give me the baby."
Adrian kissed Leo's head.
"My son?"
Mia tensed.
So Adrian knew.
"Yes," Dominic said. "Your son."
Adrian's eyes filled with something almost like grief.
"Anthony stole him from me."
"Anthony raised him."
"Because Helena lied."
Salvatore looked pleased by Adrian's anger.
Dominic saw it.
Manipulation.
"Adrian, your father tried to kill Anthony."
Adrian's face hardened.
"More lies."
"I have proof."
"My father warned me you'd say that."
Dominic looked at Salvatore.
The older man's smile confirmed everything.
Mia stepped forward.
"Adrian, Anthony uncovered the accounts your father used to cover your theft."
Adrian looked at her.
"You don't know anything."
"I know your father murdered my parents."
Salvatore sighed.
"Children shouldn't discuss grown men's business."
Mia's expression turned murderous.
Dominic moved half a step between them.
Then Salvatore produced the second flash drive.
"This is why we're here."
He dropped it onto a metal table.
"Everything your brother collected."
Dominic stared.
"What do you want?"
Salvatore smiled.
"A trade."
"Mia for Leo?"
"No."
Mia went still.
Salvatore looked directly at her.
"I need her alive."
"For what?"
"Because Jonathan Calder wasn't the only person who created a trust."
Mia frowned.
Salvatore continued.
"Rebecca did too."
He smiled.
"And there is one account in Switzerland containing something far more valuable than Moretti Holdings."
Mia whispered, "What?"
Salvatore's eyes gleamed.
"The list."
"What list?"
"The names of every politician, judge, police officer, banker, and businessman Vittorio ever paid."
Dominic understood.
The Seven were only the beginning.
Salvatore wanted a corruption archive.
"And only a direct descendant of Rebecca Calder can unlock it."
He looked at Mia.
"That means you."
Dominic stepped in front of her.
"No."
Salvatore laughed.
"You haven't heard the trade."
"I don't need to."
"Perhaps you should."
He nodded toward Adrian.
Adrian lifted Leo closer.
Salvatore's men aimed their rifles.
"Give me Mia Calder," Salvatore said calmly, "and your nephew leaves with you."
Mia touched Dominic's arm.
"Do it."
"No."
"Dominic."
"No."
"He's a baby."
"So?"
"So I can make my own decision."
"You think he'll release you afterward?"
"I know he won't."
Dominic looked at her.
She knew she was volunteering to die.
And she was still asking him to accept.
Mia whispered:
"Save Leo."
Salvatore checked his watch.
"Five seconds."
Dominic's mind raced.
Adrian.
Leo.
Salvatore.
Armed men.
The drive.
And the woman beside him whose parents had died because his family valued power over human life.
Four seconds.
Dominic looked at Mia.
Three.
Then at Leo.
Two.
Dominic lifted both hands.
"All right."
Mia's face fell.
Salvatore smiled.
Dominic stepped away from her.
"I'm choosing."
One.
Dominic looked directly at Adrian.
"Your father sabotaged Anthony's car because Anthony discovered the truth about you."
Salvatore's smile vanished.
Dominic continued.
"And the entire conversation is currently being transmitted to every major news network in Chicago."
Silence.
Salvatore's head snapped toward the ceiling.
Dominic smiled.
May you like
"I didn't come alone."
And the warehouse windows exploded inward.
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