Chapter 5 - The Counterattack
Toby groaned in agonizing pain, his eyes rolling back into his head.
Claire tore off a large piece of her apron and packed the wound with desperate precision.
"Keep pressure on it!" Claire ordered Bull, who quickly took her place on the ground.
Dorian looked at the terrified single mother who was fiercely fighting to save his man's life.
He pulled a sleek, waterproof satellite phone from his pocket and hit a single button.
"This is Ferrante," Dorian spoke coldly into the device.
"I am trapped at the Halsted alley exit."
"Eradicate the problem."
Five agonizing minutes passed in total, suffocating darkness.
Claire rocked Maddie gently in her arms, praying silently for a miracle.
Suddenly, the distinct sound of roaring engines echoed from the street above them.
Dozens of heavy armored vehicles flooded the narrow alleyway with blinding headlights.
A massive firefight erupted overhead, shaking the loose dirt from the tunnel ceiling.
Dorian's heavily armed reinforcements had finally arrived.
The relentless gunfire lasted for exactly three minutes before falling completely silent.
"Clear!" a deep, commanding voice shouted from the open grate.
Dorian climbed out first, pulling Claire and Maddie up into the freezing rain.
The alley was littered with the bodies of the rival Moretti syndicate members.
A team of Dorian's combat medics immediately rushed down into the tunnel to save Toby.
Dawn was just beginning to break over the gray Chicago skyline.
The pale morning light illuminated the smoking, utterly destroyed ruins of Pearl's Corner Cafe down the street.
Claire stared at the charred remains of her entire life and began to weep silently.
Dorian walked over and gently placed his expensive, dry suit jacket over her shivering shoulders.
"I will rebuild it," Dorian promised softly.
"I will buy the land back and give it to you."
Claire shook her head, her stubborn pride refusing to break even now.
"I don't take charity from the mafia, Mr. Ferrante," she stated firmly.
Dorian looked at the ashes of the building with a dark, calculating expression.
"It is not charity, Claire," he corrected her.
"The Morettis were the ones hiding behind Apex Holdings."
"They burned your cafe down because they desperately wanted the land you refused to sell."
Claire frowned in utter confusion.
May you like
"Why would a massive crime syndicate care about a failing coffee shop?" she asked.
"Because of what your father buried in that basement thirty years ago," Dorian revealed.
