Chapter 8 - The Price of a Daughter
Maya looked down through the wire floor of the cage, her small face covered in soot and tears.
When she saw Luca standing on his own two feet, her eyes widened in profound astonishment.
"Daddy!" Maya cried out, her voice cutting through the roar of the furnace.
"You're standing!"
That single word struck Luca's heart like an electric shock.
She had never called him father before.
Luca stepped forward into the blistering heat, ignoring the four assault rifles trained on his chest.
"Let the child go, Viktor," Luca said, his voice terrifyingly calm.
"Your fight is with me, not an eight-year-old girl."
Viktor sneered, stepping closer to the edge of the incinerator platform.
"Your father killed my father on these very docks thirty years ago, Luca," Viktor said with bitter venom.
"Your family took everything from us."
"Dominic promised me that if I helped him eliminate your loyal capos, I would get total control of the Great Lakes shipping corridors."
"Dominic lied to you, Viktor," Luca said smoothly, gesturing toward the entrance.
"Dominic has already sold those exact same shipping rights to the Cartel in Mexico."
"He used you as disposable muscle to clean up his mess."
Viktor's eyes narrowed, a flicker of doubt crossing his scarred face.
Suddenly, Dominic stumbled into the furnace room, his wounded arm wrapped in a bloody rag.
"Don't listen to him, Viktor!" Dominic screamed frantically.
"Shoot him now! He's stalling!"
Viktor looked at Dominic, then looked at the cold, unyielding titan standing before him without a wheelchair.
"Is this true, Dominic?" Viktor asked in a low, dangerous growl.
"Did you sell the eastern docks behind my back?"
Dominic's hesitation was barely half a second, but in the underworld, half a second was a death sentence.
Dominic raised his pistol to shoot Viktor, but Viktor was faster.
Viktor drew a heavy revolver and fired twice into Dominic's chest, blowing the traitorous underboss backward into the open firebox of the furnace.
Dominic let out one horrific scream before the flames consumed him completely.
In the chaos of the gunfire, Viktor turned his weapon back toward Luca.
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"It doesn't change anything, Costello," Viktor snarled, pressing the red button on the winch control.
The steel cable snapped, and Maya's cage plummeted toward the roaring flames.
