Chapter 10 - The False Victory
"Move!" I screamed, shoving Dominic with all the strength my injured body possessed.
Dominic rolled backward just as a high-caliber bullet shattered the wooden plank where his head had been.
Enzo and the guards immediately opened suppressing fire toward the distant cranes.
"Get her to the car!" Dominic shouted, pulling me up by my coat.
We sprinted through the fog, dodging blindly until we reached the armored SUV.
We piled inside, and Enzo tore away from the docks, leaving Costa's crumbling syndicate behind.
By the time we returned to the estate, the sun was beginning to rise over New York.
Victor Costa was dead, his men were scattered, and the immediate war was officially over.
Dominic ordered the guards to stand down and called for the doctors to check my reopened wounds.
As the nurses bandaged me in the master bedroom, a profound sense of relief washed over me.
I had survived the assassination, the truth about my father, and the chaotic shootout.
Dominic walked into the room, looking exhausted but victorious.
"You saved my life tonight, Clara," he said gently, kissing my forehead.
He left the room to take a shower, leaving his suit jacket draped over a chair.
I noticed the small brass key to his study safe poking out of his pocket.
The urge to finally see the mysterious file for myself overwhelmed my exhaustion.
I waited until I heard the shower running before I slipped out and crept down to the study.
I opened the hidden wall safe and pulled out a thick manila folder labeled "Project Vance."
I sat at the mahogany desk and opened the file, expecting to find old photos of my dead father.
Instead, I found dozens of recent surveillance photographs of my mother.
She wasn't in a hospital, and she didn't look sick at all.
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She was standing on a rooftop holding a high-powered sniper rifle.
The final document in the folder was a signed contract between my mother and Enzo, detailing a plot to murder Dominic Rossi.
