Chapter 7 - The Devil's Bargain
A long, heavy silence hung over the phone line.
Dominic Rossi was the head of the Italian syndicate and the Waverly family's oldest, most bitter rival.
"You must be truly desperate to offer me the Southside, Waverly," Rossi finally chuckled.
"I need fifty of your best men to assault Evelyn Waverly's private estate in exactly one hour," I demanded.
"You want me to start a war with your own mother?" Rossi asked, his tone shifting to genuine surprise.
"I want you to provide a distraction at her front gates so I can slip through the back," I corrected him.
"If you do this, the Southside shipping ports are entirely yours, no bloodshed required."
Rossi pondered the offer for a few agonizing seconds while the boat drifted silently down the river.
"I will do it," Rossi agreed, his voice turning deadly serious.
"But I am doing this for free, Grant, because I want to see that witch burn."
"Why?" I asked, suspicious of his sudden generosity.
"Because your mother is the one who hired the assassin that murdered your father twenty years ago," Rossi revealed.
The words hit me like a runaway freight train, stealing the breath entirely from my lungs.
My father’s murder had supposedly been carried out by a rogue cartel, a narrative my mother had fed me my entire life.
She had killed her own husband to seize complete control of the criminal empire.
"I'll see you at the gates, Rossi," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion.
I ended the call and steered the boat toward the industrial docks on the edge of the city.
We transferred into a stolen sedan I had stashed in a long-term parking garage years ago.
I drove Mara, the babies, and Silas to a cheap, anonymous motel on the outskirts of town.
"Stay here, keep the door locked, and trust absolutely no one," I instructed Silas, handing him an extra pistol.
I turned to Mara and pulled her into a passionate, desperate kiss.
"I am going to get that lockbox, and I am going to end this nightmare tonight," I promised her.
Mara held onto my jacket, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Please come back to us, Grant," she whispered softly.
I walked out into the pouring rain and got back into the stolen car.
May you like
I drove toward the heavily fortified Waverly estate, a compound I used to call home.
As I approached the perimeter, the night sky suddenly lit up with the brilliant flash of rocket fire.
