Chapter 7 - The Senator's Secret
Heavy bullets chewed through the wooden crates all around them, showering Norah and Lily in sharp, splintered shrapnel.
They scrambled desperately back toward the open trapdoor leading down to the smuggling tunnels.
Dominic backed up slowly, firing precise, controlled bursts to keep Silas's men firmly pinned down.
He reached the trapdoor just as Norah successfully shoved Lily down the rusty iron ladder.
Dominic jumped down immediately after them, pulling the heavy wooden door shut overhead.
He shot the locking mechanism out, permanently jamming the heavy door in place.
"Move!" he barked, shoving them forcefully down the damp, foul-smelling corridor.
They ran blindly until their lungs burned and their legs felt like solid lead.
They finally emerged through a hidden ventilation grate in an alley a full mile away from the docks.
Dominic leaned heavily against a brick wall, panting heavily.
He reached inside his ruined charcoal jacket and pulled his hand away covered in dark, fresh blood.
"You're shot," Norah gasped, rushing instantly to his side.
"It went straight through the shoulder," Dominic grunted, aggressively waving her away.
"We need to find a car right now."
They broke into a rusted, older sedan parked quietly behind an all-night diner.
Dominic hotwired the ignition with practiced efficiency, and they sped off into the stormy, unforgiving night.
Norah sat in the back seat with Lily, pressing a relatively clean rag to Dominic's bleeding shoulder from behind.
"Is it true?" Norah asked quietly over the rhythmic sound of the windshield wipers.
"Did you really try to brutally murder your own brother just for power?"
Dominic kept his eyes completely fixed on the slick, wet road ahead.
"Silas always loved telling exactly half of the story," he murmured painfully.
"Five years ago, Silas wasn't just acting as a loyal brother."
"He was secretly selling our illegal weapons to a massive human trafficking cartel in Mexico."
"When Senator Whitmore found out, he threatened to expose the entire Mercer family and have us all imprisoned for life."
Dominic flinched slightly as Norah applied harder pressure to his gunshot wound.
"The Senator gave me a very clear ultimatum."
"Eliminate the rat in your house, or the entire house burns down."
Norah stared at the back of his head, slowly processing the impossible weight of his terrible choice.
"So you shot him to save the rest of your people," she realized softly.
"I shot him because he had truly become a monster," Dominic corrected, his voice full of regret.
"I specifically aimed for his shoulder."
"I wanted him to fall into the fast-moving river so he could escape and disappear forever."
"I never actually wanted him to die."
Lily suddenly shifted nervously in the seat beside Norah.
"If Senator Whitmore originally ordered the hit on Silas..." Lily said quietly.
"Then Silas isn't just trying to destroy Dominic tonight."
Dominic looked at the teenager in the rearview mirror, his gray eyes widening in sudden, horrifying realization.
"Silas framed you for Valerie's murder to start a massive war," Dominic concluded rapidly.
"He wants the Senator and me to completely destroy each other."
Suddenly, the rusted sedan's old radio crackled loudly with static, completely cutting off the music.
A calm, heavily distorted voice broadcast directly through the speakers.
May you like
"Dominic Mercer, this is Senator Whitmore."
"I have a very interesting proposition for the waitress sitting in your back seat."
