Chapter 6 - THE FALL OF THE CROSS EMPIRE
Damian made a decision no Cross had made in seventy years.
He chose to end it.
Not through war.
Through evidence.
Victor thought he had lost his mind.
“You give that ledger to federal prosecutors, half our political protection disappears.”
“Yes.”
“Our businesses get investigated.”
“Yes.”
“You could go to prison.”
“Yes.”
Victor stared.
“And you’re okay with that?”
“No.”
Damian looked through the window where Sophie was building a crooked snowman.
“But I’m doing it anyway.”
Elena heard him.
That was the moment she stopped seeing the feared man everyone else saw.
And began seeing the boy Maria had tried to save.
Damian negotiated through attorneys.
Legitimate businesses would be separated.
Illegal operations dismantled.
Evidence surrendered.
Victims compensated through seized assets.
Men responsible for violent crimes would face prosecution.
Damian would cooperate fully.
He refused immunity for crimes prosecutors could prove he personally committed.
Victor asked why.
“Because accountability with conditions is just another business deal.”
The process had barely begun when Sebastian struck.
Sophie disappeared.
It happened in ninety seconds.
Elena went upstairs for her sweater.
Victor stepped outside to take a call.
When Elena returned, the kitchen door was open.
Buttons lay in the snow.
Elena screamed.
Damian came running.
There were tire tracks behind the house.
And a phone on the kitchen table.
It rang.
Sebastian.
Damian answered.
“If you touch her—”
“The ledger.”
Elena grabbed Damian’s arm.
Sebastian continued.
“Bring it to Pier Nineteen. Midnight. Alone.”
“Let me speak to Sophie.”
A pause.
Then a tiny voice.
“Mr. Damian?”
His chest tightened.
“I’m here.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“Mommy?”
“She’s here.”
Elena took the phone.
“Baby!”
“Mommy, I want to go home.”
“You will. I promise.”
Sebastian returned.
“Midnight.”
The call ended.
Elena collapsed.
Damian caught her.
“This is because of me.”
“No.”
“He took her because of me.”
“He took her because he’s afraid.”
Damian held her shoulders.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“I will bring her back.”
“Don’t promise something you can’t control.”
He remembered Maria.
Cross promise.
So he drew an X across his chest.
Elena started crying.
At midnight Damian arrived at Pier Nineteen.
Alone, apparently.
Sebastian waited inside an abandoned warehouse.
Sophie sat on a chair.
Unhurt.
Isabelle stood nearby with a gun.
Damian stopped.
Sebastian smiled.
“You really do have terrible taste in women.”
Damian looked at Isabelle.
Her expression revealed nothing.
“Ledger.”
Damian lifted a briefcase.
“Sophie first.”
Sebastian nodded toward Isabelle.
“Bring the girl.”
Isabelle took Sophie’s hand.
They crossed the warehouse.
When Sophie reached Damian, he pulled her behind him.
Sebastian extended his hand.
“The case.”
Damian threw it.
Sebastian opened it.
Empty.
His smile vanished.
“What have you done?”
“Sent copies to federal prosecutors, three newspapers and an attorney with instructions to release everything if I don’t call by one.”
Sebastian raised his gun.
“You stupid boy.”
“No.”
Damian looked at him.
“I finally stopped being your boy.”
Sebastian fired.
Isabelle moved first.
The bullet struck her shoulder.
Victor’s men stormed the warehouse.
Chaos erupted.
Damian covered Sophie.
Sebastian ran toward a side exit.
Elena, waiting with police outside the perimeter despite Damian’s orders, saw him emerge.
Sebastian raised his weapon.
Then froze.
Red targeting lights covered his chest.
Federal agents surrounded him.
For the first time in his life, Sebastian Cross had nowhere left to buy, threaten or murder his way out.
He dropped the gun.
May you like
And the empire began to fall.
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