Chapter 7 - VINCENT RAN
Vincent realized Reynolds had betrayed him six hours before agents arrived.
Nobody ever discovered exactly how.
Maybe a suspicious call.
Maybe instinct.
Maybe corruption had another leak.
He ran to the old Moretti waterfront property.
Warehouse Nine.
Of course.
Men like Vincent always returned to places where they once felt powerful.
Adrian went too.
Against counsel.
Against Elena’s later opinion.
With Dante.
And law enforcement close enough to intervene.
Vincent stood inside the warehouse beside stacked construction material.
Gun on a table.
Not in his hand.
Yet.
“You’re alive.”
Adrian entered.
“No thanks to you.”
Vincent laughed.
“You always did enjoy drama.”
“Family trait.”
For a moment they looked like cousins again.
Two boys who had spent summers on the same boats.
Buried the same grandfather.
Fought the same older kids.
Then Vincent said:
“You were destroying everything.”
“There it is.”
“You call it cleaning.”
“I call extortion and laundering illegal.”
“Our fathers built this.”
“Our fathers built a lot of things I don't want.”
Vincent’s face twisted.
“You became ashamed of us.”
“No.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I became tired of burying people.”
Vincent grabbed the gun.
First attack.
Adrian moved before he could aim.
Hit Vincent’s wrist.
The gun fell.
Vincent charged.
They slammed into stacked crates.
Dante started forward.
Adrian stopped him with one hand.
Vincent swung.
Adrian blocked.
Drove him back.
Enough.
Then Vincent rose again.
Second charge.
More desperate.
Adrian stepped aside.
Caught him.
Put him hard onto the concrete.
Controlled.
Non-graphic.
Vincent reached toward a metal pipe.
Adrian kicked it away.
Pinned him.
For one second, Adrian could have killed him.
Everybody knew.
Vincent knew.
“Do it,” Vincent hissed.
Adrian breathed hard.
Then:
“No.”
Vincent laughed.
“Soft.”
Adrian looked down.
“No.”
Sirens grew louder outside.
“I finally became strong enough not to.”
Agents entered.
Dante pulled Adrian back.
Vincent was cuffed.
Alive.
Furious.
Useful.
His testimony later connected Moretti shell companies to years of theft.
May you like
Adrian hated that part.
It also gave him the map he needed to dismantle them.
