Chapter 8 - Blood Family
Vincent almost shot Dominic himself.
Instead, he turned and fired at the flashlight.
Darkness swallowed the tunnel again.
A gunman cursed. Two shots cracked off the stone walls.
“Move!” Dominic yelled.
They ran right toward the greenhouse passage while Grace, Isabella, and Emily disappeared left.
Vincent heard boots behind him.
At the next bend, Dominic grabbed Vincent by the coat and pulled him into a narrow alcove. Two armed men rushed past.
Dominic stepped out and struck the second man from behind. Vincent slammed the first into the wall. The fight lasted five ugly seconds.
Then both men were down.
Vincent pressed his gun to one man’s cheek.
“Where is Rocco?”
The man grinned through blood. “Closer than you think.”
Vincent’s phone, useless for service, suddenly buzzed in his pocket.
A local Bluetooth file request appeared.
PHOTO_001.
He accepted.
The image showed Grace, Isabella, and Emily at the carriage-house tunnel exit.
A red laser dot rested on Emily’s back.
Vincent went cold.
Text appeared under the photo.
TEN MINUTES. BRING THE CARD TO THE GREENHOUSE. COME ALONE.
Dominic saw it. “He has spotters everywhere.”
Vincent looked at his cousin. “Now tell me why you gave Bellamy Sofia’s location.”
Dominic sat against the wall, breathing hard.
“Because Bellamy had my brother.”
Vincent frowned. Dominic’s older brother, Michael, had died in prison twelve years ago.
Dominic shook his head. “He didn’t die there. Rocco moved him. Used him. Every time I resisted, Bellamy sent me a picture.”
“And Sofia?”
“She called me that night. Said she had proof. She wanted a safe car and a driver. Bellamy knew I was helping her. He said if I didn’t tell him where she was, Michael would die.”
Vincent’s voice turned flat. “So you chose your brother.”
“I chose wrong.”
Vincent wanted to hit him. Wanted to break something. Instead he looked at the clock.
Eight minutes.
“Where is Michael now?”
Dominic laughed bitterly. “If Rocco’s here, probably dead.”
From the darkness behind them came a weak voice.
“Dom?”
Dominic froze.
A man stepped out of a side tunnel, thin, gray-haired, limping.
Dominic’s gun fell from his hand.
“Michael?”
May you like
The man smiled.
Then raised a pistol at Vincent.
