Chapter 15 - Reclaiming the Monster
I sat alone in the dim remnants of the ruined mansion for two hours. The blood on my clothes had dried cold and stiff.
By the time I stood up, fear had entirely vanished, replaced by an eerie, terrifying calm. The instincts of Adrian Vance—the crime lord who had once ruled the East Coast through pure terror—awakened completely.
I stood, picked up my son's small stuffed toy, and tucked it into my inner coat pocket.
I walked down into the true sub-basement beneath the property—a hidden armory containing things I had swore never to touch again: untraceable contact lists for black-market operatives, heavy weaponry, and a terminal granting access to the global underground network.
I booted up the terminal and activated protocol Armageddon.
Five minutes later, my encrypted satellite phone began ringing incessantly.
The first caller was Antonio Falcone—head of the largest crime family in New Jersey.
"Adrian?" Falcone’s voice trembled on the line. "What did you just do? All of our family's offshore accounts... they're completely frozen!"
"Listen carefully, Falcone," I spoke, my voice cold as ice. "Dominic Thorne took my wife and son. I know you and the Commission are funding his attempt to retake New York."
"I... I didn't know!" Falcone pleaded desperately. "Dominic claimed you had gone soft, he promised to redistribute the territories—"
"In two hours," I cut him off coldly, "if I do not have the exact coordinates of Claire and Liam, I transmit the entire Falcone money-laundering registry directly to the Department of Justice. You, your sons, and every captain in your network will rot in federal prison. And I swear, I will personally burn down every estate you own in New Jersey."
"Don't! Adrian, give me an hour!" Falcone begged frantically. "I’ll track down Dominic's location for you! Don't push the button!"
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I disconnected the call.
When a man has nothing left to lose, he becomes the most dangerous force on earth. Dominic thought my family was my weakness. He was wrong. They were the only reason I kept the monster inside me chained up. And now, the chain was broken.
