Chapter 15 - The Snake in the Vault
"Marcus?" Madison gasped, staring at the elderly, silver-haired lawyer stepping into the flashlight beam. "What are you doing here?"
"I’m retrieving what belongs to the true council of Hayes International, my dear," Marcus sneered, his grip on the silver revolver completely steady. "Your grandfather was a fool. Giving twenty percent of Boston Harbor to a South Boston street thug like Dominic Moretti was an act of madness."
Vincent’s body went taut as steel. His dark eyes locked onto the barrel of the gun, calculating distance, timing, and angles. "You were the one working with Tyler Sterling from the very beginning."
"Tyler was just a pathetic, greedy puppet," Marcus scoffed, stepping closer into the vault. "A foolish boy who thought he could marry Madison, take control of the company, and hand those deeds over to me in exchange for wiping his real estate debts. But when you stepped up to that altar, Moretti... you ruined a plan fifteen years in the making."
"My father trusted you, Marcus!" Madison yelled, her voice echoing off the damp stone walls. "He thought you were protecting our family!"
"Your father was a weak coward!" Marcus barked. "He hid those deeds because I told him to! I convinced him that if the public found out a Moretti owned twenty percent of the harbor, the Hayes family stock would plummet! I spent twenty years waiting for your father to die so I could claim those land deeds for myself!"
Marcus raised the gun higher, aiming straight between Vincent’s eyes.
"Drop the parchment, Moretti," Marcus ordered coldly. "And tell your security guard to kick his weapon into the corner. Or Mrs. Moretti becomes a widow before her honeymoon."
Vincent didn't move an inch. His hand remained held out, shielding Madison completely behind his broad back.
"You're making a mistake, Vance," Vincent said, his voice terrifyingly calm, devoid of any panic or fear. "You think you're the smartest man in the room because you carry a piece of paper and a gun. But you forgot one simple rule about South Boston."
Marcus’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What rule?"
"We never go into a dark hole without checking who’s behind us," Vincent said smoothly.
Before Marcus could react, a shadow dropped silently from the ceiling rafters directly behind him.
Marco slammed his massive fist into Marcus’s wrist.
The gun went off with a deafening BANG, the bullet ricocheting harmlessly off the stone ceiling as Marcus screamed in pain, the revolver flying across the damp floorboards.
Marco twisted Marcus’s arm behind his back, slamming the lawyer hard against the stone wall of the vault, handcuffing his wrists in one swift, brutal motion.
Vincent didn't even flinch. He picked up the silver revolver from the floor, popped the cylinder out, and emptied the remaining bullets into his palm before dropping the cold steel gun into his pocket.
Vincent walked over to where Marcus was pinned against the wall. He grabbed the lawyer by his collar, lifting him until Marcus’s boots were barely touching the stone floor.
"You spoke about my grandfather," Vincent said, his voice dropping into a register so dark and lethal that even Marco held his breath. "Dominic Moretti was ten times the man you will ever be. He built this city with his blood. And today, his grandson takes it back."
Vincent let go, letting Marcus drop like a sack of trash to the floor. "Marco, call the District Attorney. Tell them we have the mastermind behind the Pier 4 arson and thirty years of corporate embezzlement."
Madison rushed into Vincent’s arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her face against his warm shoulder as the adrenaline finally drained from her body.
"Are you okay?" Vincent whispered, burying his face in her hair, his arms holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
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"I’m perfect," Madison whispered back, looking at the iron chest sitting on the stone pedestal. "We have the deeds, Vincent. Our family's truth is finally out."
Vincent lifted her chin, looking down into her dark, beautiful eyes with an intensity that made her heart leap. "Not just our truth, Madison. Our future."
