Chapter 17 - COUNTERCHECK
Desperation made Dante Moretti wild.
Realizing he had lost everything, he lunged forward, aiming his pistol directly at Dominic’s chest.
Dominic didn't wait for the hammer to fall. Moving with a fluid, disciplined speed honed by months of physical therapy and mechanical integration, he stepped inside Moretti’s guard. He grabbed Moretti’s wrist, twisting it upward until the gun fired harmlessly into the cold metal ceiling, then disarmed him with a single, sharp wrist-lock.
Moretti gasped in pain, stumbling backward toward the open loading bay door that overlooked the freezing, fast-moving waters of the Milwaukee River.
"It’s over, Dante," Dominic said, holding the confiscated firearm by its barrel, pointing it toward the floor. "There is no escape. The feds are outside. The docks are sealed."
Moretti looked back at the churning grey water fifteen feet below the loading bay edge. His face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated malice.
"You think you’ve won?" Moretti spat, pulling a small, black detonator unit from his coat pocket. "If I’m going to a federal cage, Dominic, I’m taking your precious sanctuary with me."
Elena’s eyes widened. "Dominic, the detonator!"
"I installed four remote explosive charges along the structural pilings of your Puget Sound estate before my team launched that drone," Moretti laughed maniacally, his thumb hovering over the red button. "The moment my heart stops, or the moment I press this toggle, your wooden paradise in Washington burns to the ground with your boys inside!"
The world seemed to stop moving. The air in the warehouse froze solid.
Dominic didn't move. A terrifying, silent calm settled over his face.
He didn't panic. He didn't rush. Instead, he looked at Elena.
Elena pulled up her secondary secure phone screen, holding it up for Moretti to see. On the screen was a live, high-definition video feed of the Puget Sound estate.
Marcus Miller’s tactical team was standing on the lawn, holding four disarmed, military-grade demolition charges. Sitting on the grass nearby were Leo and Lucas, eating warm cookies baked by their mother before she left, entirely oblivious to the danger that had just been removed.
"Did you really think a forensic accountant wouldn't audit the physical security perimeter of her own home after receiving your little walnut box?" Elena asked, her voice dropping into a register of utter destruction. "We found your charges three hours after you deployed them, Dante. We kept the radio frequencies active on a dummy loop just to let you think you still held a card."
Moretti stared at the video feed in absolute disbelief. The thumb on his detonator went limp.
"You have no leverage," Dominic said, stepping within inches of Moretti. "You have no money. You have no men. The Caruso family ledger is clean... and you are nothing."
With a final, desperate roar, Moretti tried to throw himself at Dominic to drag them both off the edge of the loading bay into the river.
Dominic simply side-stepped the clumsy assault, grabbing Moretti by the collar of his expensive coat, holding him suspended precariously over the freezing river water with one arm powered by his titanium exoskeleton.
Moretti kicked frantically, staring down at the dark, lethal current below. "Dominic! Please! Don't drop me! Don't kill me!"
Dominic looked into the eyes of the man who had tried to destroy his life, his wife, and his children. Six months ago, the Don of Chicago would have let him fall without a second thought.
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Dominic pulled Moretti back onto the solid concrete floor of the warehouse, slamming him down into the custody of two federal agents who had just breached the rear doors.
"I’m not dropping you, Dante," Dominic said coldly as the federal agents slapped heavy steel handcuffs onto Moretti’s wrists. "You’re going to spend the rest of your life in a windowless room, watching the world move on without you."
