Chapter 13 - The Fire at Voss Manor
Seeing that all was lost, Damian pulled a hidden detonator from his pocket and pressed the switch.
A deafening explosion ripped through the western wing of the manor, shattering the stained glass and igniting the vintage drapes in an instant inferno.
“Burn! Burn together!” Damian shrieked, drawing a concealed chrome revolver and firing directly at Evelyn.
I moved with blinding speed.
I tackled Evelyn behind the heavy oak lectern as bullets chewed through the wood above our heads.
The ballroom descended into utter madness as smoke filled the air and gangsters scrambled for the burning exits.
“Dante, evacuate the council!” I ordered through the radio. “Evelyn, stay behind the cover!”
“No!” she said, grabbing my arm, her eyes shining in the orange firelight. “We finish this together, Adrien!”
Damian sprinted toward the private study, where a reinforced escape tunnel led beneath the estate.
I pursued him through the burning corridors, the heat searing my face, flames licking the antique oil paintings of my forefathers.
I kicked open the study doors just as Damian reached the hidden vault door.
He turned and fired his remaining rounds.
One grazed my cheek; the second thudded into the tactical vest over my chest.
I closed the distance before he could reload, grabbed his wrist, and drove him into the burning mahogany desk.
The revolver flew from his hand and landed in the fireplace.
Damian gasped for air, his eyes wide with animal terror as my fingers closed around his throat.
“I am your uncle, Adrien!” he wheezed, clawing at my hands. “Blood doesn't kill blood!”
“You stopped being my blood the day you poisoned my father,” I said coldly.
Through the smoke, Evelyn appeared in the doorway, holding the original charter of the Voss-Vance alliance.
“For my father, Julian,” Evelyn said with icy finality.
I struck Damian across the temple with the butt of my sidearm, knocking him into unconsciousness, leaving him disarmed and defeated on the floor as the sprinkler systems finally roared to life, drowning the flames in a torrent of cold water.
Outside, the sirens of federal police and emergency vehicles wailed in the distance.
Dante entered the study, breathing hard. “The council has surrendered, Boss. Every capo has signed the loyalty pledge to you and Evelyn. Damian’s loyalists have been disarmed.”
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I looked at the unconscious traitor, then at the burning ruins of the manor that had stood for a century.
“Let it burn,” I said quietly, turning to Evelyn and extending my hand. “The old world dies tonight. We build something new.”
