Chapter 12 - Shadows in the Ash: Confronting the Dead Patriarch
Luca walked slowly to the edge of the slipway.
He looked down at Salvatore Bellini.
The remote detonator in Salvatore’s hand had a blinking red light on top.
“Do it, Salvatore,” Luca said softly.
Salvatore blinked through the blood in his eyes, surprised by Luca’s calm voice.
“You think I won’t?” Salvatore screamed. “I’ll turn this whole pier into dust!”
“You won’t,” Luca said, pointing his gun at the heavy lead ballast pipe running along the seawall behind Salvatore. “Because if you push that button, the blast won't hit the boathouse first. It will crack the primary lake gate.”
Salvatore froze.
“Three million gallons of freezing water from Lake Michigan will flood this dry dock in eight seconds,” Luca explained with cold precision. “Matteo, Frank, Rachel, and Vanessa are already at the emergency exit stairs. They will survive. But you’re sitting in the bottom of the basin with a broken leg.”
Luca stepped closer to the edge.
“You’ll drown in the dark, Salvatore. Alone. Trapped under the foundation you spent thirty years trying to steal.”
Salvatore’s hand began to shake.
The madness in his eyes flickered, replaced by the primal, desperate terror of an old man who had spent his whole life cheating death.
“Luca… please,” Salvatore gasped, his voice suddenly small, weak, and pathetic. “We’re family. Your father and I… we built this city.”
“My father built this city with honest labor and union contracts,” Luca said. “You built your fortune on arson, extortion, and murder.”
Luca raised his gun, aiming directly at the remote detonator in Salvatore’s hand.
“Drop the switch, Salvatore.”
Salvatore looked at the dark water leaking through the seam of the dry dock gate.
He looked at Luca’s unblinking eyes.
With a trembling whimper, Salvatore Bellini opened his fingers.
The remote detonator clattered onto the concrete floor.
Luca fired one shot.
May you like
The bullet struck the detonator, smashing the plastic casing and battery into smoking pieces.
“Matteo,” Luca ordered. “Secure him. Call the federal marshals. Tell them Salvatore Bellini is ready for his true burial.”
