Chapter 21 - The Global Syndicate
The heavy leather soles of Dominic’s shoes echoed against the stone floor of our Positano villa. The linen shirt was gone, replaced by the dark, tailored armour of a man who ruled in the shadows. Outside, the headlights of twelve armored SUVs lit up the Mediterranean night.
“You knew,” I whispered, standing on the balcony, the phone still warm against my ear. “When you bought this villa... when you said we were safe... you knew he was coming.”
Dominic walked up the stairs with slow, deliberate steps. He stopped three feet away from me. The darkness in his eyes was familiar, but beneath it lay a fierce, protective fire.
“I didn't know when he would come, Clara,” Dominic said, his voice a low, vibrating baritone. “But I knew Victor Vance doesn’t let go of assets. Chicago was just one branch of a global tree. Vance is the root.”
“He said he paid for Tyler’s surgery,” I said, my voice shaking with rage. “He said I was a pawn brought into your house to test you!”
Dominic took two steps forward, framing my face in his hands. His touch was warm, solid, and real.
“Vance is a liar,” Dominic hissed softly. “I paid every cent for your brother’s surgery. I hired you because Noah stopped screaming when you entered the room. But Vance did manipulate the security transfer that brought your resume to Mrs. Hargrove’s desk.”
My breath hitched. “Why? Why me, Dominic? Out of millions of people in Chicago, why did the Chairman of a global crime syndicate want me in your house?”
Before Dominic could answer, the front doors of the villa shattered open below.
Four men in gray tactical suits marched into the courtyard, surrounding the terrace stairs. Behind them walked a man in his late sixties, wearing an immaculate white silk suit, holding a silver-handled cane.
May you like
Victor Vance. The Chairman.
“Because, my dear Clara,” Vance’s voice echoed up the stairwell, smooth as velvet and cold as ice, “your father didn’t die in a factory accident fifteen years ago. He died keeping a secret worth ten billion dollars.”
