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My hand froze inches from the cold steel of the Sig Sauer P226. Beneath the amber glow of the bedside lamp, the source of the warmth against my side wasn't an assassin, an operative from a rival syndicate, or a traitorous lieutenant. / Chapter 17 / 20

Chapter 17 - Echoes of the Past

That evening, we returned to the estate just as twilight was painting the sky in shades of bruised purple and amber.

While Emma went down to the conservatory to check on her mother—who had been transferred to a private, state-of-the-art suite in the estate's newly renovated guest wing—I made my way down to the underground security level to check on our most permanent resident.

The reinforced concrete corridors of the holding level were silent, chilled by industrial air conditioning. Luke walked a few paces ahead, carrying a heavy iron ring of keys and a high-lumens flashlight.

"How is he holding up?" I asked, my wheelchair tires humming softly against the epoxy floor.

"Not well," Luke muttered, stopping in front of a heavy steel-reinforced door with a small, barred sliding window at eye level. "Cruz hasn't spoken a word in three days. He just sits in the corner staring at the wall like a broken doll."

I rolled up to the door and slid open the small iron hatch, peering into the dimly lit cell.

Victor Cruz was huddled in the far corner against the damp concrete wall, his bandaged shoulder stained with dried blood, his eyes hollow and vacant. The man who had once terrorized the Chicago underworld looked like a pathetic shadow of his former self.

"Cruz," I said, my voice echoing coldly off the stone walls.

The prisoner flinched, slowly lifting his head. His bloodshot eyes locked onto mine through the iron bars, filled with a mixture of terror and defeated rage.

"Vance..." he rasped, his voice sounding like dry sandpaper. "Just... kill me. End it."

"I told you before, Victor—death is too easy," I replied, my tone devoid of emotion. "You spend the rest of your days breathing recirculated air in a concrete box, knowing that the empire you tried to steal is more powerful than it has ever been. Every ship that docks, every skyscraper that rises in this city, belongs to me and the people you tried to destroy."

Cruz let out a ragged, hysterical laugh that quickly dissolved into a coughing fit. "You think you've won... Vance. You think because you control the streets, you're safe. But power like yours... it attracts monsters you can't shoot with a gun."

"If a monster comes," I said, my eyes narrowing into a lethal glare, "I'll break it the exact same way I broke you."

I slammed the iron hatch shut, plunging the cell back into absolute darkness, and turned my chair around.

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"Keep a double guard on this level, Luke," I instructed as we headed back toward the elevator. "I don't want any surprises."

"Already handled, Danny," Luke replied grimly.

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