Chapter 4 - THE PRICE OF ROYALTY“Drop it, Claire,” Dominic commanded.
Her knuckles were white around the grip of the small pistol. Her breath came in shallow, ragged gasps as she realized the trap had closed not just around her, but over her entire future.
“You can’t do this,” she hissed, her voice trembling with fury and terror. “My family—my father’s law firm handles half the state legislature! If you touch me—if you so much as leave a mark on me—you’ll have every politician, judge, and federal prosecutor in the northeast breathing down your neck until you rot!”
Dominic didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t blink.
“Your father’s firm was bought out by a Vale subsidiary three weeks ago,” Dominic said casually. “He’s currently under federal investigation for insider trading and bribery. I signed the paperwork authorizing the audit this morning while sitting in a hotel lobby in Atlantic City.”
Claire’s breath hitched. The pistol in her hand wavered wildly.
“You... you knew?” she whispered, horror dawning in her eyes. “All this time... you knew?”
“I didn't know everything,” Dominic admitted, his gaze drifting down briefly to where Mia and Harper sat wrapped in his coat. “I didn't know you were cruel enough to lock a four-year-old’s mother in a cellar to rot. I thought you were just another ambitious parasite trying to skim off the top of the shipping lanes. That’s a tax I’m willing to pay to keep business running smoothly.”
He took another step closer, the cold metallic barrel of his own concealed weapon sliding out from his sleeve with a soft hiss.
“But cruelty to a child in my home?” Dominic’s voice dropped to a lethal whisper. “That’s not business, Claire. That’s a breach of contract.”
With a lightning-fast movement that defied his size, Dominic batted the Beretta out of her hand. It clattered against the iron railing and dropped down into the dirt floor below. Before Claire could scream, Dominic grabbed her by the lapel of her cashmere coat, lifting her off her heels and slamming her back against the rough stone wall of the staircase.
“Daniel,” Dominic called out without looking back.
“Boss?”
“Bring the SUV around to the side entrance. Pack them both into the back of the black Lincoln.”
“Where are we taking them, Dom?” Daniel asked from the top of the stairs.
Dominic’s eyes remained fixed on Claire’s terrified, tear-streaked face.
“To the quarry in West Milford,” Dominic said coldly. “Tell the boys to start digging. We have some corporate restructuring to attend to.”
Nathan struggled against Marcus’s boot, spitting blood onto the stone. “You’re making a mistake, Dom! The council will never stand for this—without me, your entire operation falls apart within forty-eight hours!”
Dominic turned his head slightly, looking down at his former friend with absolute disdain.
“My operation didn't survive thirty years because of you, Nathan,” Dominic said quietly. “It survived because I built it on loyalty, and I buried traitors.”
He released Claire’s coat, letting her slump against the stone wall like a broken doll. She stared up at him in absolute, paralyzed silence, the reality of her execution settling into her bones.
May you like
Dominic turned back to the cellar floor, where Mia was slowly struggling to stand, still wrapped in his coat, holding Harper tightly against her chest.
Dominic didn’t speak a word of corporate policy or syndicate code. He simply walked over, knelt down, and scooped the little girl and her mother into his arms, carrying them out of the dark and back into the light of the estate.
