Chapter 17 - Ashes and Embers"It's over, Dominic," I said, stepping forward and crushing the plastic detonator beneath the heel of my boot.
The silence in the underground vault was absolute, broken only by Dominic's ragged, agonizing breaths and the distant, muffled sounds of the estate fires burning out above us. The Ghost Squad had been neutralized by my loyal guards outside; the Chicago council's vanguard had been wiped out.
The syndicate was finally, truly mine—not just through fear, but through absolute, unyielding survival.
I bent down, grabbing Dominic by the collar of his ruined shirt, hauling him up until our eyes met.
"You wanted my life," I whispered into his ear. "You wanted my wife, my daughter, my throne. But you forgot one simple truth about the underworld, little brother: monsters aren't born in the light. We are forged in the fire."
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I shoved him back against the cold stone wall, letting him slide down into the dirt like the trash he was.
"Lock him in the solitary cell three levels down," I told Luca, not even bothering to look back as I turned toward the exit stairs. "Turn off the lights. Let him spend the rest of his miserable life talking to the rats."
