Chapter 9 - The ConfessionThe rain poured down over the silent railyard, washing the mud and blood from our faces. Vincent lay pinned beneath Dominic’s boot, spitting blood onto the wet gravel, laughing maniacally.
"Go ahead," Vincent wheezed, glaring up at his older brother. "Shoot me. Kill me, and the board will tear the rest of your empire apart. You think Elena acted alone? Half of your captains take orders from me!"
Dominic’s finger trembled on the trigger. The veins in his neck stood out like thick cords. "You tried to kill my daughter. You poisoned my wife."
"Eva was weak!" Vincent screamed. "She wanted to hand our shipping routes over to foreign syndicates! She had to go! And Lily has her mother's soft blood—she doesn't belong in the Rosetti legacy!"
Dominic cocked the hammer. The metallic click was louder than the thunder overhead.
"Dominic, stop," I gasped, clutching my chest as I struggled to sit up. "Don't do it here. Not like this."
Dominic looked down at me, his eyes wild with rage. "He murdered my wife, and he hunted my child."
"If you kill him now, you become the monster Vincent claims you are," I pleaded, blood leaking from the corner of my mouth. "Use him. Let him talk into a wire. Clear your name legally through the syndicate tribunal. Take everything he owns, piece by piece."
Vincent glared at me with pure venom. "You talk too much for a dead man."
Marcus and two guards rushed forward, hauling Vincent to his feet and slapping heavy titanium zip-ties around his wrists. They shoved him into the back of the armored SUV.
Dominic walked over to me, extending a gloved hand. He pulled me up from the mud with surprising gentleness.
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"You saved my life twice now," Dominic said quietly, looking at my blood-stained sweater. "And you just stopped me from making a fatal mistake."
"Consider us even on the debt," I breathed, before my knees buckled entirely.
