Chapter 6 - The Bloodline Ledger and the Final Twist
"Drop the gun, Granger," Roman said, his voice dropping into a register that sounded like a tectonic plate shifting. "You're outnumbered."
"Am I?" Paul smiled. He tapped a key on his laptop.
A massive monitor on the wall flared to life, showing a live video feed of the nursery back at Roman’s mansion—or what was left of it. But the camera shifted to a vault deep beneath the city. A vault containing the Voss syndicate's digital ledger—the keys to every offshore account, every contract, every political bribe in North America.
"I don't care about Viktor, and I don't care about your title, Roman," Paul said, his eyes gleaming with fanaticism. "I care about the ledger. And Dr. Vance here just gave me the final piece of the encryption key. The key wasn't a code. It was a genetic sequence. Isabella locked the ledger using a biometric lock that required a combination of her father's DNA... and the DNA of the Voss heirs."
Paul pointed the gun at the triplets in Pamela’s arms. "I don't need them alive anymore. I just need their blood. One drop from each, and I own this city."
Before Paul could pull the trigger, Dr. Vance, using the last of his strength, threw his weight to the side, tilting the steel surgical table. The table slammed into Paul’s legs, throwing his aim off.
BANG.
The bullet struck the concrete wall inches from Pamela’s head.
In a fraction of a second, Roman moved. He fired two precise shots. The first caught Paul in the shoulder, spinning him around; the second hit his wrist, sending his gun clattering across the floor.
Paul screamed, collapsing against the server racks. Donovan rushed forward, pinning him to the ground with a heavy boot.
Roman didn't look at Paul. He rushed to Pamela, his hands checking her, then checking the babies. "Are you hurt? Are they hit?"
"We're okay," Pamela sobbed, her knees giving out. Roman caught her, lifting her and the children against his chest. For the first time, his terrifying facade completely crumbled, and he held them like a man who had finally found his missing pieces.
Dr. Vance coughed violently from the floor, looking at Pamela with tear-filled eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry, Miss Hayes. Isabella... she threatened my life. But you need to know... the final truth."
Pamela looked over Roman's shoulder at the dying doctor. "What truth?"
"The ledger... it didn't just lock Roman out," Vance whispered, his voice fading. "Isabella didn't choose you randomly. You weren't a stranger. Your mother... she was the daughter of Silvio Moretti. The boss who ruled Chicago before Roman’s father took over. You are the last living Moretti, Pamela. The entire Voss empire... by the old laws of the Commission... belongs to you. Isabella knew it. That’s why she stole your children. She wanted the ultimate claim."
The room fell into a deathly silence.
Donovan looked up at Roman, his jaw dropped.
Roman slowly turned his gaze to Pamela. The waitress from Bella Rosa. The woman in the stained apron. The mother of his children. She wasn't just a victim of a horrific crime—she was the rightful queen of the Chicago underworld.
Roman looked down at the three babies, who were now looking back at him and Pamela, their little hands intertwined.
A slow, dangerous, yet profoundly loyal smile touched Roman’s lips. He sank to one knee before her, taking her hand—the hand covered in restaurant burns and faded scars.
"Well, Boss," Roman murmured, his storm-cloud eyes burning with absolute devotion. "It looks like I work for you now. What are your orders?"
Pamela looked at the man who had terrified the city, now kneeling at her feet. She looked at her three beautiful, living children. The grief that had weighed her down for fourteen months evaporated, replaced by a cold, fierce, and unbreakable fire.
May you like
She straightened her spine, her voice echoing through the sterile room with absolute authority.
"First," Pamela said, her eyes locking onto the groaning Paul Granger. "We clean up my city. And then, we go home. Together."
