Chapter 6 - The Brother He Chose and the Blood He Didn’t
Dominic's sister, Sofia Kane, had left the estate forty minutes earlier.
Her SUV never reached the highway.
Security footage showed a delivery truck blocking the private road.
Two masked men exited.
The driver was dragged from the vehicle.
Sofia and her two children disappeared.
Dominic watched the footage once.
Then again.
On the third viewing, Emma took the tablet from his hands.
“Stop.”
His eyes lifted.
“Give it back.”
“You've seen enough.”
“Emma.”
“You're not going to find something on the fourth time that Ethan's people won't find frame by frame.”
He stared.
She put the tablet down.
For months after his shooting, Dominic had been furious because everyone assumed his chair made him helpless.
Now his sister and children were missing, and for the first time that helplessness felt real.
“I should have sent more security.”
“You couldn't know.”
“I knew Victor was involved.”
“For less than an hour.”
“I knew someone was coming.”
“And Sofia left before we understood what the letter said.”
Dominic's jaw clenched.
Emma moved closer.
“Blame yourself after we get them back.”
The word we mattered.
Dominic looked at her.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“This isn't a discussion.”
“Then stop pretending you're having one.”
Despite everything, Ethan almost smiled.
Dominic did not.
Victor Kane called twelve minutes later.
Dominic answered on speaker.
“Where are they?”
His uncle laughed.
“Still impatient.”
“If you touch them—”
“You'll do what?”
Silence.
Victor knew exactly where to strike.
“What are you going to do, Dominic? Stand up and come after me?”
Emma saw Dominic flinch.
Only slightly.
But she saw it.
Victor continued.
“Your father had the same problem. Pride.”
“You killed him?”
“No. Cancer killed Anthony. I simply made sure his secrets died with him.”
“They didn't.”
“No. Linda Harper complicated matters.”
Emma stepped closer to the phone.
Victor heard the movement.
“Is the maid there?”
Dominic's voice became ice.
“Say her name and I will bury you.”
Victor laughed.
“So Marcus was right. You do care about her.”
Dominic looked at Emma.
Victor continued.
“How touching. A broken king and his little housekeeper.”
“What do you want?”
“The letter. All copies of the files from Mercer Street. And the silver key.”
“In exchange for Sofia and the children?”
“Yes.”
“Proof they're alive.”
A video arrived seconds later.
Sofia sat in a warehouse chair.
Her children huddled beside her.
Scared.
Alive.
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
Victor gave them two hours.
The location was an abandoned shipyard at the river.
Ethan immediately began planning a rescue.
Dominic listened.
Then said, “I'm going.”
“No,” Ethan answered.
It was the first time in years Ethan had directly refused him.
Dominic's expression darkened.
“Excuse me?”
“Victor expects you. Which means he expects your chair. He'll control the terrain.”
“I am not sitting here while my family—”
“And you are not helping them by driving into an ambush.”
Emma spoke quietly.
“He'll kill them if Dominic doesn't appear.”
Ethan looked at her.
She was right.
Dominic stared at the map.
“Then we make him think he controls the terrain.”
Ninety minutes later, Dominic's armored vehicle entered the shipyard.
Emma sat beside him.
He had ordered her to remain at the estate.
She had ignored him.
After the fourth argument, Dominic realized he could either waste another twenty minutes or let her come.
“You stay in the vehicle,” he said.
“Yes.”
“You're lying.”
“A little.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Then the warehouse appeared.
Marcus stood outside.
Alone.
Dominic's face hardened.
The vehicle stopped.
Ethan's teams were hidden throughout the surrounding industrial blocks.
Victor's men controlled the immediate building.
Dominic rolled down the hydraulic ramp.
Marcus watched him approach.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Marcus said, “I am sorry.”
Dominic laughed once.
“You'll need a better opening.”
“I never wanted you dead.”
“You only paid doctors to make sure I stayed paralyzed.”
Marcus's face tightened.
“It wasn't supposed to happen that way.”
“Which part?”
“Victor told me the surgeons said there was no chance.”
“He lied.”
“I know that now.”
“You visited Linda.”
“Yes.”
“You drugged her?”
Marcus looked away.
“I gave her something to scare her. To make her confused so she'd stop talking.”
Emma stepped from the vehicle.
Dominic turned sharply.
“I told you—”
Marcus saw her.
His expression filled with regret.
“Your mother wasn't supposed to have a stroke.”
Emma's voice shook.
“But she did.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed her life.”
“I know.”
“And mine.”
Marcus looked down.
“I know.”
Dominic's anger rose.
“Where is Victor?”
“Inside.”
“You're helping him?”
Marcus looked toward the warehouse.
“No.”
Dominic studied him.
Marcus took a small radio from his pocket and dropped it.
“Victor is going to kill Sofia whether you give him the files or not.”
Emma's breath caught.
Marcus continued.
“He wants the Kane line reduced to you.”
“Why?”
“Because he believes once Sofia and the children are dead, you'll become exactly what you've been for two years. Isolated. Dependent.”
“On him?”
“On the organization he controls.”
Dominic's voice dropped.
“You controlled it.”
Marcus nodded.
“Until I stopped.”
Dominic stared.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Gunfire erupted inside the warehouse.
Marcus spun.
“Now!”
Everything happened at once.
Ethan's teams moved.
Dominic rolled toward the loading entrance.
Emma ran beside him.
“Stay behind me!”
“You are in a wheelchair!”
“I remain capable of being in front of you!”
Despite terror, she nearly laughed.
Inside, Sofia screamed.
Victor's men fired from the upper walkway.
Dominic returned fire from behind steel machinery.
His chair gave him a lower profile.
He moved faster than Victor expected.
Marcus fought beside Ethan.
For the first time in two years, Dominic understood something important.
The wheelchair had changed his body.
It had not erased his ability to fight.
They reached the rear room.
Sofia and the children were there.
Victor stood behind them.
Gun raised.
Dominic stopped.
Emma stopped beside him.
Victor smiled.
“There he is.”
Dominic's hand remained near his weapon.
“Let them go.”
“Throw the gun away.”
Dominic did.
Victor looked at Emma.
“And the girl.”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
“That's why she's useful.”
Victor raised the weapon toward Emma.
Dominic moved his chair between them.
Victor laughed.
“You always did have a weakness for strays.”
Emma whispered, “Dominic.”
He did not move.
Victor's eyes dropped to the wheelchair.
“Anthony wanted you to become something great.”
Dominic stared.
“I did.”
Victor's smile vanished.
“No. You became half a man.”
Dominic's face became calm.
Emma knew that expression.
It was the one that came before danger.
“Funny,” Dominic said. “It took losing my legs to learn exactly which men around me had no spine.”
Victor's eyes flashed.
Then Marcus entered behind him.
“Drop it.”
Victor turned.
His face twisted.
“You.”
Marcus's gun was raised.
“I should have done this years ago.”
Victor shifted toward Sofia.
Marcus fired.
The bullet struck Victor's shoulder.
Chaos erupted.
Ethan rushed forward.
Sofia pulled her children down.
Emma pushed Dominic's chair behind cover.
Another shot rang out.
Marcus jerked.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Dominic shouted his name.
Ethan fired.
Victor collapsed.
Within seconds the remaining men surrendered.
Dominic rolled toward Sofia.
She threw her arms around him.
The children cried against his shoulders.
Emma stood nearby, tears running freely.
Dominic looked at her.
Alive.
Everyone alive.
Then Marcus coughed behind them.
Dominic turned.
Marcus lay on the floor.
Blood covered his chest.
Dominic rolled toward him.
“Medic!”
Marcus laughed weakly.
“You finally care about doctors.”
“Shut up.”
Marcus looked at Dominic.
“I am sorry.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“You don't get forgiveness because you're bleeding.”
“I know.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I know.”
“You hurt Linda.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Dominic swallowed.
Marcus looked toward Emma.
“Your father tried to stop us.”
Emma froze.
“What?”
Marcus's breathing became shallow.
“Daniel Harper.”
Emma moved closer.
“What about my father?”
“He didn't die in an accident.”
Her face went white.
Marcus whispered, “Victor killed him.”
Dominic stared.
Emma's knees nearly gave out.
“Why?”
“Daniel found the accounts. He was helping Anthony.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Marcus struggled for breath.
“He saved the envelope. Victor found out.”
Dominic looked toward Victor's body.
Another crime.
Another life.
Another secret.
Marcus whispered, “There's one thing… Anthony didn't put in the letter.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“What?”
Marcus's eyes moved toward Dominic's legs.
“Victor kept records of everything. Including the doctor who said you could recover.”
“Where?”
Marcus whispered an address.
Then his eyes closed.
The medics rushed in.
Emma stood beside Dominic.
Neither spoke.
Hours later, after Sofia and the children were safe and Marcus had been taken into surgery under police guard, Ethan brought Dominic the files from Victor's hidden apartment.
Inside was a medical report.
Signed two years earlier.
Dominic read it three times.
Rebecca confirmed the physician's identity.
The report said that, even months after the original injury, Dominic might have been a candidate for an advanced procedure.
Victor had paid to make sure Dominic never learned about it.
Emma held Dominic's hand.
“Is it too late?”
Rebecca looked at the new scans.
Then at Dominic.
“No.”
The word hung in the air.
Dominic stopped breathing.
Rebecca continued.
“I need more testing. The risks are significant. And there are no guarantees.”
Dominic looked toward Emma.
For two years he had avoided hope because hope could be taken away.
Emma squeezed his hand.
He whispered, “What if it fails?”
She answered softly.
“Then you still wake up as Dominic.”
He looked at her.
“Not half a man?”
Emma's eyes filled.
“Never.”
Dominic leaned forward.
For the first time, he kissed her.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Not like a mafia boss claiming something.
Like a man asking permission to believe he could still have a future.
Emma kissed him back.
May you like
And somewhere beneath Dominic's motionless left foot, a single muscle moved.
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