Chapter 7 - The Ambush at Pier 31
Three weeks passed.
The succession vote was scheduled for Friday night at the Moretti estate in Lake Forest. With Marco in custody and the internal traitor exposed, Vittorio was prepared to officially hand over total leadership of the syndicate to Dawson.
However, Don Carmine Russo wasn't going to surrender his empire without a final, desperate strike.
On Thursday afternoon, my phone rang. It was an unlisted number.
"Miss Vance," a rough, raspy voice sneered over the line. "We have your father. He’s tied to a chair at Warehouse 4 on Pier 31. If you want him alive, come alone in twenty minutes. Tell Dawson, and the old man dies."
My blood ran cold. My father—the man who had abandoned me six months ago—had been captured by Russo’s men to draw me out.
I knew it was a trap. I knew Carmine Russo was using my father as bait to force Dawson into a trap.
Instead of panicking, I pulled out my tablet, opened the private GPS tracking app linked to my watch—an app Dawson had installed two weeks ago—and activated the emergency distress beacon.
Then, I grabbed my coat and headed straight for Pier 31.
When I stepped inside Warehouse 4, the smell of damp timber and diesel fuel filled the air. My father was tied to a wooden chair in the center of the empty floor, his face bruised and bloody.
Standing behind him was Don Carmine Russo himself—a heavy, balding man in a silver suit—surrounded by ten heavily armed enforcers.
"Clara!" my father sobbed, his voice cracking with terror. "I'm sorry! They forced me!"
"Shut up, old man," Carmine spat, stepping forward with a cruel smile. "Where is the Moretti heir, Miss Vance? I expected him to follow his little handler like a obedient dog."
"I didn't come alone, Carmine," I said calmly, standing my ground near the metal door.
Before Carmine could answer, the iron roof panels of the warehouse shattered outward with a deafening CRASH!
Dawson Moretti dropped from the rafters like a shadow, landing in a crouch on the concrete floor, holding two tactical weapons!
Beside him, four Moretti strike teams breached the warehouse doors, their heavy boots thundering across the floor as automatic gunfire erupted throughout the building!
"Protect the Don!" Carmine shrieked, backing away toward a side exit.
Dawson moved like a whirlwind of lethal violence, clearing a path through Russo’s enforcers with terrifying speed. I ducked behind a stack of wooden crates, cutting my father’s ropes with a pocketknife I had hidden in my jacket.
"Run out the back, Dad!" I yelled, shoving him toward the open loading dock door. "Go!"
My father didn't hesitate; he ran for his life into the afternoon light.
I turned back to the warehouse floor just in time to see Don Carmine raise a pistol toward Dawson’s back!
"Dawson! Look out!" I screamed!
Without thinking, I grabbed an iron crowbar from a nearby tool rack and charged forward, swinging the heavy metal bar with all my strength right into Carmine’s knee!
Carmine howled in agony, his shot flying wide into the ceiling as he collapsed onto the concrete floor.
Dawson turned instantly, grabbed Carmine by his collar, and slammed him face-first into the iron pillar, knocking him unconscious.
The warehouse grew completely quiet, save for the hum of the surrounding tide against the wooden pilings.
Dawson stood over Carmine, breathing heavily, his eyes wild with lingering adrenaline. He looked at the crowbar in my hand, then at my face, a slow, breathtaking smile spreading across his blood-stained features.
May you like
"You really love hitting people with heavy objects, don't you?" Dawson chuckled, stepping over the fallen mob boss and pulling me tightly into his arms.
"Only when they try to shoot my heir," I whispered, pressing my face against his neck.
