Chapter 13 - THE RAIL YARD
Rain began again before they reached St. Gabriel freight terminal.
Victor hated the weather.
Elena had died in rain.
Thomas Bennett had died on wet roads.
Adrian’s warehouse had burned during a thunderstorm.
Some families had superstitions.
Victor had memories.
The rail yard stretched beneath orange industrial lights.
Freight cars formed long black walls.
Victor stopped his vehicle three blocks away.
Raymond had ordered Adrian and Nicholas brought.
He had said nothing about Lily.
Victor told her to stay in the car.
She looked at him.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“Ethan reaches for me when he’s scared.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“That is exactly why you stay.”
“What if he needs someone he recognizes?”
“He’ll have me.”
Lily’s eyes softened.
“Yes.”
“He will.”
She sat back.
Victor seemed surprised.
“You’re agreeing?”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Debatable.”
She almost smiled.
Then her face became serious.
“Bring him home.”
Victor nodded.
Adrian and Nicholas exited the SUV.
They looked nothing alike at first glance.
Then Lily saw it.
The same posture.
The same way they scanned a room.
The same habit of curling the left hand when nervous.
Blood could hide.
It rarely disappeared completely.
Victor wore no visible weapon.
Neither did Adrian.
Nicholas carried nothing.
They walked into the rail yard.
A speaker crackled.
Raymond’s voice.
“Beautiful.”
Victor looked around.
“Show yourself.”
“Patience.”
A spotlight snapped on.
Serena sat tied to a chair beside a freight car.
Nicholas stopped.
“Mom.”
The word escaped him before he could stop it.
Serena looked up.
Her face crumpled.
“Nicholas.”
Adrian stared at her.
Twenty-four years stood between them too.
Serena’s eyes shifted toward him.
Then away.
Another spotlight turned on.
A crib stood twenty yards in the opposite direction.
Ethan was inside.
Victor’s body moved instinctively.
The speaker crackled.
“Don’t.”
Victor stopped.
A man stood behind the crib.
Gun lowered.
Not aimed at Ethan.
But close enough.
Victor’s eyes became lethal.
Raymond stepped from between two freight cars.
He held an umbrella.
Of course he did.
His suit remained dry.
His shoes were polished.
He looked like he had arrived for a board meeting.
“Family reunion.”
He smiled.
“No newspapers.”
“No lawyers.”
“Just blood.”
Victor stared at him.
“Let them go.”
Raymond looked amused.
“You still believe you give orders here.”
Nicholas stepped forward.
“You lied to me.”
Raymond looked at him.
“Yes.”
The easy admission seemed to hurt more.
Nicholas’s face hardened.
“About my mother.”
“Yes.”
“About Thomas.”
“Sometimes.”
“About who I am.”
Raymond’s expression changed slightly.
“Ah.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“So Elena’s little insurance policy survived.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
Raymond replied.
“Serena was never very good at dates.”
Serena glared at him.
“You told me Nicholas was yours.”
Raymond smiled.
“I needed you loyal.”
“You stole my son.”
“I raised him.”
“You poisoned him against me.”
“I educated him.”
Nicholas stepped forward.
“You turned me into a weapon.”
Raymond looked almost proud.
“And a very effective one.”
Victor’s gaze remained on Ethan.
The baby was crying.
Not loudly.
Tired little sobs.
Victor’s hands clenched.
“What do you want?”
Raymond looked at him.
“Three things.”
“The complete Bennett archive.”
“Adrian’s blood sample.”
“And Nicholas’s signature.”
Nicholas frowned.
“On what?”
Raymond smiled.
“A renunciation.”
Adrian understood.
“You want him to surrender any claim to the trust.”
“Yes.”
“Then Ethan?”
Raymond looked toward the crib.
“Accidents happen.”
Victor moved one step.
The guard behind Ethan lifted his weapon.
Victor stopped.
Raymond smiled.
“Predictable.”
Lily’s voice suddenly came through Victor’s hidden earpiece.
“Victor.”
He barely reacted.
She was watching through a long-range camera.
“There are four men on the east platform.”
“Two behind Raymond.”
“Another on the crane.”
Victor moved his finger once against his leg.
Signal received.
Raymond continued speaking.
“Your father believed fear was enough to build a dynasty.”
“He was wrong.”
“Paper builds dynasties.”
“Trusts.”
“Birth certificates.”
“Marriage licenses.”
“Wills.”
“Men like Salvatore spent decades shooting people when all they needed was a good attorney.”
Victor almost smiled.
“Yet here you are with guns.”
Raymond’s expression cooled.
“Because attorneys are slow.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Take my blood.”
Raymond looked at him.
“Adrian.”
“Take it.”
“Let Serena go.”
Nicholas turned.
“What are you doing?”
Adrian did not look at him.
“Something I should have done twenty-four years ago.”
Raymond laughed.
“You think this is fatherhood?”
“No.”
Adrian replied.
“It’s the first payment on a debt.”
Serena began crying.
Nicholas stared at him.
Raymond gestured.
A medic stepped forward with a kit.
Adrian held out his arm.
Blood was drawn.
Raymond looked at Nicholas.
“Now sign.”
A document was brought.
Nicholas took it.
He read.
Then tore it in half.
Raymond’s smile vanished.
“No.”
Nicholas said.
“You raised me to understand leverage.”
“So understand mine.”
Raymond’s eyes hardened.
Nicholas continued.
“If I die tonight, DNA results eventually come out.”
“If Adrian dies, same problem.”
“If Ethan dies, every federal agency in Illinois tears through your life.”
“You need all three of us alive until you fix the trust.”
Raymond stared.
Nicholas smiled faintly.
“You taught me well.”
Victor heard Lily whisper.
“Good.”
Raymond’s face became colder.
“You forget one lesson.”
Nicholas waited.
“Never assume your opponent needs tomorrow.”
Raymond lifted one hand.
A gunshot cracked.
Serena screamed.
Nicholas turned.
Adrian shoved him down.
The bullet struck the freight car behind them.
Chaos exploded.
Victor ran toward Ethan.
His men emerged from darkness.
Lily’s voice guided them through the earpiece.
“Left.”
“Two moving left.”
“Victor, behind the yellow car.”
Victor reached the crib.
The guard was gone.
Ethan screamed.
Victor lifted him.
“Dad’s here.”
He held the baby against his chest.
Raymond disappeared between freight cars.
Adrian cut Serena free.
Nicholas helped her stand.
For one brief second, it looked as though they had won.
Then Lily’s voice changed.
“Victor.”
He froze.
“What?”
Silence.
“Lily?”
A man answered through her channel.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Victor’s face went cold.
It was Gabriel.
No.
Not Gabriel.
Dominic.
Victor recognized the voice.
“Dominic?”
“I’m sorry.”
Victor stopped breathing.
Lily was supposed to be three blocks away.
Protected by Gabriel.
Dominic continued.
“Raymond planned for the rail yard.”
“So did someone else.”
Victor held Ethan tighter.
“Where is Lily?”
A pause.
Then Lily’s voice came faintly.
“Victor, don’t—”
The line cut.
Dominic returned.
“She’s alive.”
“For now.”
Victor’s rage became frighteningly still.
“What do you want?”
Dominic sighed.
“The same thing Thomas wanted eight years ago.”
Victor stared into the rain.
“To end this family.”
Then the call disconnected.
Victor looked toward Adrian.
Raymond had escaped.
Lily had been taken.
And Dominic Russo, the man Thomas Bennett once trusted to protect the truth, had finally revealed himself.
May you like
But one question was worse than all the others.
If Dominic had been working against the Blackwoods all along, who had he really been working for?
