A Mafia Boss Ignored Every Beautiful Woman At His Gala — Then Chose The Woman Who Had Enough Evidence To Send Him To Prison.
PART 8
Damian inhaled slowly. Emma knew that breath. He was holding himself back for her.
Victor turned toward Ruth.
“The drive.”
“Let my mother leave.”
Victor gestured.
Ruth walked toward Emma, but a guard blocked her before she reached the doors.
“Far enough,” Victor said.
Emma inserted the drive into a laptop placed on a steel table.
A password box appeared.
Paul moved beside her.
“Enter the code.”
Emma glanced at the small network symbol in the corner of the screen. The connection was active. Everything they had said was already stored beyond the warehouse.
She typed slowly.
“What happens after the audit is submitted?” she asked.
Victor smiled. “Damian signs control of the family companies to me.”
“And if he refuses?”
“He watches your mother die. Then he watches you die.”
Damian’s voice was quiet. “I’ll sign.”
Emma looked at him. He was watching her, not Victor.
“No,” she said.
“Emma.”
“You spent your life surrendering pieces of yourself to protect a family that kept demanding more. You don’t surrender again.”
Victor sighed.
“This is why intelligent women are exhausting.”
Ruth lifted her chin. “Intelligent women find mediocre men exhausting too.”
One of the guards snorted before quickly composing himself.
Victor’s face darkened.
“Enough.”
He drew a gun and pointed it at Ruth.
Damian moved instantly.
“So much as touch the trigger,” he said, “and you will not leave this building.”
Victor smiled. “There he is. The Moretti heir.”
“No,” Damian said. “The Moretti heir died when you admitted killing my father.”
Outside, a distant siren became audible. Elias turned toward the windows.
“What is that?”
Emma pressed the final key.
Every overhead light changed from white to flashing red.
The warehouse fire alarm erupted. Metal doors began descending over the loading bays. Sprinklers burst to life, filling the air with freezing water.
“Stop it!” Victor shouted.
“I can’t,” Emma lied. “The system detected an unauthorized data transfer.”
Paul grabbed the laptop. The screen displayed a message: UPLOAD COMPLETE.
His face went gray.
“What did you do?”
“Preserved the audit.”
“You sent it?”
“To federal prosecutors, state investigators, the foundation’s legal counsel, and three independent news organizations.”
Victor pointed the gun at Emma.
Damian stepped between them.
“Move,” Victor ordered.
“No.”
“I raised you.”
“You raised me to believe family meant protection.”
Damian’s voice cracked for the first time.
“But you killed my father, tried to murder me, and threatened the woman I love. You taught me that blood means nothing without loyalty.”
Emma stared at him. The woman I love.
Victor’s hand tightened around the gun.
Damian slowly lowered himself to his knees.
The sight stunned everyone. Chicago’s most feared crime boss knelt on the wet concrete floor without being forced.
“Let Emma and her mother leave,” he said. “You can have the companies. You can have me.”
“Damian, don’t,” Emma whispered.
He did not look away from Victor.
“They are not part of this.”
Victor’s expression shifted. For a moment, he appeared almost moved.
Then he aimed at Damian’s chest.
Emma pulled the fire-emergency lever beside the table.
A steel evacuation gate dropped between Victor and Damian with a deafening crash.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck the gate and ricocheted into a support beam.
Mateo and Damian’s men entered through the side doors at the same moment federal agents poured through the loading bay.
“Federal agents! Drop your weapons!”
Chaos broke across the warehouse.
Victor grabbed Emma and pulled her against him before she could reach Damian. He pressed the gun beneath her jaw.
“Back away!” he shouted.
Everyone froze.
Water poured from Emma’s hair and soaked her dress. Victor’s arm tightened around her neck.
Damian stood slowly.
His eyes met hers. He did not look frightened for himself. He looked terrified for her.
“Let her go,” he said.
Victor moved backward toward a service exit.
“You destroyed our family for this woman.”
“No,” Damian replied. “You destroyed it long before she showed me the numbers.”
Emma felt Victor shifting his weight. His right knee pressed against the back of hers. His gun hand was wet from the sprinklers. His attention remained fixed on Damian.
Numbers stayed where she put them.
People moved.
Emma calculated the angle. She drove her heel down on Victor’s foot and dropped her full weight without warning. His grip slipped. The gun moved away from her jaw.
Damian lunged forward while Mateo struck Victor’s wrist. The weapon skidded across the concrete.
Federal agents surrounded them.
Victor fell to his knees, shouting that the family belonged to him.
Damian did not strike him. He did not even look at him.
He went directly to Emma.
“Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so.”
He placed both hands around her face.
“May I?”