Chapter 9 - THE LAST WAR FOR ROMANO TOWER
The elevator stopped between floors.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Gabriel heard gunfire below.
He pressed the communication panel.
Nothing.
His phone showed no signal.
The building’s internal system had been cut.
He forced his fingers into the elevator doors and pulled.
The inner doors opened onto concrete.
Half of the thirty-first floor appeared above him.
He climbed.
Pain tore through his healing ribs, but he ignored it.
On the thirty-second floor, Norah heard the first shots through the ventilation system.
She was in Gabriel’s office with Evelyn, Rosa, and two attorneys preparing the final cooperation documents.
The lights went out.
Norah moved immediately.
“Safe room.”
Rosa guided Evelyn toward the hidden door behind the bookcase.
One attorney froze.
The other reached for his phone.
Norah knocked it from his hand.
“No calls.”
“You cannot tell me—”
The office doors exploded inward.
Dominic’s men entered.
Norah fired twice.
One man fell.
Rosa pulled Evelyn into the safe room.
The attorneys crawled behind the desk.
Norah moved toward the side corridor.
She could not allow Dominic’s men to find the safe room.
She made herself visible.
Then she ran.
They followed.
The thirty-second floor contained executive offices, conference rooms, and a long glass corridor overlooking the city.
Norah fired through the lights.
Darkness covered the hallway.
She knew every turn.
Dominic’s men did not.
One crashed into a glass divider.
Another fired blindly.
Norah reached the records room and locked the door behind her.
There were no windows.
No second exit.
She had intentionally trapped herself.
Her phone connected briefly to the building’s secure network.
One message arrived from Gabriel.
WHERE ARE YOU?
She typed.
RECORDS ROOM. DO NOT COME.
His response appeared instantly.
THAT IS NOT AN ORDER YOU GET TO GIVE.
The handle began to move.
Norah loaded another magazine.
Then the wall behind her opened.
Gabriel stepped through a maintenance panel.
She stared.
“How?”
“I own the building.”
“Dominic’s men are outside.”
“I noticed.”
He crossed to her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Your sleeve is bloody.”
“Not mine.”
He looked relieved for less than a second.
Then the door shook.
“We need to reach the server room,” Norah said. “Dominic cut communications through the central controls.”
“Matteo?”
“Unknown.”
“Evelyn?”
“Safe room.”
Gabriel touched her face.
“You made yourself the target.”
“They were searching for me.”
“You could have hidden.”
“So could you.”
The door hinges began to split.
Gabriel opened the maintenance passage.
They crawled through darkness while gunmen entered the records room behind them.
The narrow shaft led to the executive conference room.
When Gabriel emerged, someone struck him from the side.
Dominic.
Gabriel hit the floor.
Norah raised her gun.
Dominic held a weapon against Gabriel’s head.
“Drop it.”
Norah did not.
Dominic smiled.
“This is the woman who ended the Romano family.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “That was me.”
Dominic kicked him.
“You gave our enemies everything.”
“I ended trafficking routes.”
“You ended our power.”
“I ended yours.”
Dominic pressed the gun harder against his temple.
Norah slowly lowered her weapon.
“Slide it away.”
She did.
Dominic looked at her.
“Gabriel always had one weakness.”
Norah’s voice stayed calm.
“His ego?”
“You.”
Gabriel’s eyes met hers.
Dominic continued.
“He changed after you appeared. Started questioning the old routes. Refused deals his father would have accepted.”
“His father refused them too.”
“His father died.”
“So will anyone who mistakes cruelty for tradition.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
He turned the gun toward Norah.
That was the mistake.
Gabriel struck his arm.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
They fought across the conference table.
Dominic was larger.
Gabriel was injured.
Norah reached for her weapon, but another man entered behind her.
He grabbed her hair and pulled her backward.
She drove her elbow into his ribs.
He struck her across the face.
Gabriel saw it.
Something savage entered his expression.
He threw Dominic into the glass wall.
The panel cracked.
Dominic lunged again.
Gabriel moved aside.
The weakened glass shattered.
Dominic fell through.
His hands caught the metal frame.
Thirty-two floors of air opened beneath him.
Gabriel grabbed his wrist.
Dominic looked up.
For a second, everything stopped.
“You betrayed your blood,” Dominic gasped.
Gabriel held him.
“No.”
His grip tightened.
“I refused to become it.”
Federal tactical officers entered the room.
They pulled Dominic back through the broken wall and arrested him.
Gabriel turned toward Norah.
She stood near the door, one hand against her bleeding lip.
He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
The embrace was not careful.
It was desperate.
“You told me not to come,” he said.
“You rarely follow instructions.”
“Never give that one again.”
She held him tighter.
Matteo entered, limping slightly.
“Everyone secure?”
“Yes,” Gabriel said.
Matteo looked at the shattered window.
“You redecorated.”
“It was necessary.”
By afternoon, Romano Tower was surrounded by reporters.
Dominic’s failed takeover destroyed the final organized resistance inside the company.
Gabriel signed the plea agreement that evening.
Norah sat beside him.
When the final page was placed in front of him, his hand paused.
Eighteen months.
A year and a half away from the city.
Away from the company.
Away from her.
Norah placed her hand over his.
“Sign.”
He looked at her.
“You told me to fight.”
“You did.”
“This still takes me away.”
“It gives you a way back.”
He signed.
Two months later, Gabriel reported voluntarily to a federal correctional facility in Pennsylvania.
No cameras were permitted inside the gates.
Norah stood beside the car.
Evelyn waited behind her.
Gabriel had rebuilt the legitimate company under a new board. Matteo became chief operating officer. Rosa managed the charitable trust created from the recovered Hawthorne funds.
Norah was offered the position of chief executive.
She refused.
Then accepted after Gabriel called her stubborn, irrational, and uniquely qualified.
At the gate, Gabriel touched her cheek.
“Eighteen months.”
“I can count.”
“You could visit.”
“I might.”
“You will.”
“That sounds like an order.”
“It is hope phrased aggressively.”
She smiled.
Then her eyes filled.
Gabriel pulled her close.
“I love you,” he said.
The words were quiet.
No audience.
No strategy.
Norah closed her eyes against his chest.
“I know.”
“That is not the traditional response.”
“I have waited four years. You can wait five seconds.”
She lifted her face.
“I love you too.”
He kissed her.
Then he walked through the gate.
Norah stood until he disappeared.
Three weeks later, a package arrived at Romano Tower.
Inside was a photograph of Norah leaving the prison after her first visit.
A red circle had been drawn around her head.
May you like
Beneath it were five words.
LUCIAN DEVERAUX HAS NOT FORGOTTEN.
