Chapter 7 - SHATTERED GLASS
The harsh click of Matteo pumping the shotgun echoed loudly in the humid air of the greenhouse.
I pulled Leo tighter against my chest, shielding his eyes, pressing myself into the damp soil behind Dominic.
Dominic didn't flinch. He stood tall, completely blocking us from Matteo’s view.
"You really think you can run the family, Matteo?" Dominic asked, his voice steady, devoid of the panic I felt vibrating through my own body. "You couldn't even steal a folder without getting caught on camera."
Matteo’s face flushed red with rage. "Shut up! You always talked down to me! Sal saw my potential!"
"Sal used you as a pawn," Dominic shot back. "Look at him. He's bleeding in the dirt. He was going to let you take the fall for the robbery while he walked away with fifty million dollars."
Matteo’s eyes darted nervously to Sal's unconscious body, then back to Dominic. The barrel of the shotgun wavered slightly.
"It doesn't matter anymore," Matteo said, his voice cracking. "I'm taking what's mine."
He tightened his finger on the trigger.
Suddenly, a loud, wet cough interrupted the standoff.
Everyone froze.
From the shadows near the shattered glass wall, a figure dragged himself forward.
It was Charles Mercer.
His tailored suit was soaked in blood. His face was ghostly pale. He was leaning heavily against a wooden potting table, clutching his stomach with one hand.
In his other hand, he held a crumpled piece of paper.
"Matteo," Charles wheezed, his voice barely a whisper. "Don't."
Matteo spun the shotgun toward Charles. "Stay out of this, Mercer! You're already dead!"
"I am," Charles coughed, a terrible rattling sound in his chest. "But before I die... I need Dominic to know the truth."
Charles let the crumpled paper fall from his hand. It drifted down to the dirt.
It was a child's drawing. Crayon on construction paper. A picture of a little girl holding hands with a stick figure of her father.
"Sal didn't just take my daughter, Dom," Charles gasped, locking eyes with Dominic. "Matteo helped him. Matteo is the one who took her from the school playground."
Dominic’s expression went from calm defiance to absolute, terrifying fury.
"Is that true, Matteo?" Dominic growled, taking a slow step forward. "You kidnapped an eight-year-old girl?"
Matteo took a step back, the panic finally breaking through his anger. "It was business, Dom! We needed leverage on Charles!"
"You crossed the line," Dominic said, his voice dropping an octave. "Women and children. That was my father's rule. That was my rule."
"I make the rules now!" Matteo screamed, leveling the shotgun at Dominic’s head.
But in that split second of distraction, Charles Mercer did the one honorable thing left in his life.
Charles threw his weight forward, lunging into the explosive tripwire rigged to the doorframe.
He didn't hit the main charge. He hit the secondary detonator.
BOOM.
A concussive shockwave ripped through the greenhouse.
The force of the blast blew out the remaining glass panels, sending a shower of sharp debris raining down around us.
Matteo was thrown backward, the shotgun flying from his hands, as the heavy steel doors blew inward off their hinges.
Dominic dove backward, covering me and Leo with his entire body as dirt, glass, and smoke filled the air.
My ears were ringing endlessly. Dust choked my lungs.
I opened my eyes, coughing wildly.
The emergency lights flickered and died. The only illumination came from the pale moonlight filtering through the destroyed roof.
"Hannah," Dominic coughed, sitting up and brushing debris off my shoulders. "Are you hurt? Leo?"
"We're okay," I gasped, checking Leo’s face. He was crying silently, but he was uninjured.
Dominic turned toward the blast zone.
Charles Mercer was gone, buried beneath the rubble of the steel doors.
Matteo was lying near the twisted metal, groaning, his leg trapped under a massive structural beam that had fallen from the roof.
Dominic stood up slowly. He picked up his backup pistol from the dirt.
He walked over to his brother.
Matteo looked up, his face covered in soot and blood. "Dom... please. I'm your brother."
Dominic looked down at him. The betrayal in his eyes was absolute.
"You lost the right to call me that the minute you touched a child," Dominic said coldly.
Suddenly, a shadow shifted behind Dominic.
I saw it before he did.
Sal wasn't unconscious.
He had dragged himself up from the dirt. In his bloody hand, he held a small, silver derringer he must have kept in an ankle holster.
And he was aiming it squarely at Dominic’s back.
"Dominic, behind you!" I screamed.
Sal fired.
But I had already moved.
I didn't think. I just reacted. I lunged forward, throwing my body between the bullet and the man who had risked everything to save my son.
The force of the impact spun me around.
A burning, tearing pain ripped through my left shoulder.
I hit the dirt, the world tilting violently as the sounds of the greenhouse faded into a high-pitched ring.
"Hannah!" Dominic roared.
He spun around, leveling his pistol at Sal.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't offer a speech.
He pulled the trigger three times.
Sal’s body jerked backward, crashing into the shattered terracotta pots, and finally lay still.
Complete silence descended on the ruined greenhouse.
Dominic dropped the gun. He sprinted to my side, sliding into the dirt, pulling me into his arms.
"Hannah... God, no, Hannah," he panicked, his hands pressing frantically against my shoulder to stop the bleeding.
"Mommy!" Leo screamed, running over and burying his face in my side.
I looked up at Dominic, my vision swimming, but I managed a weak, breathless smile.
"I think... I need some time off, Mr. Caruso."
May you like
Dominic pressed his forehead against mine, his breathing ragged, a single tear dropping onto my cheek.
"You have the rest of your life, Hannah," he whispered. "I promise."
