Chapter 5 - The Siege of Lake Forest
The chaos outside erupted with the deafening roar of automatic gunfire shattering the estate’s pristine glass windows.
Glass rained down across the marble floors as heavy caliber rounds chewed through the front façade of the mansion. Marcus barked rapid tactical orders into his comms unit, positioning armed enforcers at every strategic choke point along the grand staircase and reinforced corridors.
“They bypassed the outer perimeter alarms too fast,” Marcus shouted over the din of shattering glass. “Someone inside the estate leaked our security codes!”
Dominic didn't hesitate. He grabbed Avery’s wrist, pulling her away from the annex door as a volley of bullets ripped through the wall where she had been sitting a second earlier.
“My mother,” Avery gasped, panic clawing at her throat. “She’s at the apartment in Cicero! If the Carusos know who I am—”
“They don’t know about Cicero yet,” Dominic interrupted, pushing her toward the reinforced steel elevator hidden behind the study’s bookcase. “They think you have the physical ledger your father hid before he died—the ledger detailing their toxic waste dumping schemes.”
“I don't have a ledger!” Avery cried, ducking as plaster exploded from the ceiling above them.
“Your father gave it to someone he trusted,” Dominic said grimly, punching the override code into the private elevator panel. “And right now, the Carusos believe that someone is you.”
The elevator doors slid open, revealing a subterranean escape tunnel lined with thick concrete and emergency lighting. Dominic shoved her inside, but instead of stepping in with her, he handed her a heavy encrypted satellite phone.
“Take this. Get into the armored SUV in the third bay. My driver will take you straight to a safehouse near O’Hare where your mother is already being relocated by my personal detail.”
Avery gripped the edge of the elevator car, her knuckles white. “And what about you?”
“I have a house to clean,” Dominic said, a cold, predatory smile touching his lips as he cocked his firearm.
Before she could protest, the elevator doors closed automatically, sealing her in the dark descent beneath the burning estate.
Upstairs, the battle for the Moretti compound was a masterclass in tactical violence. The Caruso enforcers, expecting an isolated country estate, walked directly into a meat grinder of professional security and an enraged syndicate boss who had waited twelve years to settle a blood debt.
Dominic moved through the darkened corridors like a ghost, neutralizing intruders with cold, surgical efficiency. He knew every blind spot, every shadow, and every hidden exit. By the time the lead Caruso captain—a notorious enforcer named Sal Rizzo—kicked open the door to the private study, his men had been systematically whittled down to a desperate handful.
“Looking for someone, Sal?” Dominic’s voice echoed from the darkness near the fireplace.
Rizzo spun around, raising his submachine gun, but before he could squeeze the trigger, a heavy mahogany chair crashed into his knees, sending him sprawling across the broken glass.
Dominic stepped out from the shadows, pressing the cold barrel of his Beretta directly between Rizzo’s eyes.
“You’re twelve years too late,” Dominic whispered.
“You think killing me stops the board, Moretti?” Rizzo spat, blood pooling on his lip. “The girl’s father was a thief. And she’s going to finish what he started—at the bottom of Lake Michigan.”
Dominic didn't answer with words. He answered with the butt of his weapon, plunging Rizzo into unconsciousness before turning his comms unit on.
“Marcus. Status on the perimeter?”
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“All intruders neutralized, Boss,” Marcus’s voice crackled back over the radio. “The northern convoy is boxed in. And Miss Carter is safely on the highway heading toward the O’Hare safehouse.”
Dominic exhaled slowly, lowering his weapon as the smell of smoke and cordite filled the ruined study. The war was far from over, but the first battle had been won.
