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Chapter 4 - The Wrath of Dominic HaleThe private hangar at Teterboro Airport was bathed in the harsh, sterile glare of overhead halogen lights.

A sleek, black-on-black Gulfstream G650 idled on the tarmac, its twin jet engines humming with a low, vibrating drone that cut through the chilly night air.

Dominic Hale stepped out of his armored Maybach before the car had even come to a complete stop. His dark overcoat billowed behind him in the rotor wash, his expression so dark and frozen that the two armed guards standing by the hangar doors instinctively stepped back to give him wide berth.

Inside the private lounge area of the hangar, two men were tied securely to heavy steel chairs.

Vince Moretti’s enforcers looked considerably worse for wear. The lead man had a purple bruise blossoming across his jaw where Bruno had flattened him, and the second was cradling a dislocated wrist that Marcus’s team had neatly immobilized with a zip-tie.

Dominic walked into the room without a word.

The temperature in the hangar seemed to drop twenty degrees. The two enforcers flinched as the tall, imposing figure of the Westchester syndicate boss loomed over them like an executioner.

“Vince Moretti,” Dominic said softly. His voice didn't rise above a conversational tone, yet it carried the terrifying weight of an impending avalanche. “Sends two amateurs into a residential building to collect a twelve-thousand-dollar debt from a woman who spends her weekends rehabilitating rescue dogs.”

The lead enforcer swallowed hard, trying to summon a shred of bravado. “Listen here, Hale—Moretti owns that paper! We had a right to—!”

Before the man could finish, Dominic moved with terrifying, blinding speed.

He didn't draw a gun. He grabbed the man by the collar of his hoodie, hoisted him out of the steel chair with one hand as if he weighed nothing at all, and slammed him against the concrete wall with a force that rattled the man's teeth.

“You had a right,” Dominic whispered, his face inches from the terrified enforcer's nose, his dark eyes burning with pure, unadulterated fury, “to stay in the Bronx. You had a right to mind your own business. Instead, you crossed into my territory, broke into a private residence, and threatened a woman under my direct protection.”

“We didn't know she was with you!” the man gasped, choking as Dominic’s fingers tightened around his collar. “Moretti just bought the portfolio! We were just following orders—!”

“Tell Vince Moretti three things,” Dominic interrupted, his voice dropping into a register so cold it felt like liquid nitrogen.

The enforcer nodded frantically, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. “Y-Yeah. Anything. Name it.”

“One,” Dominic said, his voice deadly steady. “That debt is now canceled, paid in full, and burned to ash. Two, if any man associated with Moretti’s syndicate comes within five miles of Daisy Harper, her apartment, or her rescue animals again, I won't just shut down his operations in New York—I will personally dismantle his entire family tree brick by brick.”

“Got it! Crystal clear!” the man sobbed. 🇦🇷

“And three,” Dominic added, his gaze narrowing into a razor-sharp glare. “Tell Vince that I’m coming to his social club in Arthur Avenue tomorrow morning at nine o’clock to discuss the future of his waterfront territory. And he better have his ledger ready.”

Dominic released his grip. The enforcer crumpled to the concrete floor like a discarded rag doll, gasping for air.

Dominic turned to Marcus, who stood near the door with a tablet in hand.

“Get them out of my sight,” Dominic ordered, wiping his hands with a clean linen handkerchief. “Dump them on the curb outside Moretti’s headquarters in the Bronx. Make sure they understand the message.”

“And Miss Harper, boss?” Marcus asked cautiously. “She’s currently at the estate. Frank brought her in from Highlandtown twenty minutes ago per your instructions. She’s... well, she’s slightly annoyed that her front door is currently missing its hinges.”

Dominic stopped walking toward his private jet. He looked out across the tarmac toward the dark horizon, his jaw tight.

“Send a contractor to her apartment at first light,” Dominic instructed quietly. “Install a solid steel security door with reinforced deadbolts, smart cameras, and bulletproof glass. Bill it to my personal accounts.”

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“Will do, boss. Are you heading back to the estate now?”

“No,” Dominic said, pulling on his leather gloves. “I have a meeting to arrange in the Bronx.”

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