Chapter 5 - The Night Dominic Lost His Throne
At midnight, the Foundry was silent.
No music.
No crowd.
Only Dominic, Sadi, Nox, Marco, and twelve trusted men.
Leo entered first.
He wore a new suit.
Dominic noticed.
“That’s expensive.”
Leo smiled.
“New employer.”
“Keep the receipt.”
Three men entered behind him.
The last one was older, silver-haired, calm.
Sadi recognized him immediately.
“Victor Kane.”
The man smiled.
“Sadie Jenkins.”
Dominic glanced at her.
“You know him?”
“He ran recruitment.”
Victor spread his hands.
“I built opportunities.”
Nox stepped forward.
“You built cages.”
Victor barely looked at him.
“Nikolai.”
Nox’s hands clenched.
Dominic raised one finger.
Nox stopped.
Victor looked amused.
“You’ve trained him well.”
Dominic’s voice was flat.
“He chooses to stay.”
“Everyone says that eventually.”
Sadi stepped closer.
“What do you want?”
Victor looked at her.
“The archive.”
“No.”
“You kept something that belongs to us.”
“Evidence of crimes doesn’t belong to criminals.”
Victor smiled.
“You became moral in your old age.”
“I became awake.”
“You betrayed people who trusted you.”
Sadi laughed.
“You paid me. You never trusted me.”
Victor glanced toward Dominic.
“And now you’re hiding behind another criminal.”
Sadi’s face hardened.
“I’m standing beside him.”
Dominic looked at her.
For some reason, that mattered more than it should have.
Victor noticed.
“Oh.”
He smiled.
“This is interesting.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Careful.”
Victor ignored him.
“You were serious about marrying her?”
Dominic’s eyes turned cold.
“That conversation is between us.”
Leo laughed.
“You really lost your mind over a waitress.”
Dominic looked at him.
“No, Leo.”
He moved closer.
“I lost something else.”
Leo smirked.
“What?”
“My patience.”
The steel doors behind Leo slammed shut.
Leo turned.
Marco locked them.
Victor remained calm.
“You think you trapped us?”
“No,” Sadi said.
Victor looked at her.
She raised her phone.
“You trapped yourselves.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
Sadi continued.
“Everything you’ve said since entering this room has been transmitted to six locations.”
Leo went pale.
“You’re bluffing.”
She tapped the screen.
A monitor above the bar lit up.
Six video windows appeared.
A federal prosecutor.
A journalist.
A retired judge.
Two investigators.
And a lawyer representing trafficking survivors.
Victor stared.
Dominic smiled.
“Redundancy.”
Sadi looked at him.
“You really love that word.”
“It’s a good word.”
Victor’s composure finally cracked.
“You idiot.”
Dominic’s smile disappeared.
Victor pointed at Sadi.
“You think this evidence destroys us?”
“It doesn’t need to.”
“What?”
Sadi walked toward the cage.
“It only needs to make everyone beneath you understand that you’re no longer untouchable.”
Phones began ringing.
One after another.
Victor’s men checked theirs.
Their expressions changed.
Leo pulled out his phone.
“No.”
Dominic watched him.
“What happened?”
Leo’s face turned white.
“Accounts frozen.”
Marco checked his own phone.
“Three warehouses are being raided.”
Nox smiled.
Victor lunged toward Sadi.
Nox stepped between them.
Victor stopped.
Nox looked down at him.
“You do not own me anymore.”
Victor backed away.
Dominic looked toward Leo.
“And you.”
Leo shook his head.
“Boss, listen—”
“You sold my location.”
“They threatened me.”
“You pulled a gun on a waitress because she wouldn’t smile.”
Leo swallowed.
Dominic’s voice stayed calm.
“You weren’t afraid then.”
“I made a mistake.”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked toward Marco.
“Remove him from every business I control.”
Leo blinked.
“That’s it?”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“You were expecting something dramatic?”
Leo said nothing.
“No. You’re leaving this city alive.”
Relief crossed Leo’s face.
Dominic continued.
“But every club, casino, loan office, restaurant, union contact and bookkeeper who works with me will know you stole from your own family.”
Leo’s relief disappeared.
“You’re ruining me.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at Sadi.
“You did that yourself.”
Federal agents arrived ten minutes later.
Victor was taken away.
Then his men.
Finally, Leo.
When the doors closed, the Foundry became quiet again.
Dominic stood beside the empty cage.
Marco approached.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“The captains are calling.”
“Why?”
“They heard you gave financial records to federal prosecutors.”
Dominic shrugged.
“I gave them Black Crown records.”
“They don’t care.”
Dominic stared at him.
Marco continued.
“Half the Westside captains think you crossed a line.”
“And the other half?”
“They think you’ve gone soft.”
Dominic laughed.
“Because I helped destroy traffickers?”
“Because you did it for her.”
Silence.
Sadi stepped closer.
“Dominic.”
He looked at her.
“What happens now?”
Marco answered.
“They’ll challenge him.”
Sadi frowned.
“For leadership?”
“Yes.”
Dominic slipped his hands into his pockets.
Sadi stared at him.
“You knew this could happen.”
“Yes.”
“You did it anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dominic looked at her.
May you like
“Some empires deserve to be lost.”
---
