Chapter 6 - The Last Man Standing
Six months changed Chicago.
Damian sold businesses tied to Anthony’s network.
He shut down operations he refused to defend anymore.
Some men left.
Others tried to challenge him.
None succeeded.
The Velvet Vault remained.
But it became legitimate.
Mostly.
Elena noticed that word mattered whenever Damian used it.
“Mostly?” she asked one evening.
They stood inside his office.
Damian loosened his tie.
“Nobody is perfect.”
“That’s not how laws work.”
“You’ve become annoyingly judgmental.”
“You hired me.”
“That was my second mistake.”
“What was your first?”
Damian raised his healed wrist.
Elena smiled.
She now ran corporate security for Rossi Holdings.
Her real name had been restored.
Daniel worked with federal investigators and had begun rebuilding his life.
Luca remained exactly what Luca had always been.
Suspicious of everyone.
Especially Elena.
Except now he brought her coffee every morning.
That evening, Damian placed an envelope on her desk.
“What’s this?”
“Open it.”
Inside were documents.
Elena read them.
Then looked up.
“The Velvet Vault?”
“Fifty-one percent.”
“You’re giving me controlling ownership?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because everybody here is afraid of me.”
“And?”
“You aren’t.”
“That seems like a terrible business qualification.”
“It’s surprisingly useful.”
She closed the folder.
“I don’t want your charity.”
“It isn’t charity.”
“Then what?”
Damian leaned against the desk.
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
“My worst instincts.”
Elena laughed.
“You want me to stop you from becoming a criminal again?”
“I want somebody capable of putting me on the floor when necessary.”
“You have hundreds of employees.”
“None have demonstrated the skill.”
She stared at him.
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
A knock interrupted them.
Luca entered.
“We have a problem.”
Damian immediately straightened.
“What?”
“Marco.”
Elena froze.
“What about him?”
“He agreed to cooperate months ago.”
“Yes.”
“He disappeared from federal custody during a hospital transfer.”
Damian’s expression went cold.
“When?”
“Forty minutes ago.”
Elena stood.
“Where’s Daniel?”
Luca didn’t answer.
Her blood went cold.
“Where is my brother?”
“At his apartment.”
“Is he safe?”
“We lost contact ten minutes ago.”
Elena was already moving.
Damian caught her arm.
She looked down at his hand.
He immediately released her.
“Sorry.”
“Good memory.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“This is my brother.”
“And Marco is my mistake.”
Elena looked into his eyes.
“No heroics.”
Damian nodded.
“No broken wrists.”
“No promises.”
They left together.
Daniel’s apartment door was open.
Elena rushed inside.
“Daniel!”
“Kitchen!”
She found him sitting calmly at the table.
Luca stared.
“You’re okay?”
Daniel nodded toward the man sitting opposite him.
Marco.
Damian stopped.
Marco looked exhausted.
Defeated.
“I didn’t escape,” Marco said.
Elena frowned.
“What?”
“They let me go.”
Daniel explained.
“Cooperation agreement. Reduced sentence. Protective arrangement.”
Damian stared at Marco.
“Then why come here?”
Marco placed a flash drive on the table.
“Because Anthony had one final account.”
Damian didn’t move.
“What account?”
“Everything he stole.”
Marco pushed the drive forward.
“Daniel can return it to the victims.”
Elena studied Marco.
“Why?”
He looked at Damian.
“Because I spent my whole life blaming him for having more.”
Damian said nothing.
Marco continued.
“Turns out having less wasn’t the thing that made me small.”
He stood.
“I did that myself.”
Damian looked at his cousin.
“Where will you go?”
“Somewhere nobody knows Rossi.”
“Good luck.”
Marco almost smiled.
“Yeah.”
He walked toward the door.
Then stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
Damian didn’t forgive him.
Not yet.
May you like
But he nodded.
Sometimes that was enough to begin.
