Chapter 27 - The Man Who Wouldn’t Miss
Luca studied the bedroom photograph for an hour.
“He could have killed me,” Dominic said.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“Professional curiosity?” Mason suggested.
Nobody laughed.
Agent Pierce entered.
“We found the fake guard’s vehicle.”
“Anything useful?”
“One receipt.”
She displayed it.
A hardware store.
Hannah frowned.
“What did he buy?”
“Fishing line. Industrial magnets. Small mirrors.”
Adrian looked confused.
“Assassination by arts and crafts?”
Luca’s expression changed.
“The theater.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
“He’s preparing a mechanical shot.”
They rushed to the Marlowe.
The building remained officially closed.
Technicians searched Box Six.
Nothing.
They searched lighting rigs.
Catwalks.
Air ducts.
Then Hannah noticed one mirror mounted near an ornamental column.
It looked decorative.
“It wasn’t there before.”
Harlan insisted it had been.
Hannah knew the building better.
“No.”
Luca examined it.
Fishing line ran behind the molding.
The line connected to a hidden trigger mechanism pointed toward Box Six.
A rifle had been mounted inside the opposite lighting cavity.
Remote-fired.
A perfect shot.
Dominic looked at the weapon.
“He expected me here.”
Hannah examined the angle.
“No.”
“What?”
“The chair.”
The rifle was aimed at the left chair.
Hannah’s chair.
Silence.
Dominic’s face changed instantly.
“He isn’t targeting me.”
Luca checked.
“She’s right.”
Hannah felt cold.
“But Gabriel’s contract named Dominic.”
Adrian looked toward the weapon.
“Maybe Reaper changed the target.”
“Why?”
A voice answered from the theater below.
“Because killing you would be mercy.”
Everyone spun.
A man stood in the center aisle.
Mid-fifties.
Gray jacket.
Ordinary face.
No visible weapon.
Luca aimed.
“Hands.”
The man raised them.
Dominic stepped forward.
“Reaper.”
“My name is Thomas Ward.”
Elias Ward’s older brother.
Hannah understood.
Their father had destroyed his family.
Thomas looked at Dominic.
“Salvatore had my son arrested on false drug charges because I refused to transport weapons.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“My son died in prison.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
Thomas pointed toward Hannah.
“Then she appeared.”
Hannah stared.
“She built clinics with Moretti money. Paid workers Salvatore cheated. Made your name sound clean.”
His voice grew bitter.
“You don’t get clean.”
Dominic moved in front of Hannah.
“If you want revenge, take it against me.”
Thomas laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
He looked toward Box Six.
“Your punishment is losing the person who made you human.”
Luca’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Hannah stepped sideways.
“Thomas.”
Dominic whispered, “Don’t.”
She ignored him.
“Your brother came here last night.”
Thomas froze.
“He told us his wife survived because of the foundation.”
“My brother is weak.”
“His wife is alive.”
“My son isn’t.”
“No.”
Hannah walked slowly down the aisle.
Dominic followed one step behind.
“I cannot bring him back.”
Thomas’s face trembled.
“No.”
“I can’t tell you Salvatore didn’t deserve your hatred.”
“No.”
“But Dominic isn’t Salvatore.”
“He carries his name.”
“So does Adrian.”
She pointed toward him.
“So does Gabriel. Same name. Different choices.”
Thomas’s eyes filled with fury.
“You think charity erases blood?”
“No.”
Hannah stopped ten feet away.
“I think what you do next belongs to you.”
The words hung in the theater.
Thomas looked toward Dominic.
For decades, his grief had needed the Morettis to remain monsters.
Hannah’s existence complicated revenge.
Thomas slowly reached inside his jacket.
Luca shouted.
“DON’T!”
Thomas withdrew a small remote.
Dominic moved toward Hannah.
Thomas looked at the button.
Then dropped it.
It hit the carpet.
Luca kicked it away.
Federal agents rushed in.
Thomas did not resist.
As Pierce handcuffed him, Thomas looked at Dominic.
“I wanted you to feel what I felt.”
Dominic answered quietly.
“I already have.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Dominic looked toward Adrian.
“My brother died for twelve years.”
Then toward Hannah.
“And I almost lost her because I believed fear could protect love.”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
The danger was over.
Almost.
Because five minutes later, Agent Pierce received a call from the detention center.
Gabriel Moretti had collapsed.
Poisoning.
Someone had reached him inside federal custody.
May you like
And before losing consciousness, Gabriel had written two words on the cell wall.
NOT OVER.
