Chapter 3 - The Interrogation and the Snake
The basement beneath the Cray mansion didn't smell like the upper floors with their lavender polish and beeswax. It smelled of damp concrete, old iron, and fear.
At 8:00 AM, after ensuring Marcus was eating pancakes in the grand kitchen under the watchful eye of three armed guards, I followed Dominic down the narrow stone staircase behind the wine cellar.
I didn't want to go, but Dominic insisted. "You need to hear this, Elena. You need to know who our enemy is."
The holding cell was a reinforced concrete room with a single steel chair bolted to the floor. Victor Strand was tied to the chair with heavy industrial zip-ties. His face was bruised, his expensive suit ruined, and his breathing was heavy and shallow.
Dominic stood near the steel door, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked calm, almost relaxed, as if he were waiting for a morning train.
"Good morning, Victor," Dominic said softly.
Victor flinched at the sound of Dominic’s voice. It was still a shock to his system to hear his former master speaking with full acoustic awareness.
"Dominic... please," Victor croaked, his lips dry and cracked. "I was forced into it. You have to believe me. They threatened my family!"
"You don't have a family, Victor," Dominic replied without a hint of emotion. "You have a gambling debt in Atlantic City and three offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. We checked your books last night."
Victor swallowed hard, looking around the dark room frantically. Then his eyes landed on me, standing just inside the doorway. A sudden flash of pure venom filled his expression.
"You," Victor spat at me. "You worthless little servant. You brought that bastard child into this house. He ruined everything!"
Before Victor could finish the sentence, Dominic moved.
He didn't draw a weapon. He simply stepped forward and struck Victor across the face with a heavy backhand. The crack echoed off the concrete walls. Victor’s head snapped back, blood spraying from his lip.
"Speak about her or her son again," Dominic said, his voice dropping into a register so terrifying it made my blood run cold, "and I won't bother asking you any more questions. I'll just hand you over to Marco."
Marco, a giant of a man who served as Dominic’s chief enforcer, stepped out from the shadows near the corner, holding a pair of heavy iron pliers. He offered Victor a dark, terrifying smile.
Victor began to weep. The arrogance that had sustained him for years evaporated into pure terror.
"Who gave you the jammer, Victor?" Dominic asked, stepping back. "Who paid for the Swiss tech?"
"Julian... Julian Vance," Victor sobbed, wiping blood on his shoulder.
I froze. The breath was knocked right out of my lungs.
"What did you say?" I whispered, stepping closer despite the horror of the room. "Who?"
Victor looked at me, his eyes wide with pathetic fear. "Julian Vance! Your ex-husband's brother! The CEO of Vance Pharmaceuticals!"
My mind raced, trying to connect the dots of a reality that felt entirely insane. My late husband, Thomas Vance, had died four years ago in a strange hit-and-run accident. His brother, Julian, had immediately taken over the family's massive pharmaceutical empire, cutting me off entirely from Thomas's estate and leaving me penniless while I was pregnant with Marcus.
"Why would Julian Vance want Dominic deaf?" I demanded, my voice shaking with rage.
Victor looked between Dominic and me. "Because... because Dominic was investigating the shipping lanes! Julian’s company was using Dominic’s docks in New Jersey to smuggle unapproved trial drugs and black-market chemicals into the country. Three years ago, Dominic found out. He was going to shut Julian down."
Dominic’s eyes narrowed as the puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. "So Julian orchestrated the explosion in Chicago. When I survived the blast, he realized killing me would bring too much heat from the syndicate. So he bribed you, Victor. He gave you the acoustic jammer to make sure I would never be able to investigate his shipments again."
"Yes! Yes!" Victor cried. "Julian paid me fifty thousand dollars a month to keep that thing in your ear and feed you fake reports about the shipping containers! That’s all I know! I swear it!"
Dominic stood in silence for a long moment, processing the truth. The man who had ruined his life, stolen his hearing, and controlled his empire was the very same man who had thrown me and my child onto the streets to starve.
Dominic turned toward me. The anger in his eyes was gone, replaced by a profound, burning resolve.
"Julian Vance took everything from you, Elena," Dominic said softly. "And he tried to take my life."
He stepped up to Victor, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him close. "Where is Julian meeting you next?"
"Tonight..." Victor stuttered, terrified. "At the Gala... the Metropolitan Medical Charity Gala in Manhattan. I was supposed to report to him there that the shipping routes were clear for the winter."
Dominic let go of Victor's collar, letting him slump back into the chair. He looked at Marco. "Keep him locked up. Feed him water. Nothing else."
Dominic walked out of the holding cell, and I hurried after him, my heart pounding in my chest as we climbed the stairs back into the warm light of the mansion.
"Dominic, what are you going to do?" I asked, catching his arm at the top of the stairs.
May you like
Dominic stopped and looked down at my hand on his sleeve. He reached up and covered it with his own.
"Tonight, Julian Vance thinks he’s attending a charity ball to celebrate his wealth," Dominic said, a cold, lethal smile spreading across his face. "Instead, he’s going to meet the man he tried to deafen. And he’s going to answer for what he did to you and Marcus."
