CHAPTER 6 — THE SECRET OF MELINE CARTER
CHAPTER 6 — THE SECRET OF MELINE CARTER
The battle raged past midnight.
Bodies covered the snow outside Ravenhill.
Dominic counted every gunshot.
Every footstep.
Every breath.
Blindness had transformed his hearing into something terrifying.
"Two men."
"Left staircase."
Lucas fired.
Both attackers fell.
Lucas looked at Dominic in disbelief.
"How did you—"
"I heard their boots."
Another burst of gunfire interrupted them.
Deep beneath the mansion...
Meline locked the shelter door.
Twenty-three servants.
Three injured guards.
One frightened child.
Safe.
For now.
She leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
Then...
Someone slowly applauded.
She spun around.
Mrs. Gable stepped from the darkness.
She wasn't alone.
Two armed mercenaries stood behind her.
Mrs. Gable smiled bitterly.
"I should've killed you days ago."
One mercenary grabbed Meline.
The other aimed his pistol.
Mrs. Gable sighed.
"You ruined everything."
She raised the gun herself.
"I'm sorry."
"No..."
"I'm really not."
Before she could fire—
BANG!
A single shot echoed through the cellar.
Mrs. Gable stared in confusion.
Blood spread across her chest.
She collapsed.
Behind her stood Samuel Reese.
The old sniper lowered his rifle.
"Boss said..."
"...protect the girl."
Mrs. Gable smiled weakly.
"You stayed loyal..."
Samuel nodded.
"Unlike you."
She died without another word.
Meanwhile...
Lucas received an encrypted message from forensic headquarters.
His eyes widened.
"What is it?" Dominic asked.
"It's about Meline."
Dominic's expression hardened.
"What about her?"
Lucas hesitated.
"We finally identified her father."
Silence.
"It can't wait."
Lucas handed Dominic a printed report although he knew Dominic couldn't read it.
He read aloud instead.
"Twenty-five years ago..."
"There was an undercover federal agent."
"He infiltrated the Vale Syndicate."
Dominic's heartbeat slowed.
"The agent disappeared before exposing the organization."
Lucas continued.
"His name..."
"...was Jonathan Carter."
Meline froze.
She knew that name.
Her father.
Lucas looked between them.
"He wasn't killed by the Vale family."
"He was murdered..."
"...because he refused to betray Dominic's father."
Dominic stood motionless.
"What?"
Lucas nodded.
"Your father discovered Jonathan was undercover."
"But instead of executing him..."
"He helped fake his death."
"They became friends."
Dominic whispered,
"My father never told me."
"He couldn't."
"The operation remained classified."
Lucas took a slow breath.
"Jonathan Carter died years later protecting evidence against corrupt officials."
"He wasn't your enemy."
"He died protecting innocent people."
Meline's notebook slipped from her trembling fingers.
Everything she had believed for five years...
Was wrong.
She had spent her life believing organized crime destroyed her family.
Now she learned...
One mafia family had actually saved her father.
Before anyone could speak—
The mansion's front doors exploded inward.
Damian Cross entered through smoke carrying an assault rifle.
Victoria followed.
Behind them marched the last surviving mercenaries.
Damian looked at Dominic and laughed.
"I leave you blind for eight months..."
"...and somehow you become harder to kill."
Dominic stepped forward.
"I trusted you."
"You shouldn't have."
Victoria smiled coldly.
"You were weak."
Dominic answered quietly,
"No."
"I was loyal."
"You mistook the two."
Damian raised his rifle.
"So this is goodbye."
Just as his finger tightened on the trigger—
A small metallic click echoed through the hall.
Dominic smiled.
"You always forget one thing."
Damian frowned.
"What?"
"The house..."
"...still belongs to me."
Hidden explosive charges sealed inside the mansion's steel security doors activated instantly.
Massive blast shutters slammed down over every exit.
The grand hall became a prison.
No one could escape.
Not Dominic.
Not Damian.
May you like
Not Victoria.
The final reckoning had begun.
