Chapter 4 - The Price of Power
The commission meeting was held beneath an old Italian restaurant in Brooklyn.
Above ground, tourists ate pasta beneath warm lights and framed photographs of celebrities.
Below ground, men decided who would live, who would fall, and who would disappear.
Harper sat beside Dominic at a long wooden table. Elias stood behind them. Six powerful men watched from the shadows.
Carmine Falco sat at the far end.
Luca stood behind his grandfather with a smug smile.
“You kept an important secret,” Carmine said.
Dominic’s voice was calm. “My wife’s medical information is private.”
“Nothing is private when it affects the balance of power.”
Harper felt Dominic’s hand clasp hers beneath the table.
Carmine leaned forward.
“A child makes you stronger in the eyes of the families. It also makes you predictable.”
“You are making a mistake,” Dominic warned.
“No.” Carmine smiled. “You made the mistake when you fell in love with a woman you brought into our world.”
Harper’s stomach tightened.
The older man looked directly at her.
“Mrs. Russo, you have given Dominic something he cannot afford to lose.”
Dominic rose from his chair.
The room erupted with the sound of guns being drawn.
Elias placed a hand near his own weapon.
Carmine did not flinch.
“Sit down,” he said. “Unless you want everyone here to see that I am right. A man with a family becomes emotional.”
Dominic remained standing for a long second.
Then Harper squeezed his hand.
He sat.
She turned toward Carmine.
“You are wrong about one thing,” Harper said.
Carmine’s eyes narrowed.
“I did not make Dominic weak.”
The room went silent.
“I made him remember that he is human.”
Luca laughed under his breath.
Harper continued.
“You think power comes from making people afraid of you. But fear is not loyalty. It is just waiting for a chance to run.”
Carmine’s smile vanished.
“You are very brave.”
“No,” Harper said. “I am terrified.”
She looked at Dominic.
“But I am still here.”
That night, Dominic moved Harper and Madison into a hidden estate outside the city.
He assigned guards to every entrance. He canceled public events. He stopped sleeping.
Harper woke repeatedly to find him standing by the windows with a gun in his hand, watching the darkness.
“You cannot protect us by yourself,” she told him one night.
“I can try.”
“You need help.”
“I do not trust anyone.”
“You trust Elias.”
“Elias is different.”
“You trust me.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Then trust me when I say Carmine is trying to make you react. He wants you to start a war.”
Dominic’s jaw clenched.
“I may not have a choice.”
The attack came two days later.
Harper and Madison were eating breakfast when the first explosion shattered the front gate.
Guards shouted.
Glass broke.
Madison screamed.
Harper grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her toward the safe room as Dominic’s men rushed through the house.
Then the lights went out.
A figure appeared in the hallway.
Luca Falco.
He held a gun in one hand.
“Hello, Harper.”
Madison stood behind Harper, trembling.
“What do you want?” Harper asked.
Luca smiled. “Your husband to understand that Carmine still controls this city.”
“You came here alone?”
“Not alone.”
Three armed men stepped from the shadows.
Luca lifted his gun toward Harper’s stomach.
“Carmine wants the pregnancy ended. Dominic becomes reckless without an heir. Then he becomes easier to remove.”
Harper’s fear disappeared.
In its place came something fiercer.
She stepped in front of Madison.
“You will not touch my sister.”
Luca laughed. “You are in no position to negotiate.”
A shot exploded through the hallway.
One of Luca’s men fell.
Dominic appeared at the far end of the corridor, blood on his shirt and murder in his eyes.
“Get away from my wife,” he said.
Luca grabbed Harper and pressed the gun against her side.
“Drop your weapon.”
Dominic did not.
“Do it,” Luca snapped.
Harper felt the hard metal against her ribs.
Then she remembered something Dominic had once told her during a self-defense lesson.
If you cannot outrun danger, create an opening.
Harper drove her heel down onto Luca’s foot.
He cursed.
She twisted away.
Dominic fired once.
Luca fell to the floor, clutching his shoulder.
The hallway filled with guards.
Dominic reached Harper in seconds, pulling her into his arms.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“The baby?”
“I’m okay.”
He held her so tightly she could barely breathe.
But Harper knew this was not over.
May you like
Carmine Falco had declared war.
And Dominic Russo was finally ready to end it.
