Chapter 7 - THE WIDOW WEEPS IN GOLD
The fog rolling off the harbor seemed to thicken, swallowing the sound of the idling speedboat. Dominic stood perfectly still, the cold barrel of Father Thomas’s gun pressing unforgivingly into the base of his skull.
Isabella turned at the commotion. A slow, triumphant smile spread across her beautiful face. She released Rosa, letting the elderly woman slump to the wooden planks, but kept her tight, bruising grip on Leo’s arm.
"Well," Isabella called out, her voice carrying over the sound of the crashing waves. "I was wondering if you’d decode the old woman’s little breadcrumb trail in time to say goodbye."
"Let the boy go, Isabella," Dominic demanded, his voice dangerously calm despite the trap he was in. "You have the money. You took my empire. You won. Leave Leo and Rosa out of this."
Isabella laughed, a sharp, humorless sound. "Leave him out of this? Dominic, he is the point of this. I didn't spend the last six years pretending to love you, smiling at your family dinners, just to steal your bank accounts. I came for what is mine."
Leo was crying softly, his small hands pulling desperately at Isabella’s coat. "Uncle Dom!" he whimpered.
"Look at him," Isabella sneered, shaking the boy slightly. "He doesn't even know his own mother. Your brother stole him from me to broker a pathetic peace treaty, and you paraded him around like a trophy."
"My brother saved him from being a pawn in your father's cartel!" Dominic yelled back. "You gave him up to save your own status!"
Isabella’s eyes flashed with pure, unadulterated rage. She raised her silver revolver, pointing it directly at Dominic’s chest. "Shoot him, Thomas. And the girl."
Dominic braced himself. But the gunshot never came.
Instead, Father Thomas’s hand began to tremble violently. The old priest looked past Dominic, his eyes locking onto Evelyn, who stood surrounded by the six armed guards, her own gun lowered but not dropped.
"I... I can't," Thomas whispered, tears leaking from his wrinkled eyes.
Isabella’s face contorted. "Do it, you pathetic old fool, or I'll shoot the boy right in front of you!"
To prove her point, Isabella shifted her aim, pressing the barrel of her revolver against Leo’s small head.
"No!" Dominic screamed, dropping his weapon instantly. It clattered against the wooden dock. "I surrender! Do whatever you want to me, just don't hurt him!"
Evelyn, however, didn't drop her gun. She looked at Isabella, then down at her father’s silver pocket watch still clutched in her left hand. She remembered the code Dominic had tested her with in the dining room.
What happens after the ashes?The widow weeps in gold.
Evelyn slowly raised her eyes to Isabella. "You're wearing a very beautiful necklace, Isabella," Evelyn said loudly, her voice cutting through the panic.
Isabella frowned, confused by the sudden, bizarre change in subject. She instinctively reached up with her free hand to touch the heavy, ornate gold cross resting against her chest. "What?"
"It's custom, isn't it?" Evelyn continued, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. The guards tightened their grips on their rifles, but Evelyn ignored them. "A gift from Marco, perhaps? Hollowed out?"
Isabella’s face suddenly drained of color.
"My father didn't just build security systems," Evelyn said, her voice echoing with the authority of the legendary enforcer she was born from. "He built contingencies. He knew the Costas liked to use C4. And he knew they liked dead-man switches."
Dominic looked at Evelyn, then at Isabella. He suddenly understood. Isabella wasn't just holding a gun; she was holding a detonator. The dock was rigged to blow. If they shot her, she would drop the trigger, and they would all die.
"If I let go of this button inside my pocket," Isabella hissed, backing toward the boat and dragging Leo with her, "this entire pier goes up in a fireball. You think you're clever, Evelyn? You can't shoot me."
"I don't have to," Evelyn said.
In a movement so fast it defied human reflex, Evelyn didn't aim at Isabella. She aimed her pistol straight into the air and fired.
BANG.
The sudden gunshot startled everyone. Father Thomas flinched, dropping his gun. The guards hesitated for a fraction of a second, instinctively ducking.
But Evelyn wasn't shooting to kill. The gunshot was a signal.
From the dense fog surrounding the pier, the deafening roar of a massive diesel engine suddenly ripped through the air. A heavy armored Coast Guard interceptor vessel came smashing through the mist, its brilliant blue and red police lights blinding the dock. A megaphone blared, ordering everyone to drop their weapons.
Isabella panicked. She looked at the approaching police boat, then at Dominic. In her moment of utter distraction, she loosened her grip on Leo.
That was all Dominic needed.
He didn't care about the dead-man's switch. He didn't care about the C4. He dove forward, tackling Leo to the wooden planks, covering the boy's small body completely with his own, ready to absorb the blast.
Isabella shrieked in fury. She pulled the revolver up to shoot Dominic in the back.
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But Evelyn was already there. She closed the distance in three strides, driving her boot directly into Isabella’s knee. There was a sickening crunch. Isabella collapsed, dropping the gun. But as she fell, her hand jerked out of her pocket, releasing the dead-man's switch.
A sharp, electronic BEEP echoed across the dock.
