Chapter 3 - The Heavy Silver Lighter
Gunfire deafened the dining room. It wasn't the erratic popping of a street robbery; it was the heavy, rhythmic thud of automatic weapons.
Glass rained down like deadly snow, shredding the white tablecloths and sinking into the velvet booths. The patrons who had just been quietly observing Cassidy’s humiliation were now screaming, diving under tables as the expensive mahogany walls splintered around them.
“Stay low!” Dominic commanded, his large body covering both Mia and Cassidy.
Cassidy couldn’t breathe. Her ears rang, a high-pitched whine drowning out the screams. She felt the heavy weight of Dominic’s wool coat pressing her against the hardwood floor. Mia was sandwiched between them, her small face buried in Cassidy’s chest, completely silent but shaking violently.
“The back exits,” Dominic shouted over the chaos, grabbing Cassidy’s shoulder. His grip was bruising. “Where do they go?”
“The kitchen!” Cassidy choked out, spitting plaster dust from her lips. “There’s a delivery alley. It leads to the underground parking structure.”
“Move. Now.”
Dominic rose into a crouch, pulling Cassidy up with him. He held Mia tightly in one arm and kept his other hand firmly on Cassidy’s back, propelling her forward.
They scrambled behind the wreckage of the marble bar. Bullets tore through the rows of top-shelf liquor above them, raining bourbon and shattered glass over their heads. Cassidy slipped on the wet floor, her worn shoes betraying her. She went down hard on her knee.
Dominic didn't hesitate. He hoisted her up by the strap of her apron. “Do not stop walking.”
They burst through the swinging doors into the kitchen. The kitchen staff had already scattered, abandoning pans that were now catching fire on the stoves. Smoke began to fill the narrow stainless-steel corridors.
Cassidy navigated blindly, relying on muscle memory to guide them past the prep stations and the walk-in freezers. She shoved open the heavy steel fire door at the back.
The alley was freezing. The February wind hit Cassidy like a physical blow, cutting through her thin uniform.
“Which way?” Dominic demanded, setting Mia down but keeping a vice grip on her hand.
“Left,” Cassidy pointed, her hand shaking. “Down the ramp.”
They sprinted down the concrete incline toward the underground garage. But as they reached the shadows of the lower level, Dominic suddenly stumbled. He hit the concrete wall hard, gasping for air.
“Dad!” Mia didn't speak, but her mouth formed the word, her hands flying to his waist.
Cassidy stopped. The dim fluorescent light of the garage caught the dark, wet stain spreading rapidly across the side of Dominic’s charcoal shirt. He had been hit.
“You’re bleeding,” Cassidy said, panic finally clawing up her throat. Her nursing instincts, dormant for three years, flared to life. “You need pressure on that.”
“There’s no time,” Dominic gritted out. His face was pale, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy, silver lighter engraved with a crest of a wolf.
He grabbed Cassidy’s hand and slapped the lighter into her palm, folding her fingers over it. His skin was freezing.
“Listen to me,” he said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. “If I drop, you do not stop for me. You take Mia. You go to the cathedral on State Street. Ask for Father Tomaso. Show him this lighter. He will hide you.”
“I’m not leaving you—”
“You will do exactly as I say!” he snarled, the mafia boss fully eclipsing the father. “My men are dead. The traitor was inside my house. They want my daughter dead to end my bloodline. You take her, and you run.”
Before Cassidy could argue, a slow, mocking clap echoed through the concrete parking structure.
May you like
Cassidy whipped her head around. Stepping out from behind a concrete pillar was the security guard who had been at the restaurant’s entrance. But he wasn’t alone. He was dragging a bloody, whimpering Gavin Thorne by the collar.
The guard pointed a suppressed pistol directly at Dominic’s head. “Sorry, boss. But the Valente bloodline ends tonight.”
