Chapter 6 - The Night Vincent Chose His Family Over Chicago
Claire survived surgery.
The bullet had passed through the upper shoulder, missed the subclavian artery by less than an inch, and fractured part of her scapula.
The surgeon called her lucky.
Vincent did not believe in luck anymore.
He believed in choices.
Claire had chosen to step between him and a bullet.
Marcus had chosen power over blood.
Natalie had chosen eight years of captivity rather than surrender evidence that could destroy the man she loved.
And Vincent was about to make the first choice in his adult life that had nothing to do with protecting his empire.
He was going to destroy it himself.
Daniel stood across from him in the private hospital conference room.
“You understand what happens if we release the files.”
“Yes.”
“Federal investigators come after everyone.”
“Yes.”
“Shipping. Construction. The casinos. The unions. Accounts frozen. Warrants. Every enemy we have will smell blood.”
“Yes.”
“You could lose everything.”
Vincent looked through the window at Sophie sleeping beside Claire’s hospital bed.
“No.”
Daniel followed his gaze.
Vincent continued.
“I could lose things.”
There was a difference.
Daniel slowly nodded.
Natalie sat at the table with the leather notebook.
“You’ve spent half your life building this.”
“I spent half my life building what Marcus wanted me to build.”
“Not all of it was his.”
“No.”
Vincent thought of hundreds of employees.
Legitimate businesses.
Families whose paychecks depended on Rowan companies.
He would save what he could.
But the criminal operations?
The hidden routes.
The bribes.
The offshore structures Marcus used.
Those could burn.
“I want every legal company separated by morning,” Vincent told Daniel. “Employee payroll gets protected first. Pensions second. Sell anything necessary.”
“And the rest?”
Vincent stared at the notebook.
“We hand them everything.”
By noon, three federal agencies knew Marcus Rowan’s name.
By one, six Rowan accounts had been frozen.
By three, local news helicopters circled Lakeview.
By four, Vincent’s attorneys were screaming.
By five, two senior lieutenants stopped answering their phones.
By seven, the empire had begun to fracture.
Vincent watched it happen without regret.
At eight seventeen, the first betrayal came.
Anthony DeLuca disappeared with five million dollars from a cash reserve.
At eight forty, one of Rowan Maritime’s warehouses burned.
At nine twelve, a rival organization attacked two trucks on the south side.
Marcus was spreading word that Vincent had become weak.
That the great Vincent Rowan had handed records to federal agents because of a woman and a child.
By ten, three men requested permission to retaliate.
Vincent refused.
“Protect the employees. Nothing else.”
One captain stared at him.
“They’re laughing at us.”
“Let them.”
“They’ll think we’re finished.”
Vincent looked at him.
“We are.”
Silence.
The man looked shocked.
Vincent continued.
“The organization they’re trying to fight no longer exists.”
“You can’t just decide that.”
“I built it.”
“With us.”
“And I’m giving every man a choice. Walk away clean, or stay in a war I will no longer finance.”
The captain left furious.
Daniel remained.
“You know someone will try to kill you.”
“They’ve been trying for twenty years.”
“That was when killing you meant inheriting a war.”
“And now?”
“Now it may mean inheriting your territory.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“They’re welcome to it.”
At midnight, Sophie woke.
Claire was conscious.
Natalie sat beside the window.
The strangest family in Chicago occupied one hospital room.
Sophie had asked dozens of questions since learning Natalie was her biological mother.
Natalie answered every one honestly.
Yes, she had wanted Sophie.
Yes, she loved her.
No, Claire had never stolen her.
No, Sophie did not have to stop calling Claire Mom.
That last answer mattered most.
Sophie looked at Natalie carefully.
“What should I call you?”
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“Whatever makes you comfortable.”
Sophie thought.
“Aunt Natalie?”
Claire smiled through tears.
Natalie laughed and cried at the same time.
“I’d like that.”
Vincent stood near the door.
Sophie looked at him.
“You’re still Dad.”
He froze.
She shrugged.
“I already tried it.”
Vincent walked to the bed.
“Was it acceptable?”
Sophie considered.
“Maybe.”
He kissed the top of her head.
Sophie pretended not to be delighted.
Then every phone in the room buzzed.
Daniel entered instantly.
“Problem.”
Vincent turned.
A video had been posted online.
Marcus.
He sat in a dark room.
Behind him was the Rowan family crest.
“My nephew Vincent has betrayed everything his father built,” Marcus said into the camera.
“He has fabricated accusations to protect himself from crimes he committed personally.”
Vincent watched without expression.
Marcus produced documents.
Forged records.
They appeared to show Vincent ordering several murders.
Including Peter Walsh.
The dead security guard.
Daniel swore.
“He’s framing you.”
Marcus continued.
“If anything happens to me, the truth will be released.”
The video ended.
Within minutes, police vehicles began arriving outside the hospital.
Daniel looked at Vincent.
“We can get you out through the service elevator.”
“No.”
“Vincent.”
“I run now, Marcus wins.”
“You may be arrested.”
“Then I get arrested.”
Sophie stared at him.
“Are the police taking you away?”
Vincent crouched.
“They might ask me questions.”
“Did you do bad things?”
Claire closed her eyes.
Vincent could have lied.
He didn’t.
“I’ve done things I’m not proud of.”
“Did you kill the guard?”
“No.”
“Did you hurt Aunt Natalie?”
“No.”
“Did you hurt Mom?”
“No.”
Sophie nodded.
“Then tell them that.”
The simplicity almost destroyed him.
“I will.”
Police entered the floor.
Vincent surrendered without resistance.
He spent eleven hours answering questions.
His attorney nearly suffered a stroke when Vincent refused to deny crimes that were actually his.
He admitted financial violations.
Admitted bribery conducted years earlier.
Admitted knowledge of criminal activity he should have stopped.
But he denied Marcus’s fabricated murders.
Federal investigators had Natalie’s notebook.
They had Claire’s testimony.
They had copies from the storage drive.
They needed the cipher photograph to authenticate the final accounts.
Marcus had it.
Vincent was released pending investigation because the evidence against him remained contradictory.
Marcus remained missing.
Two nights later, Vincent received a message.
A photograph.
Natalie.
She had disappeared from federal protective custody during a hospital transfer.
A guard had been drugged.
Below the photograph was one sentence.
ROOFTOP. MIDNIGHT. BRING THE ORIGINAL STORAGE KEY. COME ALONE.
Vincent did not tell Sophie.
He told Daniel.
Daniel wanted twenty men positioned nearby.
Vincent allowed four.
He told Claire to stay in the hospital.
She ignored him.
At eleven fifty-eight, Vincent stepped onto the old Lincoln Park rooftop where the original photograph had been taken fourteen years earlier.
Wind whipped across the concrete.
The city glittered below.
Marcus stood near the ledge.
Natalie sat in a chair, wrists tied.
Marcus held a gun to her head.
Vincent stopped.
“Let her go.”
“Key.”
Vincent held it up.
Marcus smiled.
“You really did throw away the entire empire.”
“Yes.”
“For them?”
Vincent looked at Natalie.
“Yes.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Pathetic.”
“No.”
Vincent took another step.
“It’s the first intelligent thing I’ve done in twenty years.”
Marcus’s expression twisted.
“You think this ends with you walking away?”
“No.”
“Then you understand.”
Marcus raised the gun.
Vincent threw the key across the rooftop.
Marcus instinctively looked toward it.
Natalie dropped sideways.
Vincent charged.
The gun fired.
Claire screamed from the stairwell.
Vincent slammed into Marcus.
They crashed against the rooftop barrier.
Marcus struck him with the pistol.
Vincent staggered.
Marcus fired again.
Concrete exploded beside Vincent’s foot.
Daniel’s men appeared near the far entrance.
Marcus grabbed Natalie and dragged her toward the edge.
“Back off!”
Everyone froze.
Vincent stepped closer.
“Marcus.”
“One more step and she goes over.”
Vincent stopped.
Marcus smiled.
“You still haven’t learned.”
“Learned what?”
“Family makes you weak.”
Vincent looked behind Marcus.
At Claire.
At Daniel.
At Natalie.
Then he smiled.
“No.”
Marcus frowned.
Vincent’s eyes lifted.
“Family means I don’t have to fight alone.”
Marcus turned.
Claire swung a metal fire extinguisher into his arm.
The gun went off.
Natalie dropped.
Vincent lunged.
Marcus collided with the barrier.
Metal cracked.
Vincent caught his coat.
For one second, Marcus hung over the edge of the building.
Vincent gripped him with both hands.
Marcus stared up.
“You won’t let me fall.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
Marcus smiled.
“That’s the difference between us.”
Then Marcus pulled a knife.
He drove it toward Vincent’s hand.
Vincent recoiled.
The fabric ripped.
Marcus disappeared over the edge.
But his hand shot up and caught Vincent’s wrist.
The sudden weight dragged Vincent forward.
Claire screamed his name.
May you like
Vincent’s body slammed against the broken railing.
Then both men vanished over the side.
