Chapter 7 - The Paper Shield
""Federal marshals?"" Vincent repeated, rising slowly to his feet. His voice was dangerously calm. ""On what grounds?""
""DNA,"" Dominic replied grimly, holding out a digital tablet displaying an encrypted court docket stamped an hour ago. ""Vance filed an emergency petition with the international magistrate. He submitted blood samples taken during Clara’s orthopedic surgery last month. The match is ninety-nine point nine percent. He has a full federal warrant for her recovery, citing unlawful detention by an organized crime syndicate.""
Vincent stared at the digital document. The brilliance of Julian’s trap was breathtaking. Julian had sent the strike team not necessarily to retrieve the girl by force, but to trigger a violent confrontation. The moment Vincent defended his home with lethal force, he played right into the narrative of a violent mobster holding an innocent child hostage from her biological father.
The sound of distant sirens began to echo up through the mountain pass, distinct from the estate's private alarms—the high-pitched wail of state and federal tactical units.
""They'll be at the gates in twelve minutes,"" Dominic warned, checking his watch. ""If we fire on federal agents, the entire syndicate will be dismantled by tomorrow morning. If we surrender the girl, Vance takes her out of the country before the sun rises.""
Vincent walked over to Clara. He reached down and gently closed the silver locket, slipping it around her neck beneath her dress so it was hidden.
""Pack her medical bag,"" Vincent instructed Lena. ""Every bottle of antibiotics, her spare brace calipers, and the physical therapy chart. We leave through the catacombs beneath the wine cellar.""
""Boss, that’s running,"" Dominic said quietly. ""If you run, you're an international fugitive. You lose the estate, the accounts, the empire.""
Vincent looked back at the small girl sitting among the heavy books, her hazel eyes watching him with unconditional trust despite the blood on his clothes. He thought about his brother Michael's dying words: Protect her from Julian's world.
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""The empire is concrete and paper, Dominic,"" Vincent said coldly, strapping a fresh magazine into his sidearm. ""She is blood. Prepare the underground transport.""
Just as Dominic turned to leave, the estate’s ground-floor perimeter sensors blared a red alert on the tablet. A private helicopter had just touched down directly on the front lawn, bypassing the authorities entirely.
