เข้าสู่ระบบ*Pov: Vincent:Mercy General. 8:17pm. They discharged Dom against orders. Bruised ribs, stitches, vest rash. Chair doesn’t stay in hospitals. Dom does, but not tonight. I had the keys. Antonio’s keys. Town car, black, twelve years of his hands on the wheel. Now mine. “Where to?” I asked. Dom looked at me from the wheelchair. Not Chair. Not yet. “Home. Forty.” “Not secure,” Marx said. He’d walked us out. “Leo’s people—” “Leo’s in holding,” Dom said. “His people are mine. Unless you arrest me.” Marx looked at Aliyah. “Miss Rhodes?” “I go where he goes,” she said. Automatic. Then caught herself. “For the story. And Rosie.” Rosie was still admitted. Stable. Tube out. She’d flipped Dom off when we left. `Don’t die again, idiot.` I opened the back door. Dom shook his head. “Front.” I froze. Front was Antonio’s seat. Always. “Front,” Dom said again. “You drive. I ride shotgun. Same as always.” Wasn’t always. Was never. But I got in. ---*POV: Aliyah Rhodes* *Chapter 17 — _The
*POV: Vincent* Precinct. 5:14am. Statement room. Coffee cold. Marx across from me. “You shot him,” Marx said. “I aimed low.” “Why?” “Because Antonio was my son. He was Dom’s driver and bodyguard twelve years. Swore an oath. Protect the Chair with his life. He died tonight. Fire. Leo found me at the hospital. Played me a recording. Dom’s voice. ‘No witnesses.’ Said Antonio heard it and Dom left him to burn. Said if I wanted justice, get to the tower. Finish it. No one sent me. I walked in myself. Few hours ago.” Marx wrote that down. “USB has audio. Chair’s voice. ‘No witnesses.’” “Leo made it,” I said. “Had to be. Antonio told me stories for twelve years. Said Dom took hits for him. Covered for him. Said ‘he’s not like them.’ Chair doesn’t do that.” “Who is he?” I thought about 40th floor. Dom on his back with Rosie. Dom saying `please` to Leo. Dom going through glass and still saying `You’re mine to keep alive`. “Don’t know yet,” I said. “But he bled for Antonio. My boy di
*POV: Aliyah* Forty’s still standing. But the floor wasn’t. Glass everywhere. Rain blowing in. SWAT clearing bodies. Leo in cuffs. Marx reading him rights he didn’t deserve. Dominic was on me. Heavy. Breathing. Vest cracked down the middle. Blood on the kevlar from glass cuts. Bruised ribs from Vincent’s shot. Vincent aimed low. Center mass, but vest. Not heart. “Dom,” I said. “Hey. Stay.” His eyes opened. Tired. “You pulled.” “Vincent did. Rosie did. I just held on.” Rosie was on the floor. EMT over her. Oxygen mask. Blood on her mouth. “Idiot,” she coughed at Dominic. “You went through a window.” “You fell first,” he said. Voice rough. Marx knelt. Looked at me. “Miss Rhodes. You okay?” No. “Yes.” “You called _Ledger_?” I nodded. Phone was still in my hand. Screen cracked. I’d been clutching it since the car when I hit send. `Message to: Ledger Tipline - Sent.` My thumb was numb from death-gripping it the whole ride up. “Good,” Marx said. “Saved us ten minutes. Saved h
POV: AliyahLeo pulled a phone. Hit play.Audio. Grainy. “Box 2147 at First Bank held the real Directive 9.2 files.” My voice, distorted. 6:00am call to Ledger.I flinched.“I send that to PD,” Leo said, “Miss Rhodes gets twenty years. Obstruction. Conspiracy. You called it in, Chair. You made her criminal.”Dominic didn’t look at me. “She dialed 911. That’s not a crime.”“No. But this is.” Leo nodded.Two men grabbed me.Dominic moved. Fast. Gun up. Shot one. The other slammed me into the floor. Knee on my back. Gun to my head.“Stop,” Leo said. “Or I paint the floor with your obsession.”Dominic froze.First time I saw Chair stop. Helpless.“Let her go,” he said. Voice low. Not command.Beg.Leo heard it. Grinned. “Say it. Say ‘please, brother.’”Silence. Rain. Rosie’s breathing.Dominic’s hand shook. Just once.“Please,” he said. “Brother.”Leo laughed. “God. Arthur would puke. Look at you. Human.” He kicked the man off me. “Up.”I stood. Knees shaking. Dominic’s eyes found mine. T
*POV: Dominic*Vincent didn’t speak.Engine hum. Rain on tinted glass. 8th Street to Blackwood Tower. Fifteen minutes if traffic was dead. It was dead.Aliyah sat in the middle. Rosie on her right, head against the window. Blood drying on Aliyah’s shirt from Rosie’s hug. My fault. All of it.My hand still hurt from taking Aliyah’s. Cold. Scar matched hers. I hadn’t let go until Vincent opened the door.“Vincent,” I said. “Status.”His eyes met mine in the rearview. Scar on his neck pulled tight.“South entrance is rubble,” he said. “North parking garage still stands. Forty takes service elevator. Power’s rerouted. Leo’s been squatting.”“Men?”“Twelve on thermal. Roof. Lobby. Forty.”Sirens, distant. Vincent’s ear twitched. “PD’s on 30th. Response time says ten minutes.”Rosie coughed. Wet. “Dom. I can’t do forty floors. Not with this lung.”“You’re not.” I looked at Aliyah. “She’s not.”Aliyah’s jaw set. “Yes, I am. USB’s up there. You said it. Judges. Cops. My name’s on it. I’m not
*POV: Aliyah*Interrogation room 3 smelled like coffee and old paper.Detective Marx sat across from me. Fifties. Tired eyes. Notepad full. He’d told me his name two hours ago. Right after he read me my rights and I said I didn’t have a lawyer. Didn’t think I’d ever need one.“Run it again, Miss Rhodes.”I did. Fourth time.“He said ‘Should’ve let him bleed out.’ Then I recorded. Then the Ledger alert came. Then we went to vault. Box was empty. He got cuffed. Second man ran.”“USB,” Marx said. “You see one?”“No. Box was empty when Rosie opened it.”Marx tapped his pen. “Bank footage says different. 9:11am. Second man removes a device from 2147. Before you enter.”My stomach dropped.Leo emptied it. Then let us in.Bait.“Why?” I said.“You tell me. You and Rosie Blackwood are the ones Directive 9.2 is hunting.”Rosie. They knew her name.The door opened.Dominic Blackwood.Blood on his shirt. Face pale. Stitches at his hairline. But standing.Chair.My breath caught.Alive.Relief hi







