Chapter 10 - The Covenant of Iron and Blood
The rain turned into sleet as the heavily armored convoy roared north toward the private surgical facility in New Rochelle.
Dominic sat on the floor of the lead ambulance vehicle, holding Madeline’s ice-cold hand as Doctor Rossi pumped oxygen into her lungs.
The rhythmic beeping of the portable heart monitor was dangerously slow, each beat agonizingly separated by silence.
Matteo rode in the front passenger seat, barking encrypted tactical orders into his satellite phone.
"Salvatore called an emergency assembly of the Five Families council for six in the morning," Matteo said, turning around to face Dominic.
"He is staging the meeting at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan."
"He is telling the capos that Lorenzo Castiglione coordinated the attack on Pier Fourteen."
"He claims you were ambushed and that Geno was sent to Westchester to secure Donna Elena."
"Salvatore is planning to declare you incapacitated or dead, Dominic."
"He will ask the commission to ratify his emergency succession before sunrise."
Dominic did not take his eyes off Madeline’s pale, bloodless face.
"Let him gather every traitor in the five boroughs in one room," Dominic replied, his voice devoid of any human warmth.
"It will save me the trouble of hunting them down individually."
The ambulance pulled into the subterranean concrete garage of the New Rochelle surgical compound at five in the morning.
The blast doors sealed shut behind them with a deep, hydraulic thud.
A team of six trauma surgeons and nurses in blue scrubs rushed out with a wheeled gurney.
They transferred Madeline from the vehicle onto the gurney, moving with frantic, practiced efficiency.
"Take her directly to surgical theater one!" Doctor Rossi ordered, adjusting the IV lines.
"Prepare six units of O-negative blood and fire up the fluoroscopy unit!"
Dominic followed the gurney down the brightly lit corridor, his bloody hands gripping the steel rails.
"Don Moretti, you cannot enter the sterile field," a surgical nurse said, placing her trembling hands against his chest.
Dominic looked down at her with eyes that looked like scorched earth.
"If she flatlines in that room, Doctor Rossi joins her in the cemetery," Dominic said quietly.
"We will do everything humanly possible, Don Dominic," Rossi said before pushing through the double swinging doors.
The red surgical light illuminated above the door, sealing Dominic in the waiting hallway.
Dominic stood in front of the frosted observation glass, staring down at the silver operating table.
He watched the surgeons cut away the remaining remnants of her clothing.
He watched the monitors fluctuate wildly as the monitors spiked with erratic rhythms.
Matteo walked down the hallway, accompanied by the chief of the facility’s security detail.
"Dominic," Matteo said cautiously.
"Someone just breached the outer security perimeter at the garage checkpoint."
Dominic slowly turned his head, his hand dropping toward his holstered sidearm.
"Salvatore’s men?"
"No," Matteo said, his expression troubled.
"It is a single vehicle."
"Lorenzo Castiglione is standing in the elevator lobby with two of his lieutenants."
"He insists on speaking with you immediately."
Dominic’s jaw tightened until the bone clicked.
He wiped the dried blood from his palms onto his trousers and walked toward the security lobby.
Lorenzo Castiglione was standing under the fluorescent lights, wearing his dark wool coat, his hands resting in his pockets.
Marco and another armed soldier stood five feet behind him, watchful and tense.
The moment Dominic entered the room, Matteo and four Moretti guards raised their weapons, aiming directly at Lorenzo’s chest.
Lorenzo did not flinch, nor did he reach for a gun.
"Lower your weapons," Lorenzo said smoothly, looking directly into Dominic’s eyes.
"If I wanted you dead, Moretti, I wouldn't have given your wife my car and my gun three hours ago."
Dominic raised his hand, signaling Matteo to lower the firearms.
"Why are you here, Castiglione?" Dominic demanded, his voice raspy from smoke and weeping.
"I came to see if Madeline was breathing," Lorenzo said quietly.
"She took five bullets protecting my mother," Dominic said, each word feeling like crushed glass in his mouth.
"I know," Lorenzo replied.
"My scout near Purchase watched Geno’s men storm the property."
"He reported the gunfire before I lost communication."
Lorenzo reached into his heavy coat and pulled out an encrypted leather binder, stepping forward to hand it to Dominic.
Dominic opened the binder with bloodied fingers.
Inside were original wiretap transcripts, bank statements from Zurich, and photographic evidence spanning fifteen years.
"What is this?" Dominic asked, his brow furrowing.
"This is the complete audit of your father’s assassination twelve years ago," Lorenzo explained, his eyes darkening.
Dominic froze, the blood draining from his face.
"My father died in a car bombing orchestrated by your family in Brooklyn."
"That is what Salvatore told you so he could assume control of your father’s shipping terminals," Lorenzo countered firmly.
"Look at page four, Moretti."
"The explosives used on your father’s Cadillac were military-grade C4 acquired from an ordnance depot in Virginia."
"The requisition orders were signed by Salvatore’s logistics company."
"My father was framed for that murder just like I was framed for Pier Fourteen tonight."
Dominic stared down at the documents, his entire understanding of his lineage crumbling into dust.
Salvatore had murdered his father.
Salvatore had stolen the shipping routes.
Salvatore had tried to murder Dominic at the docks.
Salvatore had sent his killers to butcher Donna Elena in her bed.
And Madeline had uncovered the truth while Dominic was busy calling her a traitor.
"Why are you giving me this now?" Dominic asked, looking up at his fiercest rival.
"Because Madeline risked her life to warn my men at the Navy Yard," Lorenzo said with cold, undeniable sincerity.
"She is an honorable woman married to an arrogant, blind fool."
"And because Salvatore Moretti has broken every rule of the Five Families."
"He murdered his own brother."
"He attempted to slaughter the family matriarch."
"And he brought dishonor upon this entire city."
Lorenzo extended his right hand toward Dominic across the concrete floor.
"Let us finish this together, Dominic."
"We walk into the Plaza Hotel at six in the morning."
"We show the council the blood on Salvatore’s ledger."
"And then we feed him to the river."
Dominic looked down at Lorenzo’s outstretched hand, then back through the glass window where the surgeons were desperately fighting to save Madeline’s life.
May you like
Dominic reached out and gripped Lorenzo Castiglione’s hand with iron fury.
"No," Dominic whispered, his voice dark with a promise of apocalyptic slaughter.
