Chapter 5 - The War Cabinet
By two o'clock in the morning, the Russo estate had been converted into a command bunker.
Heavy steel shutters dropped over the ground-floor windows. Thirty additional armed guards arrived in black vans, taking positions along the perimeter walls and roof balconies.
In the second-floor study, Dominic stood before a massive tactical map of Chicago laid out across his desk.
Frankie Vane, Viktor, and four senior squad leaders were surrounding him, reviewing weapon inventories and safe-house locations across the city.
Sadi sat in the leather armchair near the fireplace, wrapped in a heavy wool cardigan, watching the men prepare for war. She refused to go to sleep, knowing that every decision made in this room involved her life.
“Matteo is hiding at the docks near Terminal 4,” Frankie reported, pointing a thick finger at the map. “He’s got twenty heavily armed men inside the old fish packing plant. He knows we’re coming for him.”
“Vincent Moretti isn't backing his brother?” Dominic asked, leaning his hands flat on the desk.
“Don Vincent called an emergency council meeting forty minutes ago,” Viktor chimed in, checking his encrypted tablet. “He told the other families that Matteo acted without his permission. Vincent won't step in to protect his brother. He knows Matteo crossed the line by threatening your wife.”
Dominic’s jaw set into an unyielding block of granite.
“Then Matteo is alone,” Dominic said. “We move at three AM. Fast, quiet, absolute. I want the fish plant sealed before they realize we’re on the harbor road.”
“Dominic,” Sadi spoke up from the chair.
Every man in the room turned to look at her.
Dominic looked at her, his dark brows furrowed. “Sadi, go to the bedroom. This isn't your concern.”
“It is my concern,” Sadi insisted, standing up and walking over to the edge of the desk. “Matteo left that note for me. He wants you to react emotionally, Dominic. He wants you to rush into that fish plant blind so he can ambush your primary strike team.”
Frankie frowned. “The girl’s got a point, Boss. Terminal 4 is a kill box. Narrow entry lanes, high shipping container stacks. If Matteo has snipers on those cranes, our vans will get chewed up before we hit the front doors.”
Dominic stared at the map, analyzing her words, his mind recalculating the risks.
“What are you suggesting, Sadi?” Dominic asked quietly.
Sadi looked at the map, pointing to a narrow blue line running beneath Terminal 4.
“My uncle used to work for the city sewer authority,” Sadi said, her green eyes sharp. “The old drainage tunnels run directly from the rail yards beneath the fish plant. The workers used them to haul ice from the river in the nineteen-fifties. They aren't marked on modern harbor maps.”
Viktor pulled up an archived city blueprint on his tablet, scanning the underground lines.
“She’s right, Boss,” Viktor breathed, his eyes lighting up with shock. “There’s an access grate thirty yards behind the plant’s main boiler room. We can put twelve men inside the building without firing a shot at the front gate.”
Dominic looked from the tablet back to Sadi.
The cold rage in his eyes softened into something profound—a deep, glowing respect for the woman sitting in his war room.
He walked around the desk, stopped in front of her, and reached out, his thumb gently brushing a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear.
“You continue to surprise me, Sadi Russo,” Dominic murmured softly, oblivious to the captains watching them.
“Just promise me you’ll come back alive,” Sadi whispered, looking up into his gray eyes. “I didn't take four bullets just to become a widow six weeks later.”
Dominic’s mouth curved into a real, genuine smile—warm, devastatingly handsome, and completely lethal.
May you like
He leaned down, cupped her cheek in his hand, and pressed a hard, passionate kiss against her lips—a promise sealed in front of his entire war cabinet.
“I’m coming back to you, Sadi,” Dominic swore against her mouth. “Always.”
