CHAPTER 3 – THE MAN WHO BURNED EVERYTHING
CHAPTER 3 – THE MAN WHO BURNED EVERYTHING
Victor stood in the shadows of the private club, glass of whiskey untouched.
He hated this version of Lucas.
The softer one.
The distracted one.
Weakness was contagious.
And weakness had once cost Victor millions.
He pulled out his phone and sent a single message.
Find the girl.
Lucas felt it before he saw it.
The unease.
The shift.
The sense of being watched.
Years in the underworld had sharpened instincts that never truly faded.
That night, as he tucked Lily into bed while Emma worked a late shift, he noticed the street outside was too quiet.
No traffic.
No laughter.
No movement.
Then—
Glass shattered.
Lucas moved instantly.
He scooped Lily into his arms and ran.
Gunshots echoed.
Men shouted.
A voice he recognized cut through the chaos.
“Don’t kill her,” Victor said calmly. “She’s leverage.”
Lucas’s blood ran cold.
“Victor,” he whispered.
The past had found him.
They escaped through the fire stairs.
Barely.
Lucas drove like a man possessed, weaving through the city until he reached one of his old safe houses.
He locked the doors.
Checked the windows.
Armed himself.
Lily clung to him, shaking.
“Are they bad men?” she asked.
“Yes,” Lucas said. “But I won’t let them hurt you.”
She looked up at him.
“You promise?”
Lucas swallowed.
“I swear on my life.”
And he meant it.
The next morning, Lucas made a decision.
He would stop running.
He called in favors he swore he’d never use again.
He reopened files.
Dug up secrets.
Followed money trails that led straight to Victor Romano.
What he found was worse than he imagined.
Victor had ordered the fire.
The Connecticut house.
Isabella.
Daniel.
All of it.
Lucas collapsed to his knees.
The truth burned worse than any lie.
When Victor realized Lucas knew, it was already too late.
The final confrontation took place in an abandoned steel factory.
Rain poured through broken ceilings.
Gunmen lay unconscious or worse.
Victor laughed as Lucas approached.
“You finally grew a spine,” Victor said. “Too bad it’s for a child who isn’t even yours.”
Lucas raised his gun.
“She’s everything you’ll never understand.”
Victor sneered.
“You think killing me brings them back?”
“No,” Lucas said calmly. “But it ends you.”
Victor’s smile faded.
For the first time, fear flickered.
May you like
The shot echoed.
And it was over.
