Chapter 7 - The Ambush on the Bridge
Dominic moved before the first bullet hit our windshield.
He grabbed Ethan with one arm and shoved him to the floor.
I covered Lily with my body.
Glass burst inward.
The driver shouted.
The SUV rocked under gunfire.
Lily screamed into my chest.
I pressed my hand over the back of her head and prayed with no words.
“Stay down!” Dominic ordered.
The driver tried to reverse.
Another shot cracked.
He slumped against the wheel.
The SUV lurched, then died.
Smoke rolled across the bridge.
The lead vehicle burned ahead of us. The rear security car had crashed sideways, blocking half the road.
We were trapped.
Dominic pulled a gun from beneath his jacket and looked at me.
“When I say move, you take the children behind the barrier.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“You can.”
His eyes held mine.
“You will.”
Outside, Caleb’s voice rose above the chaos.
“Anna!”
My blood turned to ice.
“Anna, bring me my daughter and nobody else has to die!”
Lily shook so hard I thought she might break.
“Mommy?”
I whispered, “Don’t listen.”
Caleb laughed.
“I know she hears me!”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
He checked the window.
Three men by the van.
One behind the wrecked car.
Caleb near the center lane, using the smoke as cover.
Vincent was nowhere.
That scared me more.
Detective Reyes was in the rear SUV. I saw her crawl from the passenger side, blood on her forehead, gun in hand.
She shouted to her team.
Police returned fire.
The bridge erupted.
Dominic opened the door and fired twice.
One attacker dropped behind the van.
“Move!” he shouted.
I grabbed Lily.
Ethan crawled beside me.
We slid out the far side of the SUV and ran crouched toward the concrete barrier.
Bullets sparked against metal behind us.
Ethan stumbled.
I caught his shirt.
“Keep going!”
We reached the barrier and dropped.
Lily clung to my neck.
Ethan pressed against my side.
Dominic was still at the SUV, firing to keep Caleb’s men back.
Then Caleb saw us.
His face changed.
Not love.
Ownership.
“There she is.”
He started toward us.
Detective Reyes fired near his feet.
“Stop!”
Caleb ducked behind a car.
“Anna, you really want strangers raising my kid?”
I shouted before I could stop myself.
“You lost the right to call her yours!”
His smile vanished.
“There’s my wife.”
“I’m not your wife.”
“You’ll always be mine.”
Ethan whispered, “He’s scary.”
“Yes,” I said. “But scary doesn’t mean strong.”
I needed Lily to hear that.
I needed myself to believe it.
Caleb leaned out again.
“You think Moretti cares about you? You’re staff. You clean his floors.”
Dominic fired from the SUV.
Caleb ducked back, laughing.
“See? He’ll get you killed and call it protection!”
A police siren wailed closer.
Then another.
Caleb’s men began to panic.
One ran for the van.
Marco appeared from behind the rear SUV and tackled him hard.
The gun skidded across the road.
But Caleb kept moving along the barrier, closer to us.
I looked around for anything to use.
Broken glass.
A loose piece of metal.
My bandaged arm throbbed.
Lily whispered, “Mommy, don’t let him take me.”
That sentence burned every fear out of me.
I looked into her eyes.
“He will never take you.”
Caleb climbed over the barrier gap ten feet away.
His gun was in his hand.
“Come here, Lily.”
She cried out and hid behind me.
I stood.
My legs shook, but I stood.
“Put the gun down, Caleb.”
He smiled.
“You always did get brave when someone was watching.”
“Nobody needs to watch anymore.”
His eyes flicked to my bandaged arm.
“Looks like Moretti’s world hurts.”
“You helped hurt me.”
His face tightened.
“You left me first.”
“Because you scared our daughter.”
“She was a baby.”
“She knew.”
For the first time, uncertainty crossed his face.
Then it hardened.
“Move, Anna.”
“No.”
He lifted the gun.
Ethan suddenly stepped beside me.
“Don’t.”
I grabbed for him, but he did not move.
He was pale.
Terrified.
Still standing.
Caleb sneered.
“Little rich boy wants to play hero?”
Ethan’s voice shook.
“You tried to kill me.”
“That was business.”
“You tried to take Lily.”
“That’s family.”
Dominic’s voice cut from behind him.
“No. That’s over.”
Caleb spun.
Dominic stood a few yards away, gun trained on him.
Blood ran from a cut near his eyebrow.
Caleb grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me in front of him.
Pain shot up my arm.
Lily screamed.
Dominic froze.
Caleb pressed the gun against my side.
“Drop it.”
Dominic did not move.
Caleb dug the barrel harder.
“I said drop it!”
Dominic lowered his gun.
My breath came fast.
Caleb’s mouth was near my ear.
“You always make me do this.”
Those words brought back every slammed door.
Every apology he forced from me.
Every night I held Lily and told myself tomorrow would be calmer.
Something inside me went quiet.
“No,” I said.
Caleb hissed, “What?”
“You chose this.”
Then I drove my heel into his foot and slammed my head backward into his face.
He shouted.
The gun shifted.
Dominic lunged.
A shot fired.
I fell.
For one horrible second, I thought I had been hit.
Then I saw Caleb on the ground, Dominic pinning his wrist, Detective Reyes kicking the gun away.
Marco cuffed him while Caleb screamed curses at me.
“You’ll regret this!”
I crawled to Lily.
She threw herself into my arms.
Ethan clung to both of us.
Dominic stood over Caleb, breathing hard.
Caleb spat blood and laughed.
“You think this ends with me? Vincent has the files. He has Sophia’s proof. He has enough to bury you.”
Dominic leaned down.
“Then he should have stayed buried.”
Caleb smiled.
“He’s already gone.”
Detective Reyes hauled him up.
“We’ll see.”
As they dragged Caleb toward a police car, he shouted one last thing.
“Ask Moretti what Sophia wrote in the letter!”
Dominic went still.
I looked at him.
“What letter?”
He did not answer.
But Ethan heard.
His face changed.
“My mom wrote a letter?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
The bridge filled with sirens, smoke, and flashing lights.
Caleb was finally in cuffs.
May you like
But the secret Vincent was using had just stepped into the open.
And Ethan, poor Ethan, was staring at his father like the next betrayal might hurt worse than the first.
