Chapter 5 - Shepherd Had Been Family All AlongThe attack lasted 7 minutes.
It felt longer.
Ezra’s security team locked the house down while 2 vehicles attempted to breach the north gate.
One exploded.
The second retreated.
No attackers reached the residence.
That was not the point.
The point was the message.
Sebastian knew Ezra had identified him.
At 11:42 p.m., Ezra received a text from an unknown number.
YOU WERE ALWAYS TOO MUCH LIKE YOUR FATHER.
Nessa read it over his shoulder.
“That confirms nothing legally.”
“I’m not interested in legally.”
“I am.”
Ezra looked at her.
She continued.
“You promised to use my documents to put Draos under investigation.”
“I did.”
“If you turn this into a family execution, everything becomes harder.”
“You think I’m going to kill my uncle?”
“I think you haven’t decided.”
His silence answered.
Nessa stepped closer.
“Then decide.”
“Careful.”
“No.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“You offered me restoration, not revenge.”
Ezra’s expression hardened.
“Those are sometimes the same thing.”
“No.”
Nessa’s voice remained quiet.
“They feel the same for about 5 minutes.”
That stopped him.
“My grandfather taught me something else.”
“What?”
“If you fight angry, you fight stupid.”
Ezra looked away.
Nessa continued.
“Sebastian wants you angry.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he knows you.”
She pointed toward the burning vehicle outside.
“That wasn’t an assassination attempt. If he wanted you dead, he would not announce himself at the gate.”
Ezra understood.
“He wants me moving.”
“He wants you reacting.”
“Toward Montreal.”
“Probably.”
Ezra called Pavl.
“Where is Sebastian?”
Pavl answered immediately.
“Private terminal at Pearson.”
“Flight?”
“Montreal.”
“When?”
“Twenty-eight minutes.”
Ezra looked at Nessa.
She shook her head.
“Too obvious.”
Pavl heard.
“What?”
Nessa leaned toward the phone.
“Check the passenger manifest.”
Keyboard sounds.
Then Pavl cursed.
“The aircraft filed Montreal.”
“And?”
“Sebastian isn’t on it.”
Ezra’s face became still.
“Where is he?”
Another pause.
Pavl said:
“His phone is.”
Nessa felt a chill.
The plane was bait.
Sebastian wanted Ezra to chase a ghost.
“Where would he go instead?”
Nessa asked.
Ezra looked at the map in his mind.
Then his expression changed.
“My father.”
They were in the car within 90 seconds.
Gabriel’s estate did not answer.
Neither did the security chief.
Ezra drove faster.
Nessa did not complain.
They arrived 31 minutes later.
The gates stood open.
One guard lay unconscious beside the security station.
Alive.
Inside the house, the lights were on.
That frightened Nessa more.
Ezra entered first.
Nessa followed despite being told not to.
The conservatory was empty.
Gabriel’s wheelchair sat beside the window.
A phone rested on the table.
Ezra picked it up.
One message waited.
COME TO CALDWELL’S GYM.
Nessa’s blood went cold.
“No.”
Ezra looked at her.
“No.”
She took the phone.
The address belonged to her grandfather’s old building.
The property Draos had purchased.
The place where everything began.
“He wants both of us.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Ezra looked toward the empty wheelchair.
“Because he knows I’ll come for my father.”
Nessa looked at the address.
“And he knows I’ll come for the gym.”
Ezra called Pavl.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Nessa’s stomach tightened.
“Where is Pavl?”
“I don’t know.”
For the first time, suspicion touched Ezra’s face.
Pavl had known about the false document.
Pavl had been present when Vance was detained.
Pavl had known Ezra’s movements.
Nessa remembered champagne striking her cello.
Remembered Pavl catching Vance.
Remembered his anger.
Too obvious.
Or perhaps obvious because everyone had stopped looking.
“Call him again.”
Voicemail.
Ezra’s jaw tightened.
“We go.”
“Not alone.”
“I have men.”
“Men Sebastian may already own.”
Ezra looked at her.
That was the central problem.
Trust had become a liability.
They took only 2 people.
Mara Quinn, Ezra’s security chief.
And Lucas Chen, a driver who had worked for Gabriel for 11 years.
They parked 2 blocks from Caldwell’s Gym.
The building looked exactly as Nessa remembered.
Red brick.
Faded signage.
Boarded windows.
Her grandfather’s name still existed above the entrance beneath peeling paint.
CALDWELL’S BOXING & CONDITIONING.
Nessa stopped.
For 14 months, she had avoided coming back.
She had told herself there was no reason.
That was a lie.
Some places hurt because they remembered who you had been before everything changed.
Ezra touched her shoulder.
“You stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Nessa.”
“I know the building.”
“So?”
“So there are 3 entrances you can’t see from the street and a basement corridor connecting the boiler room to the alley.”
Ezra stared.
She raised an eyebrow.
“My grandfather trained paranoid.”
They entered through the basement.
The smell hit Nessa first.
Dust.
Canvas.
Old leather.
Memory.
Her chest tightened.
She had been 6 when Arthur first wrapped her hands here.
Nine when she broke her nose.
Thirteen when she won provincials.
Nineteen when she stopped competing seriously and chose music.
Twenty-seven when Draos took the keys.
Now she returned with a crime boss carrying a handgun.
Life lacked subtlety.
Voices came from upstairs.
Ezra signaled.
Mara moved left.
Lucas remained at the rear.
Nessa led Ezra through the old locker room.
They reached the ring floor.
Lights came on.
Gabriel sat in a chair beside the ring.
Alive.
Sebastian Blackwood stood behind him.
He looked nothing like a villain.
That seemed appropriate.
He was 59.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
Wearing a charcoal coat.
Pavl stood 10 feet away.
His hands were visible.
Nessa could not tell which side he belonged to.
“Ezra.”
Sebastian smiled.
“You came.”
Ezra raised his weapon.
“Step away from him.”
Gabriel looked furious rather than afraid.
Sebastian rested one hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“Always direct.”
“Let him go.”
“Eventually.”
Nessa looked around.
Three men on the balcony.
Two near the rear doors.
Another behind the ring.
Six.
Probably more.
Sebastian noticed her counting.
“Miss Caldwell.”
“Mr. Blackwood.”
“You caused an extraordinary amount of inconvenience.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“You should have taken the $400.”
Nessa’s eyes narrowed.
He knew.
Every detail.
Sebastian smiled.
“Vance told me about you after the gala.”
“Before or after I dropped your nephew?”
“After.”
Ezra’s weapon remained steady.
“What do you want?”
Sebastian’s smile disappeared.
“What should have been mine.”
Gabriel laughed.
Weakly.
“You always were dramatic.”
Sebastian’s hand tightened on his shoulder.
“You gave everything to a boy.”
“My son.”
“I built half of it.”
“You stole the other half.”
Sebastian’s face changed.
There it was.
Decades of resentment.
Ezra looked between them.
“You sold the harbor numbers because Father gave me control.”
“I sold nothing.”
Sebastian looked offended.
“I created leverage.”
“With Draos.”
“They understand partnership.”
“They destroyed Caldwell’s Gym.”
Sebastian glanced at Nessa.
“A building.”
Nessa’s hands curled.
“A life.”
“Businesses fail.”
“You made it fail.”
“I made an investment.”
Nessa stepped forward.
Ezra caught her wrist.
Sebastian smiled.
“Your grandfather was collateral.”
Something inside Nessa went quiet.
Not rage.
Something colder.
She remembered Arthur’s rule.
Never fight angry.
So she breathed.
And looked.
Really looked.
Sebastian’s men were not relaxed.
The one on the balcony kept checking the rear entrance.
Another touched his earpiece every 20 seconds.
They were waiting.
For something.
“Ezra.”
Nessa spoke softly.
“He’s stalling.”
Sebastian’s eyes shifted.
Confirmation.
Ezra saw it.
“For what?”
Nessa looked toward the street-facing windows.
Then she heard sirens.
Distant.
Approaching.
Sebastian smiled.
“For the police.”
Ezra understood.
Weapons.
Kidnapped Gabriel.
Ezra inside the building.
A perfect scene.
“You called them.”
“Anonymous report of armed men holding a disabled senior hostage.”
Sebastian looked almost regretful.
“You should have stayed at home.”
Nessa saw the plan.
Police arrive.
Sebastian’s people disappear through the hidden exits.
Ezra remains.
Armed.
Standing beside Gabriel.
Then Nessa saw something else.
The old fire suppression lever.
Still mounted behind the ring.
Her grandfather had complained about it for 20 years.
It flooded the entire floor when activated.
Nessa looked at Ezra.
Then at the lever.
His eyes followed hers.
He understood.
She moved.
One of Sebastian’s men raised his gun.
Ezra fired first.
The bullet struck the overhead light.
Darkness exploded across half the room.
Nessa reached the lever.
Pulled.
Water erupted from the ceiling.
The old system came alive with violent pressure.
Everyone shouted.
Visibility collapsed.
Mara moved.
Ezra went for Gabriel.
Nessa slid beneath the ring ropes as a man grabbed for her.
She kicked his knee.
He fell.
Pavl tackled another attacker.
So that answered one question.
Sebastian ran.
Nessa saw him disappearing toward the basement.
“Ezra!”
Ezra had Gabriel.
“Go!”
Nessa ran.
She knew the corridor better than Sebastian did.
He took the direct route.
She took the old equipment passage.
They reached the alley simultaneously.
Sebastian stopped when he saw her.
For one second, surprise crossed his face.
Then contempt.
“You.”
Nessa raised the metal training bar she had taken from the basement.
Sebastian laughed.
“You think you can stop me?”
“No.”
She looked behind him.
“I think he can.”
Pavl stepped from the opposite doorway.
Blood ran from his forehead.
Sebastian turned.
Pavl hit him once.
Sebastian dropped.
Police sirens screamed around the corner.
Pavl looked at Nessa.
“I owed you an apology.”
She glanced at unconscious Sebastian.
“That’ll do.”
Minutes later, police entered.
But Sebastian’s plan had failed.
Because Gabriel told the story first.
Because security footage had survived.
Because Mara had recorded the confrontation.
Because Sebastian’s own voice existed on audio admitting his Draos relationship.
And because Nessa Caldwell had learned long ago that surviving a fight was not enough.
You had to control what happened after the bell.
At 4:17 a.m., Ezra stood outside Caldwell’s Gym.
Sebastian was in custody.
Gabriel was being examined by paramedics.
Pavl had 6 stitches coming.
Nessa sat on the curb.
Ezra approached.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He sat beside her.
For a while, they watched emergency lights paint the street red and blue.
Then Nessa said:
“He called my grandfather collateral.”
“I heard.”
“I wanted to kill him.”
Ezra looked at her.
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
She stared at the old gym.
“Because then he would have taken something else.”
Ezra understood.
His shoulder touched hers.
Neither moved away.
“What happens now?”
Nessa asked.
“Sebastian talks.”
“And Draos?”
“Falls.”
“You sound confident.”
“I have recordings, Vance, Sebastian, financial documents, and your property records.”
Ezra looked at her.
“And tomorrow morning, copies go to federal investigators.”
Nessa turned.
“You mean that?”
“Yes.”
“Even if they investigate you too?”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
That answer cost him something.
She could see it.
“Why?”
Ezra looked toward his father.
“Because you were right.”
“About?”
“Restoration and revenge not being the same thing.”
Nessa said nothing.
Ezra continued.
“I’m tired of inheriting wars.”
Something shifted inside her.
He looked exhausted.
Thirty years old.
Bruised.
Wet.
For once, not dangerous.
Simply human.
Nessa leaned forward.
She kissed him.
It lasted perhaps 2 seconds.
Then she pulled back.
Ezra stared at her.
“That was unexpected.”
“You talk too much.”
“I barely talk.”
“Exactly.”
This time, he kissed her.
And neither of them noticed the cameras across the street.
But someone else did.
Inside a black sedan parked 2 blocks away, a man photographed them.
Then sent the image to Montreal.
May you like
The message beneath it contained 5 words.
BLACKWOOD HAS A NEW WEAKNESS.
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