Chapter 9 - Burn the ThroneThe exchange was arranged for midnight.
Sebastian chose an abandoned courthouse.
Khloe found the symbolism irritatingly predictable.
“He enjoys theater,” she said.
Dante checked his weapon.
“Most narcissists do.”
“You would know.”
He looked at her.
Khloe smiled.
“I love you.”
Dante stopped.
It was the first time she had said the words so plainly.
Not during danger.
Not after a kiss.
Not implied through staying.
Three words.
Simple.
Absolute.
Dante stared at her.
Khloe’s smile faded.
“What?”
He crossed the room.
She barely had time to breathe before his hands surrounded her face.
He kissed her.
Not violently.
Not desperately.
Slowly.
Almost reverently.
When he withdrew, his forehead rested against hers.
“Say it again.”
“I love you.”
His eyes closed.
Khloe touched his chest.
“You already knew.”
“I wanted to hear it.”
“You are sentimental.”
“Tell anyone and I will deny it.”
She laughed softly.
Then Dante opened his eyes.
“I love you too.”
The words sounded difficult for him.
That made them matter more.
Khloe kissed him once.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“We have a courthouse to infiltrate.”
Dante stared at her.
“You are unbelievable.”
“So I have been told.”
At 11:57 p.m., they entered together.
Sebastian had demanded Khloe alone.
Neither had seriously considered obeying.
The courthouse had been abandoned after structural damage five years earlier.
Dust covered the floors.
Moonlight entered through broken windows.
Khloe carried the original ledger inside a leather case.
Dante walked beside her.
No visible backup followed.
Sebastian waited inside the main courtroom.
Ten armed men surrounded him.
He smiled when he saw Dante.
“You really cannot follow instructions.”
Dante shrugged.
“I have employees for that.”
Khloe stepped forward.
“The ledger.”
Sebastian looked at the case.
“Bring it.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
Khloe looked around.
“Ten men?”
“Twelve.”
Two appeared behind them.
Dante glanced back.
“Still not enough.”
Sebastian laughed.
“That confidence is why your father died.”
Dante’s expression changed.
Khloe touched his arm.
Sebastian noticed.
“There.”
He pointed.
“That is the difference between you and him.”
Dante said nothing.
“Vincent would have attacked me already.”
“Vincent is dead.”
“Yes.”
Sebastian smiled.
“And you are becoming civilized.”
He looked toward Khloe.
“She did that.”
“Do you have a point?”
Dante asked.
“My point is that she weakened you.”
Khloe almost laughed.
Sebastian’s eyes moved to her.
“You find that amusing?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because every man who has underestimated Dante eventually says the same thing.”
She placed the case on a courtroom table.
“You mistake restraint for weakness.”
Sebastian gestured.
One of his men opened the case.
The ledger lay inside.
Sebastian approached.
For the first time, excitement broke through his composure.
He picked it up.
Opened it.
Turned several pages.
His smile grew.
“Do you understand what this is worth?”
“Yes.”
Khloe replied.
“Nothing.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“The information has already been distributed.”
His expression hardened.
“I know.”
“No.”
Khloe smiled.
“You know copies exist.”
She looked at the book.
“What you do not know is that every person inside it received their own section three hours ago.”
Sebastian stopped breathing.
Dante smiled.
Khloe continued.
“They know exactly what you know about them.”
“You destroyed the leverage.”
“Yes.”
“You stupid—”
“And they know you were planning to use it.”
Sebastian stared.
“You turned every name in this ledger against me.”
“Again.”
Khloe’s voice was calm.
“They were never with you.”
Sebastian threw the book onto the table.
His control finally broke.
“Do you think that matters?”
He pulled a pistol.
Twelve weapons rose simultaneously.
Dante moved in front of Khloe.
Sebastian aimed at him.
“You ruined everything.”
Khloe remained behind Dante’s shoulder.
“No.”
Sebastian’s hand shook.
“You spent eight years building an empire from secrets.”
She looked around the ruined courtroom.
“I destroyed it with postage.”
Dante almost smiled.
Sebastian screamed and fired.
The courtroom exploded.
Dante drove Khloe behind the judge’s bench as bullets struck wood.
Glass shattered.
Then the windows erupted inward.
Gallo men entered from both sides.
Miles had positioned them in adjacent buildings hours earlier.
Gunfire filled the courthouse.
Khloe remained low.
Dante fired twice.
A man collapsed near the jury box.
Another weapon discharged.
Dante jerked.
Khloe saw blood.
“Dante!”
“I am fine.”
“You are bleeding.”
“Stay down.”
He returned fire.
Sebastian disappeared through a side door.
Dante started after him.
Khloe grabbed his jacket.
“No.”
“He is escaping.”
“You are shot.”
“Grazed.”
“Dante.”
He looked at her.
Blood ran from his upper arm.
Khloe tore fabric from the bottom of her dress and wrapped it around the wound.
“Pressure.”
“You are giving me medical instructions now?”
“You hired me after I gave medical instructions to a bleeding captain.”
Despite everything, he laughed.
The gunfire decreased.
Miles appeared.
“Sebastian went downstairs.”
Dante stood.
Khloe stood with him.
“No.”
Both men spoke simultaneously.
She glared.
“I am finished being told to stay behind.”
Dante opened his mouth.
Khloe pointed at him.
“Do not.”
He closed it.
They descended together.
The basement contained old evidence rooms and holding cells.
A metal door slammed somewhere ahead.
Miles split the team.
Dante and Khloe entered a narrow corridor.
At the end stood Sebastian.
He held a pistol.
And Carter.
The weapon pressed against Carter’s head.
“Stop.”
Dante stopped.
Khloe did too.
Carter’s face was bruised.
He must have been captured during the assault.
Sebastian smiled desperately.
“Drop the gun.”
Dante did.
It struck concrete.
“Kick it away.”
He obeyed.
Sebastian looked at Khloe.
“The ledger.”
“Upstairs.”
“Bring it.”
“It is useless.”
“I do not care!”
His voice echoed.
The polished man from the museum was gone.
Khloe saw him clearly now.
Not a mastermind.
A frightened boy who had spent decades trying to become more powerful than his father.
“You killed my grandmother.”
Sebastian’s eyes flickered.
“My father did.”
“You helped.”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
“You knew.”
“I knew she was dangerous.”
“She was an accountant.”
“She was loyal to the wrong family.”
Khloe stepped forward.
Dante whispered, “Khloe.”
She ignored him.
“Did you watch?”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Khloe stopped.
The answer entered her like a blade.
He had been there.
He had watched Eleanor Bishop die.
“You want revenge?”
Sebastian asked.
“Take it.”
He smiled.
“Become like us.”
Khloe looked at Dante.
Then Carter.
Then Sebastian.
“No.”
His smile vanished.
“I do not need to become you to defeat you.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Sebastian frowned.
Real sirens.
Police.
Federal agents.
Dozens.
Khloe said, “The ledger was sent to the FBI twenty minutes ago.”
Dante looked at her.
Even he had not known.
Sebastian stared.
“You would expose your own organization?”
“Parts of it.”
“You destroyed yourself.”
“No.”
Khloe smiled sadly.
“I removed what needed to die.”
Sebastian understood.
She had traded criminal immunity for survival.
The old empire was finished.
The legitimate companies would remain.
The hidden accounts, bribery networks, and corrupted officials would not.
Dante had known Khloe wanted change.
He had not known she was willing to burn the throne beneath them.
Sebastian pressed the weapon harder against Carter.
“You think prison frightens me?”
“No.”
Khloe stepped closer.
“But irrelevance does.”
His face twisted.
That was the wound.
“You wanted your father’s empire.”
She continued.
“You wanted Dante’s city.”
Another step.
“You wanted my mind.”
Another.
“And tomorrow, no one will remember your name.”
Sebastian aimed at her.
Dante moved.
Carter dropped.
A shot exploded.
Khloe felt Dante strike her body.
They hit the floor.
Miles fired.
Once.
Sebastian’s weapon fell.
He collapsed against the wall, wounded but alive.
Federal agents flooded the corridor seconds later.
Khloe pushed herself upright.
“Dante?”
He lay beside her.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Too much.
“No.”
She pressed both hands against the wound.
“Dante.”
His eyes opened.
“I am here.”
“You idiot.”
“Probably.”
“You jumped in front of me.”
“Occupational reflex.”
Her hands shook.
Agents shouted around them.
Medical personnel entered.
Khloe leaned close.
“You are not dying.”
“I was not planning to.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
They lifted him onto a stretcher.
Dante caught her wrist.
“Khloe.”
She leaned closer.
“What?”
His face had become pale.
“The city.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“What about it?”
He smiled weakly.
“Burn it.”
Khloe understood.
Not the buildings.
Not the people.
The old world.
The secrets.
The violence.
The throne built from fear.
May you like
She kissed his forehead.
“With pleasure.”
