Chapter 869
“I’m reshaping it,” Dominic said. “The old families are rotten, Skye. The Sterlings, the Kensingtons — even my own kin. You sit on hoards of wealth and secrets while the city stagnates around you. I’m going to shake the foundation. Literally. When the dust settles, I will be the one to rebuild.”
“You’re insane,” Lucian said.
“I’m a visionary.” Dominic pressed a button on the console. “And I’m finished.”
The turbines groaned. The floor shook violently beneath their feet.
“He’s overloaded the core!” Parker yelled. “It’s going to blow!”
“Kill him!” Alistair shouted.
Gunfire erupted. Dominic’s personal guard, concealed in the shadows along the walls, opened fire. Skye dove behind a console, the shots sparking off the metal above her head. Through the chaos, she caught a glimpse of Dominic retreating toward a submarine docked in the airlock.
“He’s getting away!” Skye yelled.
“Stop the core!” Alistair ordered, pointing at Felix and Lucian. “Skye — with me!”
They ran, chasing Dominic toward the airlock.
The corridor to the airlock was narrow, the walls pressing close. Red emergency lights pulsed in a steady, urgent rhythm.
𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Dominic moved fast for an older man. He reached the hatch and threw his weight into spinning the wheel.
Alistair fired. The bullet sparked off the metal doorframe.
Dominic spun and returned fire with a golden revolver. A bullet grazed Alistair’s shoulder. He grunted and stumbled sideways.
“Alistair!” Skye screamed.
She raised her own weapon. She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t think.
She fired.
The bullet caught Dominic in the leg. He went down with a cry, clutching his thigh.
Skye advanced on him, gun leveled at his head. “Turn it off.”
Dominic laughed, blood staining his teeth. “It can’t be turned off. The sequence is locked. Only the stones can reset it — and you don’t know the protocol.”
The stones. Skye’s hand was already moving to her pocket.
“You don’t know the order,” Dominic sneered. “Put them in wrong and it accelerates the blast.”
Skye looked at the console beside the door. Four slots, waiting.
“Fire. Water. Wind. Earth,” she whispered.
“That’s a nursery rhyme,” Dominic mocked. “It’s not the code.”
Skye closed her eyes. She reached back — past the chaos, past the blood and the fear — to the history of Sea City. To the order the families arrived.
“The Sterlings were first,” Skye said. “Miners. Earth.”
She drove the Diamond into the first slot. The console beeped. Green.
“Then the Kensingtons. Shippers. Water.”
She seated the Sapphire. Green.
“The Vances. Energy. Fire.”
The Ruby clicked home. Green.
“And the Thornes. Infrastructure. Wind.”
She held up the Emerald. Across the floor, Dominic’s eyes went wide. “No… you can’t know that…”
She slammed the Emerald home.
The shaking stopped instantly. The turbines wound down in a long, dying groan. The red emergency lights shifted to a calm, steady blue.
“System reset,” a computerized voice announced.
Dominic slumped against the bulkhead, all the fight draining out of him. “You ruined it,” he said, his voice hollow. “You ruined perfection.”
Alistair limped over and looked down at his uncle. “You’re under arrest, Dominic. For everything.”
Dominic let out a soft, broken chuckle. “There is no prison that can hold me. The Syndicate is everywhere.”
“Then we’ll burn the Syndicate down too,” Alistair said.