Page 47 of Vengeance

“He knows the general area. Savage insisted on it,” Doc said.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because Vengeance would’ve worried someone in Huntsville had access to this location,” Doc admitted.

“He would’ve been right,” Chloe said.

“Which is why Bowie only knows where to go after I activate the beacon.” Another shot exploded upstairs. This time, no one screamed, and Chloe’s fear deepened.

“How long until Bowie gets here?”

Doc glanced at his watch. “If he was already moving after Dante sent that letter, maybe twenty minutes.”

“And if he wasn’t?” she asked.

“Longer,” he said with a shrug.

“We don’t have longer.”

“No,” Doc agreed. “We don’t.” He pulled a flashlight from a shelf built into the stone and switched it on. The narrow beam revealed a steep passage descending beneath the cabin. Doc handed Chloe the light. “Go.” She didn’t move. “Chloe.”

“I’m not leaving him,” she insisted.

“You’re not leaving him. You’re surviving long enough to bring help back.” The difference felt too small—cruel, even, but Vengeance had asked her to trust him, and she finally did. Now trusting him meant walking away while he faced the man who had spent a lifetime tormenting him. Chloe hated every part of this plan.

She turned and started down the passage, and Doc followed closely behind her. The tunnel narrowed as it descended. In several places, roots pushed through the ceiling, twisting through the packed earth like skeletal fingers. Water dripped steadily somewhere ahead. Every sound from the cabin became muffled and then disappeared entirely. That frightened Chloe more than the gunfire.

“What did Savage write in that journal?” she whispered. Doc didn’t answer. She stopped and turned to face him. “What truth was Dante talking about?”

“We don’t have time for this,” Doc said.

“You recognized something when Dante started tearing out pages.”

Doc’s jaw flexed. “Savage kept records.”

“Of what?” she asked.

“Everything.”

“That doesn’t explain why Dante sounded afraid,” she insisted.

Doc looked behind them before lowering his voice. “Years ago, Savage discovered Dante wasn’t only moving guns and drugs. He was selling people—women, teenagers, and sometimes children.” Nausea rolled through her. Chloe had known Dante was evil, but she hadn’t understood the full shape of it.

“Savage tried to stop him?” she asked.

“He did more than try. He stole evidence, moved survivors, paid people to disappear, and spent years collecting the names of everyone who helped Dante and the men who built the Black Veil.”

“The journal contains those names?” she asked.

“Some of them.”

“What else is in it?” she asked.

“Locations, bank accounts, crooked police officers, judges, and politicians. Men who built careers while Dante built an empire beneath them.” Chloe understood then. The journal wasn’t simply Savage’s history; it was a weapon. One powerful enough to destroy Dante.

“Why didn’t Savage expose him?”

“He planned to,” Doc said.