Chapter 7 - The Price of Betrayal
Arthur’s face turned corpse-white. His hand trembled violently over the detonator.
“D-Daniel!” Arthur stammered, frantically trying to turn the device toward the shed. “Stay back! I’ll blow them both to hell!”
“You won't even finish the sentence, Arthur,” Daniel said softly.
Daniel didn't draw a gun. He didn't need to.
With a flick of his wrist, Victor Vance stepped out from behind a rusted railcar, holding a heavy sniper rifle with a thermal scope locked directly onto Arthur’s skull.
“Arthur,” Daniel’s voice echoed across the rail yard, dripping with lethal ice. “You laid hands on my mother’s savior. You threatened the child of the woman who runs my empire. Did you really think I wouldn't track every keystroke on her secure terminal?”
“I—I had to!” Arthur sobbed, his knees buckling beneath him. “She was destroying us!”
“She was saving us from parasites like you,” Daniel said coldly. “Victor. End it.”
Crack.
The sniper rifle roared once. The detonator flew out of Arthur’s shattered hand before his fingers could even twitch, spinning away into the dirt.
Before Arthur could scream, Dante and two tactical operatives slammed him into the gravel, disarming and binding him in heavy zip-ties within seconds.
Daniel walked past the struggling traitor without even glancing down at him. He headed straight for the maintenance shed, pulled the heavy wooden door open, and scooped six-year-old Lily into his arms with surprising gentleness.
Lily giggled, wrapping her small arms around his neck. “Mister Daniel! You came!”
“Always, little bird,” Daniel murmured, carrying her out into the light.
He walked over to Maria, who stood frozen, the adrenaline slowly fading, leaving her trembling in the cold night air.
Daniel handed Lily safely to one of the female security operatives, then turned his full, intense gaze onto Maria. He stepped close—so close she could feel the heat radiating from his chest, smelling the expensive sandalwood and rain on his jacket.
“You broke protocol,” Daniel said, his dark eyes searching her face. “You came here alone. You risked your life.”
“She was my daughter,” Maria whispered fiercely, looking right back into his eyes without flinching. “I would burn the world down to keep her safe. I don't care about your protocols.”
Daniel stared at her for a long, breathless moment. Then, slowly, a deep, genuine smile broke across his scarred face—a smile no one in the syndicate had seen in a decade.
May you like
“I know,” Daniel whispered. “That’s why I love you.”
Maria’s breath caught. The world around them vanished into the roaring wind.
