Chapter 8 - The Price of Ambition“Mara, no!” Darren pleaded, turning to her. “I didn't know they were tracking me! I swear to God—”
“Get out!” Mara screamed, tears of pure fury streaming down her face. “You left me twelve years ago because you were scared of poverty! And now you come back because your wealth is a target?! You are poison, Darren Cole! You and your corporate world!”
The thugs laughed. “Looks like the domestic dispute is getting heated. Come along quietly, Cole, or we start asking the little girl in the yellow backpack how she likes her new school.”
Something inside Darren snapped.
The last twelve years of calculated moves, cold logic, and emotional detachment burned away in a single second. The man who had abandoned his family out of fear was gone. Standing in the alley was a father whose daughter had just been threatened.
Without a word of warning, Darren lunged forward, tackling the lead thug straight into the brick wall.
The second man rushed him, throwing a vicious right hook that caught Darren squarely in the jaw, sending him stumbling back against the recycling bins.
Before the thug could follow up, a heavy cast-iron frying pan came crashing down over the man’s head with a sickening clang.
The thug collapsed instantly into a heap on the asphalt.
Darren blinked, wiping blood from his lip, and looked up.
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Mara stood over the unconscious man, holding the heavy cast-iron pan with both hands, her chest heaving, her eyes blazing like fire.
“Nobody,” Mara snarled, glaring down at the thugs, “threatens my daughter in Oakhaven.”
